In a post on X on Thursday, Sybiha said that Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the primate of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, had written to Cardinal Ryś, the Archbishop Metropolitan of Kraków, to thank him for standing with Ukraine and its capital during the war.
The information was shared by Ukraine’s foreign minister on X and is based on the contents of a letter from the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.
Sybiha recalled that earlier this week Cardinal Ryś decided that all collections taken on Sunday 1 February in parishes across the Archdiocese of Kraków would be donated to support Kyiv.
The funds are to be used in particular for the purchase of electricity generators and mobile heating units, equipment seen as vital as Russia continues to target Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
The diplomat noted that Cardinal Ryś recently decided to donate all collections from Sunday 1 February across the Archdiocese of Kraków in southern Poland, particularly for generators and mobile heating units, with the church hierarch personally covering the cost of the first generator from his personal funds.
In the letter shared by Sybiha, Archbishop Shevchuk thanked Cardinal Ryś for his compassion and for mobilising the faithful at what he described as a dramatic moment for the whole of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian church leader wrote that the cardinal’s appeal for donations to fund high-capacity generators and mobile boiler units to warm those suffering from the cold resonated with the words of the Apostle Paul about “one body, one spirit and one hope.” He said the initiative had sparked a wave of goodwill not only across Poland but also in other countries.
“At one moment, the eyes of Christians turned towards Kyiv,” Shevchuk wrote, adding that through human care and empathy, “the warmth of Christ’s love” was reaching those who were freezing and in need of encouragement.
Archbishop Shevchuk thanked Cardinal Ryś for his sensitivity and for encouraging believers to take concrete action “in this terrifying situation, when hundreds of thousands of people have been deprived of the basic means of life,” and offered blessings to the cardinal, the Archdiocese of Kraków, and all those involved in efforts to protect human life.
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Source: PAP/X/@andrii_sybiha