“The Cross is God’s answer to death and sin,” — Archbishop Borys Gudziak

On the Sunday, September 21, 2025, after the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Metropolitan Borys Gudziak presided over the Divine Liturgy at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Philadelphia.

In his homily after the Gospel, the Archbishop addressed the faithful with his reflections on the meaning of suffering and the war that continues in Ukraine:

“For eleven and a half years now — and even more intensely for the past three and a half — our global Ukrainian community has been asking itself: ‘Why? Why this war? Why so many deaths?’ … From the very first pages of Sacred Scripture we have an answer. Humanity turns away from God’s invitation to live sacrificially. Yet there is also God’s answer to this reality — and that answer is the Cross,” emphasized the Metropolitan.

He stressed that the Cross is a sign of God’s boundless love, which destroys sin and death:

“The Cross is God’s answer to evil. The Lord calls us to a life of love, to the ability to give ourselves to God and to our neighbor. Jesus explains this to us by His own example, for He gave His life for His friends.

The Archbishop also shared his experience from a recent visit to Ukraine, where he traveled to Kharkiv, Odesa, Lviv, Kyiv, and other places. He noted that today the reality of sin, but also the victory of Christ that affirms human dignity, is especially evident there.

“It would be a great tragedy if we, having in our nation so many sacrifices and heroes, failed to grasp the essence of what is happening. Our dignity is in God; it is given by Him, and no one has the right to trample upon it or destroy it,” he underlined.

At the conclusion of the Liturgy, the parishes of the Cathedral and the clergy were solemnly presented with the flag of Ukraine from the 117th Sumy Brigade, whose symbol is the silver image of the Mother of God.