"I wish for us to be a people of the Dormition," - Metropolitan Borys led the Feast of the Dormition liturgy in Lutsk

In his homily, Metropolitan Borys thanked Bishop Yosafat for the hospitality and warm welcome the delegation received in Lutsk. According to him, it was a great joy to be in this particular city, since it was precisely the Bishop of Lutsk who was among those who traveled to Rome to conclude the Union of Brest.

The Metropolitan recalled that in these lands the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church once had hundreds of parishes, until Russian occupation destroyed them. "Beginning already at the end of the eighteenth century, in every century when there is Russian occupation, our Church is destroyed," he noted.

Bishop Borys also spoke about the war being waged today. According to him, despite the great number of deaths, destruction, and pain, Ukraine "teems with life" - "life given by God." The purpose of his visit, he emphasized, is to show solidarity: "this is the closeness of life from heart to heart, a communion. This is the very essence of today's feast."

The Metropolitan also noted that Ukraine has many churches dedicated to the Dormition of the Mother of God, and he explained the spiritual meaning of the feast. According to him, the Dormition is a feast of hope and joy that reveals what awaits a person after death. "The Mother of God died. She died in the body. But we call this feast the Dormition," said Bishop Borys, adding that this is an example of what awaits everyone who lives in Christ.

He emphasized that faith in eternity changes one's attitude toward death, and this, in turn, shapes how a person builds their life. "In this feast is an image of Christian death, the model of death," the Metropolitan noted. If a person is in Christ, he stressed, they will be with God and will walk the same path that the Mother of God walked.

Bishop Borys also said that the Ukrainian people, who for millennia have endured such trials and faced mortal danger, have come to understand the need to focus on this feast. According to him, the Dormition gives hope, helps in life, and underscores the eternity that many today doubt, allowing us to view death from the perspective of eternity and not fear it.

Concluding his homily, the Metropolitan addressed the faithful: "I wish for you, dear friends, all children, brothers and sisters, that we may be a people of the Dormition. We have already named ourselves this through our churches, so that we may be those who understand that the Lord awaits us, so that we may keep before us the image of the Dormition."