09.01, [15:20] // Press-releases // UGCC News
 “The most important in those days is that to which the Church invites us. More precisely: to give due glory to Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God who comes to us human beings. To give Him glory and at the same time to consider what His coming means for us. Because He is the key person in our life. There is no one more important than Jesus Christ who came to earth in order to tell us about God, God the Father, about this loving Father who created us, who presents us with His gifts, His graces. This is the most important.” So said His Beatitude Lubomyr, Major Archbishop of Kyiv and Halych, in an interview for Channel 5, talking about the most important accents which we have to put on the days of the Christmas holidays. The interview was broadcast on tv the evening of January 5, 2008.
In addition, the Head of the UGCC said that there are other important things: “The coming together of the whole family which usually happens at this time, the exchange of gifts, the Christmas Eve Supper, which is a beautiful and important moment, remembering those who are far from us and those who have gone from us to eternity. We experience many elements during the celebration and there is nothing more important than thoughts about God, prayer to Him giving Him due glory, sincere thanksgiving to Him for what He did for us.”
Thus, the speakers touched on the question of how the Head of the UGCC usually celebrates the Christmas holidays, the most important moments that he experiences. His Beatitude Lubomyr explained that first of all is the participation in prayers on Christmas Eve: “I love very much those Christmas prayer services: Vespers, Great Compline, “God with us,” and the Christmas Divine Liturgy, which is enriched with carols. And above all, I will say, beyond liturgical events, a very important moment for me is the Christmas Eve Supper. It is difficult to express in words. We eat some traditional dishes: borshch, though it is meatless, stuffed dumplings, sushnyak, etc. It is not something extraordinary. Many times during the year we eat those dishes, but they never have such a taste as they have at the Christmas Eve Supper. The condition here is indescribable. I think it is rather necessary to feel this than to try to describe this with words.”
Information Department of the UGCC
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