Vatican stamp depicts Ukrainian Catholic cathedral as witness to ‘the light of Christ’

By Gina Christian, OSV News

(OSV News) — A new Vatican City postage stamp points to the power of Christ’s resurrection amid a world darkened by war and strife, depicting the Church as “the light of the Risen Christ” which “never sets.”

On Feb. 26, the Vatican City postal service unveiled the first series of its 2026 stamps, with one dedicated to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church as it marks several key anniversaries in its long history — and as Russia’s war on Ukraine, which began in 2014, approaches its 13th year, with full-scale invasion just passing the four-year-mark.

The stamp design features the UGCC’s Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Kyiv, which stands in darkness from a recent wartime blackout, its silhouette contrasting with the twilight, which illuminates the structure’s outline and its main arched window.

Attending the formal presentation of the stamp, which took place at the Vatican Museums, were Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, father and head of the UGCC; Archbishop Emilio Nappa, secretary general of the Governorate of the Vatican City State; and Vatican post office director Father Felice Bruno.

Also on hand were Bishop Hryhoriy Komar, apostolic administrator of the UGCC Exarchate in Italy; retired Bishop Iryney Bilyk, canon of the papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore; and representatives from more than 20 diplomatic missions to the Holy See.

Archbishop Nappa said the stamp is “a sign of gratitude for the bond that unites us in faith in God and in the common defense of the universal values of peace and fraternity.”

Father Bruno explained that through the stamp, the Vatican City State sought to “express closeness and love for the Church, which has suffered persecution and trials for centuries and, for the last four years, has borne the burden of a cruel and inhuman war.”

The stamp marks three milestones in UGCC history: the 30th anniversary of the restoration of the Kyiv Metropolis of the UGCC, the 20th anniversary of the return of the UGCC see from the western city of Lviv to Kyiv, and the 12th anniversary of the consecration of the UGCC patriarchal cathedral in Kyiv.

Those events all attest to the long history of persecution endured by the UGCC under various Russian regimes.

During the presentation, Major Archbishop Shevchuk surveyed the development of the UGCC’s Kyiv Metropolis, which traces its roots to the baptism of Rus’-Ukraine in 988 under Prince Volodymyr the Great. Czarist Russian imperialism saw waves of repression against the UGCC faithful, including forced conversions to Russian Orthodoxy and the deportation and martyrdom of those who resisted — such as the 13 men and boys slain in 1839 at a UGCC church in what is now Poland, which back then was partitioned, and the massacre took place under the Russian Empire’s rule.

In 1946, Soviet authorities liquidated the UGCC, driving the Church underground until 1989, ahead of the fall of the Soviet Union.

Now, with Russian occupation forces banning the UGCC and other Catholic entities — even capturing and torturing two UGCC priests among other Christian clergy — “there is not a single Catholic priest in the occupied territories today — either Greek Catholic or Roman Catholic,” Major Archbishop Shevchuk said in a June 2024 interview with the media outlet Ukrinform.

Yet, said Major Archbishop Shevchuk at the stamp unveiling, “We in Ukraine have hope precisely because we believe in the Resurrection.

“This is the message that our cathedral, as well as this stamp presented today, must convey to humanity, exhausted by numerous conflicts and wars,” said the archbishop, who has routinely taken shelter in the cathedral’s basement during air attacks, even delivering video messages to the faithful from that location.

“We truly feel embraced by the Holy See with this special attention to our history and our lives at this tragic moment of war,” said Major Archbishop Shevchuk. “It is God’s Providence that this event is taking place in the context of the sorrowful commemoration of the fourth year since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine.”

He called the stamp issuance — which featured the prelates signing a display-sized Vatican City postcard — a “great moment of comfort” for the UGCC.

The stamp’s symbolism shows that the cathedral, dedicated to the Resurrection, “carries within itself a light that never sets — this is the light of the Risen Christ,” he said. “This light is memory and today’s reality, but also hope for the future.”

Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X @GinaJesseReina.