Head of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church to visit Latvia, Riga service planned
Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, will visit Latvia on 17–18 October. On Sunday he will celebrate the divine liturgy at St James's Cathedral in Riga.
The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Kyiv-Halych Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, will visit Latvia this weekend, on 17 and 18 October, the Catholic Church information agency reported. The visit comes as Ukraine continues to defend itself against Russia's invasion, and the church leader is urging Latvia to keep supporting it.
On Sunday, 18 October, at 12:30 p.m., Shevchuk will celebrate the divine liturgy, a service of the Eastern Christian tradition, at St James's Cathedral in Riga.
Letter to the Latvian church
Before the trip, on 3 September 2026, Shevchuk sent a letter to Zbigņevs Stankevičs, Metropolitan Archbishop of Riga. In it he calls on the Latvian church and people to keep supporting Ukraine, both materially and spiritually, in its struggle for independence.
The archbishop writes that the enemy the Ukrainian people face is not only physical. He describes it as a neighbouring state with imperialist longings and neocolonial ambitions, and at the same time as a spiritual adversary.
Shevchuk stresses that Russia's religious justification for its genocidal "holy war" is heretical and violates the very foundations of the Christian Gospel.
The source gives no other details of the visit programme, so only the time and place of the Sunday liturgy are currently known.
