More than two and a half years after the Russian invasion, the Church in Ukraine has lost more than half of the parishes in the occupied regions, says the new Greek Catholic bishop of the Donetsk exarchate. Source: CNA.
Bishop Maksym Ryabukha, 44, told Italian daily Avvenire: “The situation is increasingly worrying. We have already lost more than half of the parishes. And with the advancing Russian army, dozens of other churches have been evacuated.”
Bishop Ryabukha’s diocese is divided under Moscow’s control, separated by almost 500 kilometres of trenches.
According to the Italian media, in the churches of Pokrovsk, Mirnohrad, and Kostiantynivka – areas taken by Russian forces – there are no more remaining liturgical furnishings, pews, or adornments.
Bishop Ryabukha said the priests “stay close to the population and visit the refugees who have left their homes”.
In his case, he said, he is now “a bishop in a time of pain, drama, injustice, and helplessness” as he sees his Church suffering.
Bishop Ryabukha said that in the Russian-occupied areas, “those who openly call themselves Catholics disappear: Some are shot, others are imprisoned. There is no right to freely profess the faith. Our faithful keep saying: ‘We’re holding up, but it’s like being locked up in a prison.’”
The bishop, who regularly visits Ukrainian soldiers, said that many of them, before the war, “were simple fathers or even former Salesian students. They put aside their plans to defend the country”.
“We know that the war will end. But we all want this to happen as soon as possible and with peace in the name of justice,” he added.
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Church in Ukraine has lost half of its parishes in areas occupied by Russia, bishop says (By Eduardo Berdejo, CNA)
