Marking the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic bishops affirmed Ukrainians’ belief in “the triumph of God’s truth” – and the recognition that “true peace cannot exist without justice”. Source: OSV News.
“Even amidst sorrow and ruin, we remain a people of hope. We believe in the Resurrection, for we know: God is with us – with the persecuted, the oppressed, the mourning, and the suffering,” said the permanent synod of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in an appeal yesterday signed by Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, patriarchal head of the UGCC.
The bishops, currently meeting in Canada, reflected on their message on February 24, 2022, after the launch of the attack, which continued aggression Russia initiated in 2014 with assaults on Ukraine’s Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
The war has twice been declared a genocide in two joint reports from the New Lines Institute and the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights.
Since the 2022 invasion, at least 174,000 to 420,000 people have been killed, with civilian deaths reported to be severely undercounted, according to research by Sweden’s Uppsala University.
Currently, 3.7 million people are internally displaced in Ukraine, with 6.9 million seeking refuge abroad, “unable to return to lives and livelihoods that no longer exist,” the United Nations stated in January.
“The destruction, suffering, and trauma inflicted upon our nation are staggering,” and Ukraine has “become a nation on the Way of the Cross,” said the UGCC bishops in their appeal.
“Even if the war ended today, decades would be required to rebuild what has been damaged or destroyed: 3500 school and university buildings, over 1200 hospitals, 670 churches, thousands of kilometres of roads, hundreds of thousands of homes, power stations, and factories,” they said.
Russia has brought “death, devastation, and the eradication of religious freedom,” said the bishops, noting that 67 pastors of various Christian churches have been killed, with “clergy and faithful of various confessions” severely repressed by Russia – which has demanded that Christians in occupied Ukraine, including Catholics, yield to the Russian Orthodox Church.
Yet as calls for a ceasefire and peace deals accelerate, the bishops warned that “Ukraine is not merely a land – it is its people.”
As “the voice of the persecuted,” the bishops said they would ensure “in no peace agreement, in name only, will our faith, dignity, or freedom become a bargaining chip.”
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‘Ukraine will rise’ as ‘Russia brings death,’ say Ukrainian Greek Catholic bishops (By Gina Christian, OSV News)
