Russia Is the First Enemy of Religious Freedom in the World: Head of the UGCC in the 102 nd week of war
Russia, which today presents itself to the world as a stronghold for the protection of Christian and traditional family values, is, in fact, the first enemy of religious freedom, states the Father and Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, in his traditional video address on the 102 nd week of the great war that Russia brought to our land.
The Orthodox Church of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow” in the village of Bohorodichne, Donetsk region, Ukraine. The village was attacked by Russian troops in June 2022, photo: Volodymyr Kutsenko
The Primate remarked that this week was again one of great pain, destruction, and suffering of many civilians in Ukraine.
“We respectfully implore the global community to direct its attention once again to these crimes against humanity committed by Russia,” the Head of the Church emphasized. “But despite everything—pain, cold, tears, and great perseverance—we want the world to know that Ukraine stands! Ukraine fights! Ukraine prays!”
The spiritual leader recounted that over the past week, the focus of the Ukrainian public’s attention has been on a project called Religion on Fire. One of the leaders of this project, a public figure, Ruslan Khalikov, published terrifying statistics of the facts of Russia’s abuse of the religious environment of Ukraine. According to a study by this public association of our activists, during the full-scale military invasion, Russia destroyed about 600 religious buildings: churches, houses of worship, mosques, and synagogues.
The Head of the Church stated that about 50 priests were abducted and tortured, 25 of them died, and 20 went missing. They are presumably in Russian custody, but their fate is unknown. Among them are priests of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, clergymen of various Protestant communities, and two Redemptorist monks of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Fr. Ivan Levytsky and Fr. Bohdan Heleta.
“We learned,” the spiritual leader said, “about the facts of a deliberate Russian attack on places of prayer gatherings of Ukrainian residents. We witnessed how a Russian drone, which was well aware of where it was dropping the bomb, struck at people gathered for prayer.”
The Primate urged everyone to ask the Lord God to protect His children who pray to Him: “We appeal to the global community to recognize the real enemy of any human freedom, specifically religious freedom. We ask for the liberation of our brave redemptorist fathers currently held in Russian captivity. We want the world to accurately assess the one who, by leveraging Christian values, kills an individual’s faith in God, their trust in any institution that truly serves them in the name of God.”
The UGCC Department for Information
