We can imagine what the prayer of the prisoners in the Russian torture centers in the Ukrainian Kharkiv region was like — Head of the UGCC on the 206th day of the war
A vast cemetery, a mass burial, was found near the city of Izyum, in which more than 400 innocently killed and tortured people have already been identified. Yesterday, we were shocked by footage from Balaklia, where the prayer “Our Father” was found scratched on a dark green wall in the torture chamber. The Father and Head of the UGCC, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, said on the 206th day of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The Archbishop invited to reflect on how Christians should honor God the Creator.
“The current commandment of reverence for God the Creator tells us not to kill and remember that the earth and all creation is a space for life, received from the Creator. Therefore, respect for the environment as a life space is respect for God, who gives this life.”
“We see how military actions have a detrimental effect on the environment. We know how barbarically relict forests were destroyed in the south of our Motherland, on the Black Sea coast, how rare animals were killed in reserves, for example, in Askania-Nova and many others. But we, Christians, must respect life and affirm it, fight for it. Therefore, we thank the Lord and our Armed Forces that we are alive this morning and that we can pray together, help, and save each other. As Christians, we are to serve life, first and foremost respecting and preserving human life from conception to natural death and respecting the environment as the space of this life.”
The UGCC Department for Information
