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Euromaidan protesters depicted on the walls of a Ukrainian Greek Catholic church as saints

15.05.2015, 15:45
Priest says the aim of the paintings is 'informative and historical'

Priest says the aim of the paintings is 'informative and historical'

The men and women who took part in Ukraine's pro-EU protests last year have joined the ranks of saints at a church in the country's western city of Lviv. Students from the National Academy of Arts painted the participants of the movement, known as 'the Maidan' on the walls of a Ukrainian Greek Catholic church.

Ukrainian soldiers, a medic and protesters are depicted with aureoles around their heads, holding guns, shields and Molotov cocktails. On the opposite side from the church entrance are images said to depict the sinners, the Head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Russian President Vladimir Putin, a Russian soldier and an eastern Ukrainian pro-Russian rebel fighter. The church's priest explained message behind the artworks.

Oleh Fedorenko, priest: "The aim is purely informative and historical so that when children, who are five or six years old now and are running around here, grow up, they will come and see that there was a war between Moscow and Ukraine in those years, 2014-2015 - and with God's help it will end this year."

People from the congregation also praised the idea. 

Myroslav Senyk, church-goer: "Little attention was given to the deeds of ordinary people who deserve indeed to be among the saints because they sacrificed their lives - there could be nothing more important than to give your life. That is why I think it is very good idea."

Pro-Western protests which sprang up in Ukraine's capital in February 2014 ousted former pro-Kremlin president Viktor Yanukovych. Russia later annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula and Russian-backed militants rebelled in the east, triggering a conflict which continues to this day and in which more than 6,000 people have been killed.

14 May 2015 Ukraine Today