Tuesday, March 24, the Department of Religious Studies of the Philosophy Institute of the NASU held a planned information seminar, which traditionally comprises meetings with the church leaders. Various issues of church life in Ukraine were discussed, including the nationwide difficulties.
This there was a meeting with Lutheran Church pastor Ralf Haska. In his speech, the pastor analyzed the role of the Church in the modern Ukrainian realities. In particular, he said that in difficult times the Church revealed itself to the most extent, having taken an active stand on the side of truth and people during the Revolution of Dignity. The pastor reminded of St. Michael's Cathedral, which was the first refuge for the protesters and the St. Catherine Church that was at the center of revolutionary events.
“The church is where the people who believe in Christ. And in any case it can not exist without people. The role of the Church is to unite people, to remain always open to them. The Church has no right to stay away from developments, it must maintain law and justice,” said the pastor.
According to him, many Ukrainian churches provided that support for Independence, serving joint prayers in the prayer tent. They demonstrated the unity of the churches irrespective of denominations. The church should closely follow everything that happens in society.
As for the problems faced by the German Lutheran Church in Ukraine, the pastor pointed to internal theological issues, particularly if a woman pastor in Germany is absolutely normal, in Ukraine it is something incomprehensible for many. He also drew attention to the problem of restitution. But despite this, he said that throughout 6 years of his stay in Ukraine he never faced the problems of freedom of speech or harassment for any religious activity.
In conclusion, the book by the pastor's wife was presented, who said that the book was her personal diary in a way. This collection of Facebook posts that she wrote during the Revolution was intended to explain to her friends abroad what was really happening in Ukraine. The book wrappershows a famous photo of the pastor, where he tries to prevent clashes between protesters and soldiers.
Ralf Haska explained that the German Lutheran congregation in Kyiv is 250 years old. There are about fifteen hundred parishioners all over Ukraine, and about three hundred in Kyiv. "Our community is very small, which entails financial problems. We have to maintain the old church building, we are dependent on the support of Germany. There is a language problem. After all, 90% of the parishioners are Russian and Ukrainian-speaking and German language may disappear in the future as a language of our church. There are problems regarding the return of our property. Yet there is no law to regulate the return of property, the law only envisages the return of cult objects, nothing more. Recently, utility payments increased with no grounds. But there has been no pressure on religion by the authorities in recent years. We are the members of AUCCRO, which presents both large and small churches. Here the ecumenical unity rules, especially now, after the Maidan", he noted.