Patriarch Sviatoslav: ‘Church Wishes to Contribute to Discussion about European Values’
The churches want to join the discussion about European values, which is taking place in Ukrainian society, Patriarch Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), announced on November 7 at the roundtable “European Integration Prospects for Ukraine: Hopes and Challenges.”
According to the patriarch, the question of the churches’ participation in this discussion arose before the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations traveled to Brussels in October to meet with European officials. “Before this trip, we prepared an appeal to the Ukrainian people. I want to say that when it was ready and the text was more or less agreed upon, one difficult question remained: what to call it, an appeal to whom about what? Then between us started an interesting discussion, where we saw the need to contribute to the debate on European values in Ukraine; a debate that continues today, a debate, in which today every citizen of Ukraine is in one way or another involved,” said the patriarch.
In his opinion, it is neither a political nor economic discussion. “We asked ourselves, where is it taking place and what is the discussion? If it is political, then our religious environment, the heads of churches, do not want to participate in it. If it is purely about economic issues, we are not competent. But we saw that the discussion is being held in the civil society in Ukraine. And we all, religious leaders of different churches and denominations, including Christian believers, consider ourselves an important, effective force of civil society, and therefore want to be present and take part in this discussion,” said the head of the UGCC.
He believes that the EU’s requirements for democratic reforms that Ukraine must meet to sign the association agreement should be met in any case. “First of all, this is the rule of law. I think that today the idea of law is so discredited in Ukraine that we need some legal revolution, regardless of whether we join the EU or not. If we in Ukraine are not able to achieve the rule of law, then we can not talk about a just society. The second value that was mentioned is legislation reform in the area of prosecution. I agree that we need a radical reform of the whole system, because our legislation is not judiciary but punitive. Therefore, this reform must be held regardless whether Ukraine will sign this association agreement or not. This requirement the voters will eventually demand of their representatives in parliament,” said Patriarch Sviatoslav.
As for selective justice, the head of the UGCC said that it is not about one or a few people, for the church is the voice of thousands of people who suffer the same way.
“When we talk about the third request, it always refers to the selective justice in Ukraine and, for some reason, always focuses on one, two, or three people. Perhaps behind them are major political forces – which is good, because no one should suffer in this way in Ukraine. But the church is always the voice of thousands who suffer in the same way in the same state, and they cannot be forgotten. We will have to deal with this as Christians and as people of faith, whether we join the EU or not, whether the association agreement is signed or not,” said Patriarch Sviatoslav, the Information Department of the UGCC reported.
