Redemptorist hieromonks Ivan Levytsky and Bohdan Heleta released from Russian captivity
On behalf of His Beatitude Sviatoslav, Bishop Andriy Khimyak, Auxiliary Bishop of the Kyiv Archeparchy, and Fr. Oleksa Petriv, Head of the Department of External Relations of the UGCC in Ukraine, welcomed the priests upon their return from captivity. They conveyed to Fr. Ivan and Fr. Bohdan the words of great joy of the Head of the Church and all the faithful who had been praying for this day to come," reports the Information Department of the UGCC.
His Beatitude Sviatoslav expressed his sincere gratitude to the Apostolic Capital for the salvation of the UGCC priests. He sent heartfelt words of gratitude to Pope Francis, Cardinal Pietro Parolin and the entire Vatican diplomatic corps. Also, special gratitude for mediation was expressed to Cardinal Matteo Zuppi and Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, Apostolic Nuncio to Ukraine. Each of them made an invaluable personal contribution to making this event a reality.
Since the full-scale invasion in February 2022, priests Ivan Levytskyi and Bohdan Heleta have chosen to stay with their people in the temporarily occupied territories. They served both the Greek Catholic and Roman Catholic communities, giving a light of hope to people under occupation. They were arrested, and then military items were planted in the church, and the priests were accused of illegal possession of weapons. There were reports about them being brutally tortured to extract a confession to a crime they never committed.
"We are receiving very disturbing signals that they are being tortured on a daily basis. We have been seeking their release for over a year and a half, appealing to various international institutions. We know they are alive, thank God. We are also cooperating with our authorities, looking for opportunities to release them," His Beatitude Sviatoslav said in a recent interview with Ukrinform.
For a time, there had been no information about the prisoners. Only in May did His Beatitude Sviatoslav receive the news that Fr. Ivan and Fr. Bohdan were alive, and there was hope for their release. On June 28, that day finally came.
