On Friday, the Head of the UGCC, on the air of Ukrainian Radio, explained his vision of possible reconciliation, emphasizing that this is a long process that has certain obligatory stages.
The position of the UGCC on this issue is clear and unambiguous: today, during the active phase of Russia's military invasion of Ukraine, it is impossible to speak about any reconciliation. The Head of the UGCC talks about the conditions and stages of possible reconciliation in the future, which includes compulsory recognition of crimes and conviction of criminals:
“Today, during the active phase of this unjust war, especially when we are all waiting for another Russian ground offensive on Ukraine, such things are just not possible. To put up with it, you need to be alive after all. When the active phase of such a deadly war continues, it is untimely to talk about it. They must stop killing us first, and only then we can speak about some next step.
And the next step, obviously, must be the conviction of the offender and establishment of justice. All crimes against humanity committed in Ukraine must be condemned by the international tribunal. Today we qualify them as genocide. Therefore, until the criminal is exposed and his crime is condemned, it is untimely to talk about some next step.
Only after that, according to His Beatitude Sviatoslav, it is possible to start some process of reconciliation: “When the Russian aggressor is convicted, the next step may become a process of reconciliation. And it will be a long process, since the process of reconciliation means healing wounds. And without sensitivity to the victim of this unjust aggression, we have no right, on Christian part, to speak about reconciliation”.