UGCC Bishop on Current Situation: We Are on Brink of Bloody Chaos

Auxiliary Bishop of Lviv of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) Venedykt Aleksiychuk compared the current situation in Ukraine to the times of World War II. According to him, the authorities and the opposition and civic activists need to understand that we are on the brink of bloody chaos. The bishop said this in an interview with Katolytskyi Ohliadach.

“My personal impression is that we have not had such a dramatic situation since World War II. And this situation, which is unfolding according to the laws of human behavior, according to the laws of behavior of human society, is increasingly being radicalized,” he said.

“And the terrible consequences of this radicalization can be a repetition of the bloody situation in our land when everyone was against each other, when in the chaos of the conflict not one knew who was where and who was who, when in our land the liberation groups of UPA, and Bandera followers, and Melnyk followers, and the Home Army, and Soviet partisans, and NKVD units, which often disguised as Ukrainian and Polish partisans, were all at war,” said the bishop.

“Therefore, the authorities and the opposition and the civic activists have to understand that we are on the brink of bloody chaos. Another one or two reckless steps and we will find ourselves amidst conflict, the consequences of which not a single person can predict,” said the auxiliary bishop.

The hierarch believes the only solution to this is to hold negotiations.

“But we Christians are called upon to look at every life situation not only with our eyes, but also in the light of God's Word through the prism of our own faith. And in the current situation, this view through our faith has to be superior, at least for us Christians,” said Bishop Venedykt.