UGCC patriarch: "The victory over evil 70 years ago is now used for neo-Soviet mythology"
Today we feel that not all wounds of warhave been healed: the past conflict became a phantom pain. The ideologies that had caused the wardid not become a matter of the past,while memory of the dead and injured is used for the construction of new aggressive ideologies.
This was stated by Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Patriarch Sviatoslav in his address to the faithful and all people of goodwill on the occasion of the seventieth anniversary of the end of World War II Europe.
"Victory over evil,”believes the Primate of the Church,“that involved the whole international community, is used to construct a neo-Soviet myth, which generates a new war, and the Ukrainian nation becomes its new victim.”
Head of the Church said that seventy years ago ended a great war in Europe that killed tens of millions of lives. These days we commemorate the fallen in this war, sympathize with those who lost loved ones, and gratefully remember their sacrifice.
He asks us to think that when we raise prayers unto the Lord for the souls of many deceased, we should also think about the cause of this violence and about how to prevent its recurrence. “In the midst of the war in which our land was a battlefield, the bloody ground, the totalitarian ideologies opposed, selfish theories of individual nations, various forms of pagan nationalism, ancient imperial appetites,” said Patriarch Sviatoslav.
UGCC patriarch also commented on the current situation in Ukraine: “In the face of modern threats we are united in the love of country, feel pride of it, of our citizens and our soldiers. Many Ukrainian from different parts of the country are experiencing a genuine patriotic enthusiasm, spreading their feelings to other people.”
Patriarch noted that, apparently, numerous Ukrainian men and women today no one would speak in unison with Metropolitan AndriySheptytskyy.“Christian patriotism ... ... cannot contain any hatred of our brothers and other people ...”
"The duty of the Christians of our time - the churches of Chapter - is to heal our social consciousness, to fill the concept of patriotism truly Christian content. Christian patriotism does not exclude anyone, but for his goal puts the common good, so inseparable from responsibility. It is a virtue that can and should be developed, and improve in love of neighbor. "
However, he says, the love should be active, otherwise it will remain merely a declaration of good intentions. "So, two keys to Christian understanding of patriotism are love and responsibility. Without love, patriotism is powerless, without responsibility it is false and empty,” states the authors of the appeal.
"Prayerfully remembering the millions of innocent victims of Nazi and Stalinist crimes against humanity,says His Beatitude Svyatoslav, “we get inspired by the example of true patriots - heroes of the liberation struggle of our people of the past century. Let us follow those who managed by the grace of the Holy Spirit and the power of love for his homeland and its people to resist the Nazi and communist ideologies. They are real winners, winners of violence and hatred, sin and death. Let their example teach us today to love God and neighbor and lead us to victory.”
