UGCC Major Archbishop Svyatoslav: “The war will stop when we stop pretending there’s no war!”

Such an opinion was recently expressed in a radio broadcast by the Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), His Holiness Svyatoslav, when he was asked what we, the citizens of Ukraine, should and could do to stop the war in the Donbas. “The war is a major problem in our country. It prevents us from moving forward. Today, most Ukrainians suffer in one way or another from the wounds of war. I think that we have yet to see the real consequences of this war. According to the International Red Cross and our own sources, the humanitarian situation in the occupied territories has deteriorated threefold compared with previous years… and there seems to be no end in sight. Moreover, there’s an enormous ecological disaster in Donetsk Oblast. Groundwater has been poisoned by flooding of mines so whole regions are deprived of drinking water...” Father Svyatoslav firmly believes that all believers must first of all pray for peace. He points out that all the Ukrainian Churches have called for and continue to call for daily prayers for peace. All the UGCC churches bring together parishioners in such prayers every evening at 21:00. “Our Lord will bring us peace, but we must pray for it to happen. We must also build peace. We must support the Ukrainian army, because our soldiers are defending peace, even though they carry and use weapons. We need to treat and heal the wounds of war, both physical and psychological, and help the victims of this war. We should resist any feelings of hatred and we must not destroy ourselves from within.” “Moreover, in order to stop this war, we must speak the truth about Ukraine on the international scene. In fact, today we see that the media, especially in Europe, no longer write or report anything about the war in Ukraine; all the journalists are artificially silent. We must all speak the truth about what’s happening in Ukraine, because this is a hybrid war where not only heavy weapons, but also lies and deceit are used every day.” “We must use all possible means to end this war. Do we dispose of these means? I really don’t know…. but, I’m convinced that bringing this war to an end depends on each and every one of us.”