With the fall of the Soviet Union, Shevchuk said, “our church was reborn. It came out of the catacombs. I was a young priest and saw the resurrection of our church. It was a true Easter experience. We are disciples of priests who have been in prison for many years and carried the signs suffered for their church on their flesh.”
The role of the Greek Catholic Church in this war
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church leader had publicly lent his voice to the so-called “Revolution of Dignity” in 2014 and always supported the people’s call for more democracy and closeness toward the European Union.
Shevchuk reiterated, “We, as I said, have always stood by our people, whatever the conditions. This is still the case today.”
The major archbishop also described the claim that the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was nationalist as “pure propaganda of the Kremlin.“
“We are not a Ukrainian Church that is only for Ukrainians,” Shevchuk said.
“The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church cannot be accused of nationalism because today we have Ukrainian Greek Catholics of Chinese origin in Vancouver, and we have many parishioners who are not of Ukrainian ethnicity in Canada, the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Australia.”
Shevchuk added that the cathedral in Kyiv became a refuge for everyone during the current war.
“No one has ever asked ‘what language do you speak?’ or ‘which church you go to?’ On the contrary, we welcomed everyone who needed it, providing food, medicine, and everything they could to save lives. This is our identity: We are an Eastern Church of Byzantine tradition, which considers the Church of Constantinople as the mother Church, but which remains in full communion with the successor of Peter and breathes this mentality.”
Because of this extensive history before it, Shevchuk said, “all those who affirm that Ukraine must be de-Nazified somehow affirm that the Ukrainian people do not exist. That the Ukrainian people do not have an ethnic origin.”
From this point of view, the Ukrainian prelate continued, Russia should “educate these ‘slightly underdeveloped Russians,’ or eliminate them. So this war, and the propaganda that feeds it, is the fruit of a genocidal ideology.”
The ecumenical impact
For over 25 years the Pan-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations in Ukraine has brought together all the Ukrainian religious denominations and today it has become an authoritative voice.
Shevchuk said the institution had become an essential moral authority and that “since the war broke out, our council has proved to be a very efficient body for meeting new challenges.”
Among the latest initiatives, there is an appeal to intellectual centers worldwide to study and respond to Russky Mir, the ideology of the “Russian world.”
According to Shevchuk, “this ideology was born within the Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow, and we are seeing it in the latest patriarch’s sermons. It is an ideology that brings death and destruction to Ukraine, I have personally witnessed.“
The council has made several appeals to stop the war. “We wrote a letter to churchmen and religious representatives of Russia to do everything to stop this war. We wrote to the Belarusian people not to enter this war. It is a service we do in the name of the common good, and this love for our people has made us overcome many discords between our churches.”
The representative of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which is under the Moscow Patriarchate, agreed to the letter.
Ukraine’s future
What does the future hold for Ukraine? How can one rebuild trust between Russia and Ukrainians, across borders, between people living side by side, or together?
To Shevchuk, this is “an open question.” In his daily video messages, he has addressed the issue and outlined his views on designing the nation after the war based on Catholic social teaching.
The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church added that nowadays, healing means, first of all, “rebuilding the Ukrainian people’s trust in democratic values.”
“We, as a people, want to rebuild the values of democracy. But of course, we also have to face the great challenge of rebuilding human and social relationships. So, in addition to international relations, the topic is how to heal the wounds caused by the war between Ukrainians and Russians.”
He added: “We seek answers. We see this will be a long process of reconciliation. And there are conditions for reconciliation, which are understandable. The Ukrainian population is susceptible to external imposition of peace or forced reconciliation. This is not peace. It is just the destruction of a smaller state by a stronger state.”
Conditions for peace
According to the major archbishop, “the Russian people must realize that the Ukraine exists, admit the Ukrainian state’s right to resistance, and reconcile with the reality that the Ukrainian people have their history, language, and culture.”
Shevchuk added: “We have the right to exist while preserving our identity as a political, non-exclusive, but inclusive nation, as seen by the fact that Jewish communities proclaim themselves Ukrainian citizens (our president is of Jewish origin) and the head of civil administration and Mykolaiv’s military is a Korean, the famous Kim.”
In the end, he said, “Russia must recognize the existence of this reality of Ukraine. If, on the other hand, Russia speaks to Ukraine in the language of ultimatums, there can be no peace process.”
After that, “we must truly seek justice because authentic peace without justice does not exist. We must discover the whole truth, even if it is crude, and I am also talking about the violence that took place at the hands of Russia in the martyr cities of Ukraine. Even in these latest events, truth-based justice is a step towards future reconciliation.”
According to Shevchuk, “We must not reconcile geopolitical ideas or views or proposed formulas of an illusory peace. Instead, we must reconcile hearts and people, and we know that reconciliation between people requires constant spiritual and moral work.”
“It is a work that will truly last for a long time, and we cannot say how long it will take to heal hearts.”
In conclusion, the Major Archbishop of the Greek Catholic Church showed himself hopeful, despite everything.
“I have hope. My hope is not an illusion or an escape from a cruel reality. It is a hope in the Lord. When we do not know what will become of us, we can draw on the strength of God, which is the strongest of all, and which is Wisdom itself. When we do not know how we will live in two or three months, we must not be too agitated because not man but God is the master of time and space. If we live with hope in God, we live hope.”
He concluded: “The world without God is doomed to death. Illnesses, and wars, are visible signs of death present in the flesh of a world that has rejected God. Therefore, we must bring God back into this world.”
Andrea Gagliarducci is an Italian journalist for Catholic News Agency and Vatican analyst for ACI Stampa. He is a contributor to the National Catholic Register.