From the Church Times, 1st April 2022

CHURCH leaders in Ukraine have begun talking more convincingly about victory over Russian forces.

The Primate of Ukraine’s independent Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Epiphany (Dumenko), told a Kyiv congregation on Sunday: “Although a heavy cross has fallen upon us, we must bear it with dignity, following Christ until we achieve victory — a spiritual victory over the evil brought to our homeland by the Russian aggressor. . .

“By the power of God’s truth and mercy, by the power of our people’s love, sacrifice, and faith, Ukraine — still wounded, tortured, and crucified by its enemies — will be resurrected.”

The Metropolitan preached as Russian forces continued shelling the capital, as well as Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv, Mariupol, and other cities, despite claims by Moscow last week that it was refocusing its offensive on eastern Ukraine.

He asked: “Have we, as a state and people, done something against Russia which merits this cruelty and murder — did we harbour evil plans against our neighbours, or did we just want to live in our own home as free people?”

He said that soldiers and civilians in hundreds of other towns and villages were still “suffering as martyrs”, despite doing nothing “evil or worthy of punishment”, but said that the Christian faith would give embattled citizens the strength to “take up the common Cross of Ukraine”.

The leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Major Archbishop Svetoslav Shevchuk, said that Russia was waging war “against the entire Ukrainian people”, who were now “united in the goal of defeating the enemy pounding Ukrainian soil”.

Anyone “respecting God’s Commandments” should take Ukraine’s side rather than remaining neutral, he said, as they witnessed Russian forces “looting, robbing, and starving ordinary people”, and “humiliating and raping Ukrainian women in front of their children”.

“We used to talk so much about unity as if it were some kind of dream, and today this dream has become a reality — everyone feels the mandate of his own conscience, to stand, endure, and be victorious,” Archbishop Shevchuk said on Monday.

“When we refer to our country, we mean all of the inhabitants of Ukraine, regardless of national, ethnic, church, or religious affiliation, even if they live beyond its borders. In this national unity, we sense a foretaste of victory.”

Ukrainian and Russian delegations held peace talks in Istanbul this week, as the Kyiv government indicated that it could accept a future neutrality, without joining NATO or hosting military bases, in return for international security guarantees.

On Tuesday, Russia announced that it would “drastically reduce combat operations” around Kyiv and Chernihiv, north-west of the capital, but pressed on with attacks elsewhere, targeting Mykolaiv, a Black Sea port of 500,000 people.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Culture Ministry said that 60 mostly Orthodox churches had been wrecked in eight separate regions by last weekend, along with an undisclosed tally of schools and other church buildings.

It said that the Evangelical Baptist Christ the Saviour Church in Mariupol had recently been completely destroyed by Russian shelling, along with an Evangelical Baptist Bible seminary at Irpen, which was hit by multiple mortars while more than a hundred people sheltered in its basement.

The Greek Catholic Church said that its priests were now holding regular services for Christians hiding in the Kyiv metro, while Orthodox monks and theology students were reported to have given blood for the city’s hospitals.

During a liturgy on Sunday in Kyiv, the Primate of Ukraine’s Moscow-affiliated Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Onufriy (Berezovsky), led prayers for “peace on Ukrainian soil and deliverance from the enemy”, also asking Christ to “guide the authorities, strengthen the courage of soldiers, release prisoners, heal the sick, and shelter those deprived of homes”.

In statements this week, Metropolitan Onufriy’s Church said that it had barricaded Orthodox monuments against blast damage, including Kyiv statues of the medieval Prince Vladimir, and saints Cyril and Methodius, but confirmed that numerous historic Orthodox churches had already been destroyed, including Mariupol’s new hilltop Cathedral of the Archangel Michael, which was devastated by a Russian bomb on 25 March.

Among recent casualties, the Church said that the Rector of St Nicholas’s, Irpen, Archpriest Volodymyr Bormashev, had died at the weekend from bomb injuries, while Bishop Ambrose (Skobiola) of Volnovakha, Vicar-Bishop of Donetsk diocese, had been badly wounded when the Mykola-Vasyliv monastery was shelled near Donetsk.

In his own Sunday sermon, however, preached in the Khoroshevo suburb of Moscow, Russia’s Orthodox Patriarch Kirill made no reference to Ukraine, urging followers instead to look forward to the joy of Easter with its promise of “salvation, redemption, and liberation”.