Thoughts of a Pastor in the Midst of War
Ukraine’s ongoing attack from Russia is now entering its seventeenth month. Russia continues its aggression, in part because it knows Western attention spans can be short and eager to “move on.” There’s nothing Moscow would like better.
As a Polish American, let me tell you: the Central European perspective is different. Poland was continually under Russian occupation for 123 years (1795-1918). It was arguably occupied — with a 21 year exception — for 173 years (until 1989, but for independence from 1918-39). That’s anywhere from six to nine generations of subjugation.
Yet Poles didn’t stop fighting or resisting. Sometimes it was by force (uprisings in 1830, 1863). Sometimes it was non-violently (the Young Poland Movement, Solidarity). Sometimes it took the form of conspiracy (the World War II Polish Underground Army and State). Freedom has staying power with Slavs. I expect that of the Ukrainians.
So, if we are to understand what may be a long struggle, it’s imperative to see the bigger picture. There are political dimensions to the current conflict, but there are also religious ones.
John Burger, a Catholic journalist, has done us a great service in helping explain the religious situation in Ukraine. He is author of a book-length interview with Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk called At the Foot of the Cross: Lessons from Ukraine
Archbishop Shevchuk is the Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Galicia, an office he has held since 2011. He heads the Ukrainian Greek Catholics, one of the rites in the Catholic Church which is in union with the Pope but maintains its own liturgical heritage. Ukrainian Greek Catholics celebrate the Byzantine Divine Liturgy, but they are under the Pope.
