CV NEWS FEED // In a recent interview, Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halych offered his reflections on the state of Ukraine as a whole, and its relationship with Christianity two years into the ongoing war with Russia.
“Many Ukrainians are rediscovering that we are Christians as a nation, and to believe in God means to have a special vitality which gives us a special resilience in this situation,” the archbishop told Aleteia News in an exclusive interview last week.
Coupled with this desire to lean into its Christian identity, the archbishop stated that despite the “pain of the wounds caused by the war,” which “are growing,” Ukraine has had a resurgence of a national, cultural “consciousness.”
“Today, this new society was born, a new nation with consciousness that we are an independent country, an independent nation, that we are different,” Shevchuk said:
We are rediscovering the millennium of our statehood. We are rediscovering the importance of speaking Ukrainian, the importance of preserving our cultural identity.
Describing his own experience, Shevchuk emphasized the almost “sacramental” importance of being “present” to his people. “Even if you can not do too much,” he said, “you cannot even explain why it’s happening right now for those people, even if you have empty hands, it is important to be there, to be present.”
He continued:
Maybe what I’m telling you is my personal experience — of the wounded person who’s trying to overcome his own fear, to find God in the midst of the pain, adversity, grief and sorrow. But that is our spiritual treasure that we are gathering, collecting right now as a people of faith.
Ukraine’s growth in its national and Christian identity is an act of faith, from which hope has sprung “as a consequence,” he said, before adding that “hope always brings love,” which is necessary for the “healing and transformation” of wounds.
“If you will only collect the pain and wounds and the other things in your heart with no transformation of this energy into the good deeds of love, charity, solidarity, this energy will blow up inside of you,” he said. “But if you will transform this psychological trauma into positive activity, helping the others, you will help yourself.”
Ultimately, the archbishop asserted that the reconciliation between Russia and Ukraine must go beyond “simply coordinating our way of understanding the reality,” of the conflict, or by signing a peace agreement.
“We can more or less reconcile our ideas about how we will live in the future,” Shevchuk said:
But that will be the simple reconciliation of our mental categories. The reconciliation and forgiveness we are talking about is the reconciliation of the hearts, reconciliation of the human persons, the re-establishment and healing of human relationships.
Concluding, the archbishop noted that reaching a resolution is “a process of healing human hearts,” which cannot be rushed, and called on the faithful to pray: “We cannot miss this important message of the Apostle Paul to be a people of peace and reconciliation with God and our neighbors.”
