'We have survived each attempt of annihilation, and we live to witness the true Gospel': Ukrainian Archbishop

CBC

04-03-2025

Last week marked the end of the third year of Russia's war in Ukraine.
It also saw two prominent Ukrainian figures fly from Kyiv to North America. One was President Zelensky, who was berated by Donald Trump and JD Vance, in a shocking realignment of American foreign relations.
The other was Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the head of Ukraine's five million Catholics, who was welcomed warmly at the Isabel Bader Theatre at the University of Toronto.
Archbishop Shevchuk grew up practising his faith secretly as it was outlawed under the USSR. He spent Christmas 2024, celebrating Mass in a bunker, amid missile alarms.
In February of this year, Archbishop Shevchuk delivered a public lecture hosted by Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies entitled simply: War, Peace and Truth. In it he makes an impassioned case for seeing Russia's invasion of Ukraine through a faith tradition, and invites the listener to engage in a kind of spiritual resistance against Russia's incursion.
That resistance would include rejecting the concept of Russkiy Mir, a vague term which literally means "Russian world," but amounts to a Russian ideology that would obliterate Ukraine's identity, in part by claiming that Ukraine was always Russian.
Here are excerpts from Archbishop Shevchuk's talk.
Gratitude
"In the great Canadian tradition of welcoming those who have suffered at the hands of violence and evil, Canada has received nearly 300,000 displaced Ukrainians since the beginning of Russia's full scale war against Ukraine.
"I know that [the] USA received a little bit more: 350,000. Your hospitality is and has been outstanding. Your unity as a nation indicates a resolve to welcome the stranger, and to stand against tyranny and international aggression. Your support contributes to achieving a just peace for Ukraine. For the goodwill and hope that Canada has shared with us today. This evening, I express the profound gratitude of all Ukrainians. Thank you very much for being with us."
We are paying the highest price for freedom. But there is no other choice in the face of evil. - Ukrainian Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk
Resistance
"Ukrainians have a legitimate need to uphold a basic moral principle. The defence of one's honour and good name.
"In the Bible, to name means to acknowledge God-given dignity. A name recognizes personhood. To name is to bless. To name is also to bestow a power. When God reveals his name to Moses in the burning bush, he shares with Moses the power that liberates captives. In the New Testament, God takes the name Jesus. Saviour. God saves for the sake of true peace — to tear down the wall of enmity between God and man and between the warring factions in the world."
'Russkiy Mir'
"Russian authorities propagandize the existence of so-called Russkiy Mir, or 'the Russian World.' And as you know, in Russian "world" and "mir" very often has [sic] a meaning of peace. Mir could be translated as 'world' or 'peace.' What kind of peace? That world of Russian propaganda and slavery can give us a future.
"Russia's prolonged aggression into Ukraine aims not simply to conquer territory, but to rewrite history and to instrumentalize [Russian Orthodox] religion as a service of this ideology… To assert the myth of Russkiy Mir requires the eradication of Ukraine… To build its empire, Russia must annihilate the name of Ukraine."
Ukrainian Children
"The war and occupation, [the] abduction of the tens of thousands of Ukrainian children and their brainwashing to hate Ukraine is a constituent element of Russia's Orwellian social policy. Colonialism, now imperialism that resorts to genocidal tragedies, is exactly what today's 'Russian World' [Russkiy Mir] is all about…
"Ukrainians will never return to a colonial status. Never again. Ukrainians will never submit to genocidal policies. Our people will not surrender their culture, religious and social liberty. Ukrainians will never sacrifice their children."
Keeping faith
"If Russia succeeds in occupying Ukraine, our church will be liquidated again. And that is already happening in the occupied territories. In the past three centuries, each time Russia has occupied lands inhabited by Eastern Catholics, they have been forced to convert to Russian Orthodoxy, were driven into exile or sent to perish in a gulag.
"We have survived each attempt of annihilation, and we live to witness the truth of the Gospel. And I am here today as a survivor. In Ukraine… we learn that freedom is never [to be taken] for granted, and right now we are paying the highest price for freedom. But there is no other choice in the face of evil.
"We must continue to speak this truth, defend the sanctity of human life and the honour of our name, of our very identity. We know that great risk is involved, but we maintain our resolve. Trusting in the Lord's promise: you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
Download the IDEAS podcast to listen to this episode.
*Excerpts edited for clarity and length. This episode was produced by Seán Foley and Greg Kelly.
Watch | War, Peace and Truth: An Evening with Sviatoslav Shevchuk and Timothy Snyder