"I'm not saying everyone in Ukraine is a saint, but we've realized what it means to be a nation," - Borys Gudziak

Archbishop and Metropolitan of Philadelphia, Borys Gudziak, expressed this sentiment in an interview with Voice of America.

"We see that the unity of people is very challenging. A man and a woman find it difficult to live together, as do siblings and political parties. In the Church, as Christians, we are people of flesh and blood. But the process is currently positive.

In general, we are morally uplifting ourselves in all matters. I try to explain in different countries where I speak: look, in Ukraine, there are 6 million internally displaced persons. But they do not live in large refugee camps in some concentrated way. The poor people accommodated even poorer people among themselves. No one died of hunger. Despite the fact that 40% of the power grid was damaged last winter, no one froze," the hierarch of the UGCC noted.

The Metropolitan pointed out that in Ukraine, no one is left alone with their problems.

"I am far from canonizing everyone in Ukraine and the whole of Ukraine. But we have opened ourselves to the pain of our neighbor. This is extraordinary. We have realized that this is what it means, and we increasingly realize what it means to be a nation," he emphasized.

"Look at the growth of our president. I do not think he was on the Maidan in 2004 or in 2013-2014. Every person has the right to growth, to development. Moreover, today, he is a great spokesperson for our, I would say, national distinctiveness. I do not think he could have ever imagined it for himself. This is a sign of how we are growing," added Borys Gudziak.