Patriarch Lubomyr: “The real, final victory will become possible if we all will behave as people should”
KYIV – On the days of prayer on May 9 and 16, 2010, Patriarch Lubomyr (Husar), the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), addressed the faithful and all people of good will. In his address, which was published by the Information Department of the UGCC, the primate brings attention to two events – the celebrations of the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II and the final victory over the Hitler regime as well as the Day of Rememberance of the Victims of Political Repressions, which this year falls on Sunday, May 16.
“The real, final victory will become possible if we all, in the full value of this word, will behave as people should. All other victories are only partial or imaginary and will never bring real peace to all,” reads the address. The patriarch calls “to thank God that military operations are over and that our Ukrainian nation and other nations were rescued from the danger of the Nazi’s ‘new order.’” At the same time, the address states, “with prayer we must remember the warriors who gave their lives to liberate their native land; the captives who were mercilessly exterminated; the peaceful civilians who became victims of the military years; all who suffered and perished in the death camps; those who were violently taken into forced labor far from their native land; veterans who survived the war and in the last decades passed away; and, certainly, also those who remain with us as living witnesses of the difficult fight for freedom of our nation.”
As the head of the church states, although recognizing the victory is limited to the military operations of 1941-1945, our prayers and thoughts should cover a greater period and include World War I. “The economic and political, and mainly – moral crisis that was brought on by WWI, created a favorable condition for the distribution of totalitarian ideologies of ‘Leninism-Stalinism,’ and later – ‘Hitlerism,’” explains Patriarch Lubomyr.
“Although for the past 65 years we celebrate the victory of the war, there is no feeling that the victory brought deep and extended peace because almost the entire second half of the 20th century for our Ukrainian nation, as well as for other nearby nations, was a period of new opposition and cruel trials,” continues the head of the UGCC. A purpose of thinking about the victory over the Hitler regime, the head of the Greek Catholics sees is to understand as much as possible what happened in the souls of the people who lived in those times, and how that which happened affects us today: “We want to do this because we feel the influence of past on today, which is not always positive and beneficial. Therefore we ask in the Lord to help us look at the past through the eyes of faith and to build the future on the basis of faith,” stresses the address.
“We know that in the difficult times of persecution people behaved variously,” Patriarch Lubomyr notes and carefully remembers those who used all worldly goods and privileges and acted with impunity toward people, those who from either fear or from the desire to please the authority used their talents and abilities to act unjustly, and also the largest group of people who were unjustly oppressed and intimidated by the behavior of the powerful of this world who tried to survive and avoid persecution by passivity. As the head of the UGCC expresses, we need have deep sympathy for those who were part of these three groups, and to pray deeply for them: “They were in our bitter past. However, even today some of them try to return this past or helplessly allow others to do it.”
As the primate notices, “we do not wish to judge anyone; everyone should ask him or herself about the state of their conscience in order to reconcile with God and with others. But we should be sure about the following: we can dream about a better future only when we overcome the faults of the past. And this cannot happen without prayer and conscientious work. Therefore we have to beg the Lord for His grace. And only then, when to we are cleansed from the heavy inheritance of the totalitarian regime, when with God’s help we overcome our infirmity, will we be able to celebrate the real victory.” “After the death of Jesus Christ, when it seemed that His mission had failed, those who did not believe in His resurrection wanted in number of ways to bring everything into oblivion. However, the apostles and those who trusted Christ said: ‘We must obey God rather than men’ (Acts 5:29).” This address to the Holy Scripture His Beatitude Lubomyr continues with: “During the ages, and especially in the last 20th century, there were many temptations to listen to men: ‘Lenins,” “Stalins,” “Hitlers,” rather than to live in God’s way. Those godless, misanthropic regimes failed, but still not definitely. Complete victory will come when we take to heart the brave words of the apostles and listen obey God rather than men.”
In conclusion, the head of the UGCC states: “On May 9 and 16 we will widely remember the past. On these days we also need to pray and work for a better and peaceful future.”
