Bishop Borys Gudziak Calls on Family and Friends of Security Forces to Help Them Come Round
“I appeal to the wives, mothers, children, neighbors, and friends of all the security forces. Pick up your phones and call your husbands, fathers, sons, sons-in-law, friends, neighbors, and tell them that anyone who gives an order to carry out violence and anyone who commits acts of violence will have to answer for it before God, before the people, before history. Do this favor to the person who is close to you, and who today wears a uniform. Prevent this person from doing something that will leave a stain on his soul, his children, grandchildren, his whole family. Today you have not only a chance, but also a great responsibility – everyone who knows someone who is in a uniform must help him come round. The whole world and the Lord is watching Ukraine now. The Lord says: Woe to him who sheds the blood of a brother,” the president of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, Bishop of Paris Eparchy of St. Volodymyr (Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church) Borys Gudziak said December 9 on Hromadske TV.
He believes that history cannot be made using clubs and shedding blood.
According to the bishop, today there is no better alternative to a dialogue: “The world is saying goodbye to Nelson Mandela. The man waited 27 years, for 27 years was jailed. But through dialogue, through restraint, love, and humor, Mandela changed the continent. This is how Mahatma Gandhi acted and he influenced billions. Martin Luther King changed North America. The paths these people took were difficult; sometimes it was two steps forward and one step back. But we have the examples of those who changed the history of the twentieth century. So I am proud of the Ukrainian youth, because it is changing the course of history.”
The bishop also called on all Ukrainians and in particular young people not to succumb to fear: “Do not fear, only believe, and she (Ukraine) will be resurrected. Be courageous. Our journey to the Promised Land from captivity is not easy. These days are changing your lives, and you will tell your grandchildren how you were on the Maidan, and who through song and prayer you fought against evil,” said the president of UCU, Katolytskyi Ohliadach informs.
