Support Ukraine

An Open Letter to Protestors in Russia

An Open Letter to Protestors in Russia

We will speak plainly: today the word “Russia” provokes in us Ukrainians both anger and hatred. Indeed, we await justice from Heaven, meaning—victory for Ukraine and the defeat of Russia. Russia’s spiritual defeat, however, is already obvious and immense; she is “great” today only in the blood she sheds and in the lies she spreads.

We wish we could make a distinction between the criminal government of the Russian Federation and Russia’s people, but, alas, those in Russia who approve of this war and who are bent on eradicating Ukraine’s imaginary “fascists” are many, and such people did not just appear overnight. Gazing upon the destroyed homes and the mangled corpses of children littering our land, we find it difficult to engage in abstractions and to be nuanced. 

Nevertheless, we are Christians, and so our pain cannot drown out the words of Holy Scripture:

“Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” And the Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.” (Gen. 18:23-26).

You who are protesting all throughout Russia today are far more than just fifty people. Counting only those who have been jailed and have become victims of police despotism, the number runs already into the thousands; and of those who await freedom and respect for human dignity in Russia, the number is rather in the millions. That is why your protest against the criminal regime of Vladimir the Accursed, who kills your children and destroys their future, is a ray of hope—to us and to all people of goodwill throughout the world—for the transformation of Russia. What matters most is that you have overcome your fear and broken the chains of Evil in order to stand on the side of Good, risking your lives and your safety, which in Russia today is only illusory. For this, we thank you. We will find within ourselves the strength to pray for you, and God will attend to your cry and increase your ranks. For your freedom, and for ours! 

The Lord keep you and preserve you!

 

On behalf of the Ukrainian Catholic University community,
Rector Fr. Bohdan Prakh

March 7th, 2022

Lviv

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