We, Greco-Catholic bishops, clergy, and lay people, scholars and researchers from various countries, express our sincere gratitude and recognition for your letter in which you rightly call this gathering a “pseudo-synod.”
You call upon the Orthodox hierarchy in Russia and Ukraine to “recognize the invalidity of the tragic decisions” and assure the Ukrainian Greco-Catholic Church (UGCC) of your solidarity and prayer “for all the innocent victims of this Church who were imprisoned, tortured, deported and assassinated by the Soviet government with the complicity of the Patriarchate of Moscow.”
The Lord is the God of peace, and therefore a sense of earthly peace gives us a vivid foretaste of the Kingdom of Heaven. When we reconcile with one another, it can be said that we confirm the continuing power of Christ’s words: “So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matt 5:23–24). This year your Easter gift will be dear to the Lord. We hope that He also gives us His mercy.
We sincerely admire your courage, because it is difficult to be the first — and it is even harder to remain alone. One can always encounter suspicion and mistrust from the other side and misunderstanding and lack of support from one’s own. We are convinced that your Appeal reflects the true opinion and convictions of many Orthodox throughout the world. So today we remember with gratitude all those individual expressions of compassion, understanding, and solidarity with the Church that was condemned to silence; these expressions resounded throughout all the previous decades and still sound today. Almost simultaneously with your Appeal, the Press Centre of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kyivan Patriarchate) said that they “share the grief of the Ukrainian Greco-Catholics through the suffering and loss that they suffered as a result of Soviet repressions.” Both of these initiatives appeared within the context of the recent pursuit of Eucharistic unity between Orthodox and Greco-Catholics, which began last year at the proposal of the Sobor of the Kharkiv-Poltava Eparchy of the renewed Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.
Weiter auf news.ugcc.ua
You call upon the Orthodox hierarchy in Russia and Ukraine to “recognize the invalidity of the tragic decisions” and assure the Ukrainian Greco-Catholic Church (UGCC) of your solidarity and prayer “for all the innocent victims of this Church who were imprisoned, tortured, deported and assassinated by the Soviet government with the complicity of the Patriarchate of Moscow.”
The Lord is the God of peace, and therefore a sense of earthly peace gives us a vivid foretaste of the Kingdom of Heaven. When we reconcile with one another, it can be said that we confirm the continuing power of Christ’s words: “So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matt 5:23–24). This year your Easter gift will be dear to the Lord. We hope that He also gives us His mercy.
We sincerely admire your courage, because it is difficult to be the first — and it is even harder to remain alone. One can always encounter suspicion and mistrust from the other side and misunderstanding and lack of support from one’s own. We are convinced that your Appeal reflects the true opinion and convictions of many Orthodox throughout the world. So today we remember with gratitude all those individual expressions of compassion, understanding, and solidarity with the Church that was condemned to silence; these expressions resounded throughout all the previous decades and still sound today. Almost simultaneously with your Appeal, the Press Centre of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kyivan Patriarchate) said that they “share the grief of the Ukrainian Greco-Catholics through the suffering and loss that they suffered as a result of Soviet repressions.” Both of these initiatives appeared within the context of the recent pursuit of Eucharistic unity between Orthodox and Greco-Catholics, which began last year at the proposal of the Sobor of the Kharkiv-Poltava Eparchy of the renewed Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.
Weiter auf news.ugcc.ua