Head of the UGCC on the Holodomor: ‘The wound that was inflicted on the Ukrainian people touched the foundation of all humainty

On November 26, the day of special prayers for the repose of the souls of all who perished during the famine of 1932-1933, PatriarchSviatoslav (Shevchuk), head of the UGCC, and Bishop Bohdan (Dziurakh), Secretary of the Synod of Bishops, took part in the nationalmemorial prayer. The joint prayer was held in the National Museum Memorial in Commemoration of Famines’ Victims in Ukraine. Before the memorial service about 5 thousand people walked passed the memorial to children, dead and unborn in 1932-1933, from theArsenal metro station to the Memorial to the victims of the Holodomor. The prayer started around 3 p.m. It was attended by representatives of various Christian churches, public representatives, and witnesses of the tragedy. At 4 p.m. there was a nationwide minute of silence, and at4:01 began a nationwide campaign Light a Candle of Memory. “The tragedy of the Holodomor has extended far beyond a single nation. The international community responds in a special way to the genocide that took place among different people: Jews, Armenians, the people of Rwanda. The wound that was inflicted on the Ukrainian people touched the foundation of all humanity. It is a crime against the entire world community,” said Patriarch Sviatoslav in a comment to Radio Voskresinnia, speaking about the importance of international recognition of the deliberate famine in Ukraine. According to the patriarch, since the famine goes beyond one nation, the world community should know about the Ukrainian genocide in order to prevent such a world tragedy from happening in the future. “In my opinion, the whole truth about the famine has not been told because we do not even know the total number of victims killed. It is known that there are certain forces that silence the truth, that are looking to benefit from this,” said the head of the UGCC. But he assured that the remembrance of the Holodomor is not intended as revenge: it is necessary for healing the memory of Ukrainian people. Patriarch Sviatoslav said that the Christian conscience calls to resist the hiding of the truth about the Holodomor. “The truth must be truth that delivers, because Jesus Christ says: ‘Know the truth and the truth will set you free.’”  

UGCC Information Department