“One cannot speak of the existence of a civil society in a totalitarian system” - UGCC Head

Thursday, 14 February 2013, 20:23
UGCC Head, His Beatitude Sviatoslav (Shevchuk), met on February 8th with representatives of the Alliance of Christian Professionals at St. Basil the Great Church in Kyiv.

UGCC Head, His Beatitude Sviatoslav (Shevchuk), met on February 8th with representatives of the Alliance of Christian Professionals at St. Basil the Great Church in Kyiv.

During the meeting the Church Primate discussed with Christian professionals how one can bring Christian principles into society, which methods should be adapted in developing civil society in our country and how the Alliance can contribute towards the well-being of the country.

UGCC Head expressed his understanding of a civil society.  “Today there is much discussion about civil society… In my opinion, a civil society is a society of free people.  One cannot speak of the existence of a civil society in a totalitarian system” - UGCC Head

“Why am I talking about free people, said the Church head. Because it is only a free person who can feel responsible for the society in which he or she lives.    And when in Ukrainian society the rights of citizens begin to disappear – the voice of the civil society begins to grow silent.”

“In my opinion, freedom is a spiritual category.  And when we talk about civil society or about our in this society as a Christian, we should examine the issue of freedom specifically from the Christian side,” states His Beatitude Sviatoslav.

February 9th marks the fiftieth anniversary of the freeing of Patriarch Josyf (Slipyi) from incarceration.  UGCC Primate focused the attention of the participants on the issue of prisoners of conscience.  “I was always struck by the fact that our dissidents, regardless of the outer incarceration, always remained free people.  Why so?  Because they were Christians. Inner freedom is the result of faith,” stated the Church Head.

In discussing the topic of civil society, His Beatitude Sviatoslav described how at the beginning of this year he answered one hundred questions by youth from different corners of Ukraine and the world.  “Among these questions, there was one which forced me to think more deeply.  The question was:  is it worthwhile for us, Christians, to involve ourselves in evangelizing a society that has many problems or might it be more useful for us to create our own alternative society?  I answered:    “in the Gospel, Christ says that the Kingdom of God is akin to the yeast which the cook puts into the dough and waits for it to rise.  That is, yeast in itself has no value.  It only has value when it begins to ferment some bigger entity,” said the Church Primate.

 

UGCC Department of Information

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