UGCC Head: I am perturbed that brutal pressure and rough force are being accepted as methods of solving state, social and political issues

His Beatitude Sviatoslav raised the issue of the “unnecessary” person who gained distinct attributes in the 20^th century. He also mentioned  the “unnecessary person” in his Christmas homily because today, according to UGCC Head, the  phantoms of totalitarianism are returning – totalitarian ideology is finding its way into the Euro-Asian sphere of thinking as well as, unfortunately, also in the Ukrainian sphere.

“We are concerned,” said UGCC Head, “about the peculiar radicalism of society. Someone may say that the success of radical powers and groupings is an attempt by Ukrainians to pressure the government.  Others say that it is to some degree an expression of the despair of Ukrainian society. Both neither one nor the other cannot be non-concerning. But what worries me as a Christian is that somewhere the brutal pressure or rough force is becoming an accepted method of resolving state, social and political problems.  We can never acquiesce to this. You cannot solve certain issues of a democratic society by demeaning or disregarding rights and freedoms of some part of our society.”

“I remember,” he continues, “what motto was adapted by the Polish people during the uprising against tsarist Russia in 1830:  “For our and your freedom.” This same motto was inscribed on the flag of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. If today we say to our people “For our, but not your, freedom,” them we are on the wrong road.  And therefore every Church  always attempts and will continue to attempt to point out the significance of human dignity even if that person, perhaps, upholds other principles, belongs to another nationality, to another religion.  Since every totalitarian regime to a certain degree creates their phenomenon of the “unnecessary person” – someone becomes “unnecessary” simply because they do not fall within someone’s narrow corporative framework.  And this is an absolutely wrong road towards the development of a civil society,” emphasized UGCC Primate.