A bishop denounces the persecution of Catholics in Russian-occupied Ukraine

Putin's dictatorship is committing all kinds of human rights violations in the areas of Ukraine it has invaded since 2022.

Russia has attacked nearly 600 Christian churches in Ukraine: what propagandists are keeping quiet about
Russia tortures and murders Christians in Ukraine: what many keep silent about and some applaud

These Russian human rights violations in Ukraine include attacks on religious freedom. The US delegation of the Catholic NGO Aid to the Church in Need has published an interview with Ukrainian Greek Catholic prelate Maksym Ryabukha, Bishop of Stephaniacum and Archiepiscopal Exarch of Donetsk.

Aid to the Church in Need notes about this bishop: "Half of his exarchate – the eastern Christian equivalent of a diocese – is off-limits, occupied by Russian forces. Even the cathedral is closed." In the interview, Bishop Ryabukha, 45, one of the youngest Catholic bishops in the world, outlines the situation of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church: "Before the war, we had over 80 parishes, and now, we have only 37 active parishes. The rest were closed, occupied, or destroyed."

In the interview, Bishop Ryabukha is asked this question: "Is there any Catholic activity in the occupied areas?" This is the response of the Ukrainian Catholic bishop:

"Sadly, no. The laws of the occupation force forbid any affiliation with the Catholic Church, either Greek-Catholic or Latin rite, and it is very difficult to provide any sort of ministry there. My exarchate no longer has any priests in these territories. All our churches have been destroyed, or they are closed and people are not allowed to attend them."

Regarding the situation of his parishioners, Maksym Ryabukha adds the following:

"The worst isn’t the bombs. It’s the feeling of being forgotten, feeling alone, or of being of no value to anybody. I receive word from the occupied territories about the bonds between believers. Despite the fact that their lives are in danger, they feel part of one Church: in support; in personal encounters; when they share their dreams and hopes; when they pray together, even though it is very dangerous, and they cannot do so publicly. These things all give them the strength to keep going."

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is the largest of the Eastern Catholic churches. It uses Church Slavonic as its liturgical language and Ukrainian as its auxiliary language. It was founded in 988 by Prince Vladimir I of kyiv and is part of Orthodox Christianity. This Eastern Church signed its union with Rome in the so-called Union of Brest in 1596 and is currently one of the 24 sui iuris churches that are part of the Catholic Church. Its headquarters are in the city of Kyiv. Monsignor Ryabukha explains the current situation as follows:

"We are two bishops, because there is also an emeritus who lives in the territory. Then, we have 53 priests and eight religious, distributed between four regions. Several of the parishes have family centers, [and] we have seven Caritas centers, homes for religious, and parish groups."

It should be remembered that the Russian invaders are not only persecuting Catholics in occupied Ukraine. As you could read in Counting Stars in March, Russia has attacked almost 600 Christian churches since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. On the other hand, and as you could also read here almost a month ago, the invaders have murdered 67 Christian clergy, kidnapped and tortured priests, and banned Catholic organizations such as Caritas and the Knights of Columbus.

Russia's actions in Ukraine increasingly resemble the Soviet communist dictatorship's practices against religious freedom. Moreover, Vladimir Putin's dictatorship has as allies some of the regimes that most fiercely persecute Christians in the world, such as the Islamist dictatorship of Iran and the communist dictatorships of China, Cuba, and North Korea, which is the country that tops the lists of persecution against Christians every year.

---

Photo: Aid to the Church in Need. Maksym Ryabukha, Bishop of Stephaniacum and Archiepiscopal Exarch of Donetsk.