“If we do not foster a culture of life in Ukraine, do not foster a state of life, then what are we fighting for?” — His Beatitude Sviatoslav
The International Summit “Ukraine: Life. Dignity. Victory” was held in Kyiv, dedicated to the main priorities of Ukraine’s future — protecting human life and dignity and protecting children and families. The event was attended by representatives of Ukraine’s government, churches, and the public sector and invited guests from the United States. His Beatitude Sviatoslav, the Father and Head of the UGCC, delivered the closing remarks of the first part of the discussion.
“For more than six months now, various summits, conferences, and meetings have been held in various segments of our society, including social elites, to discuss one thing: what will Ukraine be like after the victory? No one doubts that we will win, and today we are working on a project of Ukraine after our inevitable victory,” the Head of the UGCC emphasized. — There are various distinct projects envisioned for Ukraine’s future. After one of these summits, one of the organizers told me something worth noting: ‘In the future project of Ukraine, there will be no traditional values because traditional means backward, past, and we need a Ukraine of the future. We do not see any significant social role for the church or other traditional institutions. All this should be left to the private and personal sphere.’”
To summarize what was said and heard during the several hours of discussion, His Beatitude Sviatoslav told an anecdote that illustrates the different concepts of the value of a person and their life that exist in the modern world: “To fulfill this impossible mission of summarizing all this in five minutes, I will use the methodology of an English anecdote so that you can remember something from this discussion. I heard this anecdote in England, in Manchester, in one of our parishes. After one of the meetings, there was a discussion during which the Anglican pastor told me this anecdote. It is about a meeting of three clergymen meet: a Catholic priest, an Anglican pastor, and a rabbi, and they discuss the question: when does human life begin?
This anecdote tells a story of three classic positions voiced in today’s discussion. The first position sees the question of the beginning or dignity of human life only within the so-called hedonistic culture, which produces its own philosophies. And when human life can become not a blessing but a problem-when, a child’s life can become an obstacle to exercising unlimited personal freedom. The second position is limited only by the boundaries of civil law, state law, which defines who is a subject who has rights, and therefore answers the question of whether we can protect their rights. And the third position, which representatives of science voiced: we hear that human life begins long before a child is born. That, indeed, the moment of conception is when a dignified being belonging to human nature has the right to life.
These three perspectives are constantly clashing in contemporary discussions around the world. The answer to these questions will be something that will determine the future of our country.”
His Beatitude Sviatoslav emphasized that the development of civil legislation in Ukraine should be based on natural law and science and not on fashionable hedonistic theories and trends already exhausting themselves in the modern world: “How is the development of civil law in Ukraine going? If our lawmakers base their legislation on various modern theories, philosophies, or even ideologies that come from the purely hedonistic culture of the rich West, there will be many people who will not have the right to live. And the first victim will be the unborn child, and thus the dignity of the couple and the value of the family. If civil law is based on natural law, if our lawmakers listen to scientists, then the development of our civil law will indeed protect the rights of unborn children.”
Reference
The purpose of the International Summit “Ukraine: Life. Dignity. Victory”, which took place in Kyiv on June 9, was to focus on the main priorities of national security: family policy of the state, protection of children’s lives, support for fatherhood and motherhood. Over 8 million Ukrainians (primarily women and children) have become refugees worldwide in the last year and a half alone. Thousands of Ukrainian men are being killed and maimed while defending our land. And while the military is defending the country and families, others on the home front are promoting destructive ideas about human identity and fundamental values, including the family.
The event is initiated by Chalice of Mercy, a charitable foundation founded by Ukrainian Valentyna Pavsiukova (USA). Among the organizers is the Protez Foundation, one of the world’s largest philanthropic foundations for prosthetics and rehabilitation of Ukrainian military, civilians, and children.
The UGCC Department for Information
