“Our Nation Will Not Surrender Its Cultural, Religious, and Social Freedom,” UGCC Head in Canada
On February 25, 2025, in Toronto, Canada, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, Father and Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, delivered a speech at the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies at Saint Michael’s University. He appealed to the international community to unwaveringly back Ukraine in its struggle for a just peace and emphasized the moral responsibility of the Western world in countering Russian aggression.
The lecture of the Head of the UGCC at the Andrey Sheptytsky Institute was moderated by the eminent historian and publicist Timothy Snyder.
At the outset, the Head of the UGCC on behalf of all Ukrainians expressed his deep gratitude to the entire Canadian people for their support, “the goodwill and hope Canada has shown us.”
“Today, we are on the threshold of another year of air raid sirens, another year of carnage, terror and death. What will make Putin renounce his plans: plans to annihilate my people, my country, my Church? After three years of war, I can answer with confidence—only our moral purity, our unity in courage and our joint decisive actions, by the grace of God,” said His Beatitude Sviatoslav.
He thanked Canada for harboring nearly 300,000 displaced Ukrainians and for financial aid for Ukraine’s defense, economy, and humanitarian efforts. The Head of the UGCC stated that “a just peace for Ukraine requires not only material support, but also an unwavering commitment to the defense of the truth.”
“Today Ukraine is paying a high price for its freedom, for the honor of its name. For centuries, Russian propaganda has sought to erase our national identity, convincing the West that Ukraine is a ‘failed state’. But we know that if there is no Ukraine, there will be no truth, and the world will once again be in the darkness of imperial evil,” the Father and Head of the UGCC emphasized.
His Beatitude Sviatoslav also focused on the humanitarian crimes committed by Russians in the occupied territories. He added that “the desire of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church to be close to our people on the front line comes at a very high price and is in great danger.”
Referring to the Appeal of the Permanent Synod of the UGCC on the Third Anniversary of the War, the Head of the UGCC repeated: “Ukrainians will never revert to the colonial subjugation. Ukrainians will never submit to the genocidal policies. Our people will not give in to their cultural, religious and social freedom. Ukrainians will never sacrifice their children.”
In conclusion, His Beatitude Sviatoslav called on Canadian society to undertake three key steps: to defend the truth, to pray and to help.
“If we jointly pursue these three activities—defending, praying and helping—as the one Body of Christ, we will stand firm against the darkness that comes with lies and violence and preach with unwavering confidence: Evil will not win. Truth, love and justice will triumph,” the Father and Head of the UGCC summarized.
Timothy Snyder, an American historian and writer, in his speech emphasized the significance of truth in Russia’s war against Ukraine, dividing it into two aspects: objective (factual events) and subjective (the lived experience of a community at war). Snyder pointed out that “the war began because of the denial of both factual truths and the right of Ukrainians to exist as a nation, and the inability of others to recognize the courage of Ukrainians often begets lies.” He concluded his speech by reading a poem of Ostap Slyvynsky that emphasizes the experience of war, which cannot be explained to those who have not lived through it.
The UGCC Department for Information
