The Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan Epifaniy, has called on believers to value the sovereignty of their country.
He also mentioned that the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine was signed on July 16, 1990, and that today the people of Ukraine are defending it from Russia.
“Unfortunately, often people only really start to value something once they realize they might lose it. Our aggressor neighbor proved this to us by posing an instant threat to such seemingly familiar and understandable things to us: sovereignty, territorial inviolability, democratic society, the rule of human rights and freedoms, and security of the people, their free cultural and spiritual development… Thirty-one years ago, the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian SSR enshrined these defining principles in a fateful document – the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine,” Metropolitan Epifaniy wrote on Facebook.
He noted that this document then launched the founding of an independent and sovereign Ukraine – the realization of the great dream that the Ukrainian people have sought for centuries.
“With God’s help, this dream has come true, and in these few decades we have become truly independent, unique, and strengthened. We’ve gained multiple achievements and accomplishments. We have learned to value them. And we know how to defend them, too,” the OCU head added.
“So we will not give up what was so hard for us to get. There is no way back. We know where and why we are moving, what we are defending in the undeclared war Russia imposed on us, the one we didn’t want, didn’t initiate, and didn’t provoke. Today we are defending our God-given land, our people, our values, and the heritage of generations. We remain faithful to ourselves and to the Lord, to our state and its principles,” the OCU primate stressed.
Metropolitan Epifaniy urged followers to remember where their modern state independence stems from.
“Let us remember, cherish, protect, and always ask the Lord for a fair peace, unity among ourselves, and God’s blessing for the benefit of our people,” the top cleric concluded.
