“Up in arms, she sacrifices her life for her Motherland, alongside our male heroes. She is fighting heroically on the front lines of humanitarian aid. She is a heroine, a guardian of human life in the Ukraine war, a guardian of family comfort and hearth. She is a foster mother who protects her children when they are on the road as refugees or forced to leave their homeland,” as stated by the Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, in his daily address on the 52nd day of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
That’s according to the UGCC Information Department.
“We have heard various intercepts of occupiers’ calls where the wife of a Russian soldier encourages him to rape Ukrainian women to make him feel better… We see how recklessly Russian women expect reward for their killed or wounded husbands,” said the first hierarch.
Therefore, in his message, the UGCC head focused on God’s ninth commandment, which says, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife.” According to the bishop, this Commandment protects dignity of a person, who has been created in His image and likeness. This commandment tells us that man can never be reduced to the level of a thing, to a mere object of desire.
“This God’s law, this word of God,” the Head of the UGCC believes, “especially protects the dignity of women. After all, a woman is not a man’s property. A woman can never be the object of desire, commerce, or, worse, humiliation. A person can never be an instrument for a third goal, it can never be something that can be so easily sacrificed to achieve a political, economic, or consumer goal.
“How important it is for us today to defend human dignity and that of women!” the Primate emphasized. According to Sviatoslav, during the war, we see how the enemy is harassing women the most.
“Today we pray for Ukrainian women and want to express our honor to them so that God’s law will continue to side with the life of Ukraine, our Mother,” the Head of the UGCC concluded.
