Ukraine is sending its largest-ever delegation to a gathering of politically influential Christian leaders in Washington this week, searching for to put out an argument that defending spiritual freedom is a powerful motive for persevering with U.S. assist to withstand Russian aggression.
The Ukrainian pastors, members of Parliament and army chaplains who will likely be attending the Nationwide Prayer Breakfast say they hope the message of combating spiritual persecution will resonate with the Trump administration officers and members of Congress who’re positive to even be there.
The prayer breakfast, a serious occasion on Washington’s social calendar since 1953, presents a possibility for enterprise executives, spiritual leaders and diplomats to jockey for entry to influential coreligionists in authorities to sway insurance policies. Whereas the assembly is open to all faiths, its function, in line with its web site, is ”gathering collectively within the Spirit of Jesus of Nazareth.”
The Ukrainians will argue to these gathered that additional Russian advances would broaden a zone of repression of a number of Christian denominations, in addition to the destruction and looting of churches and the arrests of pastors and monks — actions that rights teams have documented in areas already beneath Russian occupation.
“Russia doesn’t simply kill folks, doesn’t simply destroy our cities — Russia additionally destroys and bans spiritual communities” in areas beneath its management, stated Roman Lozynskyi, a member of Parliament with the opposition Holos Get together.
Mr. Lozynskyi is a member of the Greek Catholic Church, a part of a department referred to as Jap Ceremony Catholicism that follows the Vatican, that’s persecuted in Russian-held components of Ukraine. He recalled the deportation of a buddy and Greek Catholic priest within the Russian-held metropolis of Melitopol for example of the suppression of Catholic congregations beneath occupation.
Greater than 100 Ukrainian pastors, politicians, army chaplains and monks, together with the pinnacle of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Epiphanius I, are in Washington for the prayer breakfast on Thursday and associated occasions by way of the week, stated Pavlo Unguryan, a former Parliament member organizing the Ukrainian effort.
Ukrainian Orthodox monks and parishes are among the many targets in japanese Ukraine. An estimated 50 monks in Russian-occupied territories — together with probably the most senior church official in Kherson, who refused to hitch the Russian Orthodox Church — have been killed over the past three years, Metropolitan Epiphanius I stated in an interview. Different monks have been compelled to depart or to have a good time Mass in secret.
The Ukrainians additionally intend to spotlight the plight of evangelicals, stated Mr. Unguryan, who’s Baptist. Inside its borders, Russia has focused evangelical Christians with investigations and has arrested Jehovah Witnesses. The repression extends to occupied Ukraine.
“Ukraine is the middle of the Bible Belt of Europe,” stated Mr. Unguryan, and expressions of evangelical religion there at the moment are beneath menace. About a million Ukrainians attend evangelical providers weekly, he stated.
Russia occupies about 19 p.c of Ukrainian territory and is making slow but steady gains. Ukraine is defending itself in fierce trench combating alongside an about 600-mile entrance.
“Part of this struggle is non secular,” Mr. Unguryan stated. “It is necessary for America to learn about this.”
The Ukrainians attending the prayer breakfast wish to showcase the vitality of Christian church buildings within the nation, the place about 70 p.c of the inhabitants say in surveys they’re spiritual.
The hassle is aimed toward swaying supporters of Mr. Trump, who has voiced skepticism in regards to the Biden administration’s heavy army and monetary assist to Ukraine. This week Mr. Trump stated continued assist could possibly be exchanged for U.S. access to Ukrainian minerals.
Earlier spiritual outreaches in america have already yielded outcomes for Ukraine.
Final summer time, the speaker of the Home, Mike Johnson, gave a video tackle to a Christian gathering in Ukraine. Ukrainian Baptists have appealed to him for army and diplomatic assist for his or her nation. Mr. Johnson is a Southern Baptist who has put his conservative Christian religion on the heart of his political profession.
Ukrainian church buildings and the nation’s Parliament have despatched delegations to the breakfast because the early 2000s, however lately have ramped up attendance, calling the annual go to “Ukraine Week” in Washington. In previous years, a number of dozen spiritual and political leaders turned up. The bigger delegation this yr, Mr. Unguryan stated, is in recognition of the significance of Christianity for a lot of supporters of Mr. Trump.
“These are completely essential points which may unite Ukraine, a really conservative, Christian nation, with a really conservative, Christian America,” stated Mr. Unguryan, who has promoted conservative social insurance policies in Ukraine.
Ukrainian protestant pastors have volunteered broadly as army chaplains through the struggle, Liudmyla Filipovych, a Ukrainian scholar of faith, stated in an interview. Ukrainian evangelicals have opened about 100 church buildings in different European nations to offer Ukrainian-language providers to the nation’s refugees, she stated.
Russia beneath President Vladimir V. Putin has sidelined or banned church buildings outdoors what the Kremlin has known as the 4 “conventional” religions — Orthodox Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Buddhism. Russia is on a U.S. authorities listing of “nations of specific concern” for limiting freedom of faith.
In occupied territory in Ukraine’s east and south, Catholic and Protestant church buildings face “threats, interrogations and arbitrary arrests,” in line with a report launched in January by Mission Eurasia, a bunch selling evangelical Christianity in former Soviet States.
“The Russian occupation authorities have additionally extensively engaged in unlawful imprisonment and convictions on fabricated fees of extremism, torture and even homicide,” the report stated. It described situations of closing and looting church buildings, and eradicating their crosses. General, Russia’s invasion has destroyed, broken or led to the looting of at the least 630 spiritual websites, the report stated.
Metropolitan Epiphanius’s go to to Washington is a part of his efforts to win worldwide recognition of his church and assist from spiritual leaders for its stand in opposition to Russia. His church gained independence in 2019 from the Russian Orthodox Church, however some congregations continued to comply with the hierarchy in Moscow.
Final yr, Ukraine banned the Orthodox branch aligned with the Russian Church, drawing criticism from the Kremlin and from Pope Francis. Ukrainian officers have stated the restrictions had been essential, as some monks served as Russian spies or inspired congregants to hope for the pinnacle of the Russian church, which has blessed the invasion.
“The Russian church has tried to dam our exercise overseas, and we try to unblock it, as a result of the church is without doubt one of the most essential components for the way forward for the existence of the Ukrainian state,” Metropolitan Epiphanius, the Ukrainian church chief, stated in an interview in December in Rome. “We try to destroy these blocks, talking the reality, as a result of reality destroys the partitions.”
Just lately, he has preached that message to as many non secular leaders as he can attain. He says he talks commonly to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, the non secular chief of the world’s Orthodox Christians.
With discussions swirling amongst Western officers over easy methods to negotiate an finish to the struggle, Metropolitan Epiphanius stated the end result for Ukraine was unpredictable, however he left little doubt of his hopes for Ukraine’s future.
“We imagine that God might create the miracle, the identical as he created a miracle for Syria, and Assad left Syria,” he stated. “We ask all people for the non secular weapons, the prayers.”
