Ukraine sent the largest delegation ever to a gathering of politically influential Christian leaders in Washington this week, protecting religious freedom continues US aid to resist Russian aggression You are trying to lay out the argument that it is a strong reason.
The Ukrainian pastor, parliamentary members and military pastors attending national prayer breakfasts say they hope that the message to combat religious persecution will resonate with Trump administration officials and members of Congress.
The Prayer Breakfast, a major event on Washington's social calendar since 1953, brings the opportunity for business executives, religious leaders and diplomats to shake up policy for jockeys to access government influential core ligionists. We will provide you. The meeting is open to all faiths, but the purpose, according to its website, is “together together in the spirit of Jesus of Nazareth.”
Ukrainians have seen further advances in Russia expand the zone of oppression of some Christian denominations, destruction and looting of churches, arrests of pastors and priests – actions already documented by rights groups in areas under Russia They would argue that they would expand. Occupation.
“Russia not only kills people, it destroys our cities, it also destroys and bans religious communities,” said Roma Rozinsky, a parliamentary member of the opposition Horos Party. Ta.
Rozinsky is a member of the Greek Catholic Church and is part of a branch known as ritual Catholicism in the Eastern part of the Vatican, which is persecuted in the Ukrainian region of Russia. He recalled the deportation of friends and Greek Catholic priests in the Russian-owned city of Meritpol as an example of the oppression of occupied Catholic congregations.
More than 100 Ukrainian pastors, politicians, military pastors and priests, including head of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine, and the metropolitan city of Epiphanius I, are for events related to Thursday's prayer breakfast and week. I'm in Washington, organizing Ukrainian efforts.
The priests and parishes of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church are one of the targets in eastern Ukraine. An estimated 50 priests in the Russian occupied territories, including officials from the most senior churches who refused to join the Orthodox Church in Russia, have been killed in the past three years, Metropolitan Epiphanius said in an interview. Other priests are forced to leave or celebrate Mass in secret.
Ukrainians also intend to highlight evangelical light-forms, Baptist Ungean said. Within that border, Russia targeted evangelical Christians in its investigation and arrested Jehovah's Witnesses. The restraint extends to occupied Ukraine.
“Ukraine is the heart of the European Bible Belt,” Ungerian said, and the expression of evangelical faith is currently under threat. He said about a million Ukrainians attend evangelical services weekly.
Russia accounts for around 19% of Ukraine's territory and is slowly and steadily making profits. Ukraine defends itself with a fierce trench fighting along the front line of about 600 miles.
“Part of this war is spiritual,” Unguryan said. “It's important for America to know this.”
The Ukrainians attending a prayer breakfast want to showcase the vitality of the country's Christian church.
The effort aims to shake up Trump's supporters who have expressed skepticism about Ukraine about the Biden administration's heavy military and financial aid. This week, Trump said that ongoing aid could be exchanged for access to Ukraine's minerals.
Previous religious outreach in the US has already resulted in Ukraine.
Last summer, home speaker Mike Johnson handed the video address to a Christian gathering in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Baptists appealed to him for military and diplomatic support for their country. Johnson is a Southern Baptist who placed a conservative Christian faith at the heart of his political career.
The Ukrainian Church and the country's parliament have sent delegations for breakfast since the early 2000s, but in recent years have called out the annual Ukrainian Week visit in Washington. Over the past few years, dozens of religious and political leaders have emerged. This year's large delegation acknowledges the importance of Christianity to many Trump supporters, Unguryan said.
“These are very important issues that will allow Ukraine, a very conservative Christian nation, to unite.
In an interview, Ukrainian religious scholar Liudmyla Filipovych said in an interview that Protestant pastors in Ukrainian volunteer widely as military pastors, Ukrainian scholar Liudmyla Filipovych, a religious Ukrainian scholar. Ukrainian evangelicals will open about 100 churches in other European countries and provide Ukrainian services to Ukrainian refugees, she said.
Russia under President Vladimir V. Putin has sidelined or forbidden churches outside what the Kremlin calls four “traditional” religions: Orthodox Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Buddhism . Russia is on the US government list of “countries of particular concern” to limit religious freedom.
In the occupied territories of the eastern and south of Ukraine, Catholic and Protestant churches face “threats, interrogations, arbitrary arrests.”
“Russian occupation authorities are also widely involved in illegal imprisonment and convictions on altered charges of extremism, torture and even murder,” the report said. We discussed cases where churches were closed and looted and the cross was removed. Overall, Russian invasions have destroyed, damaged or led to the looting of at least 630 religious sites, the report says.
Metropolitan Epiphanius's visit to Washington is part of an effort to win international recognition of his church and receive support from religious leaders for his position on Russia. His church gained independence from the Russian Orthodox Church in 2019, but several congregations continued to follow the Moscow hierarchy.
Last year, Ukraine banned Orthodox branches alongside the Russian Church, attracting criticism from the Kremlin and Pope Francis. Ukrainian officials say restrictions are necessary as some priests served as Russian spies or encouraged the congregations to pray for the head of the Russian church who blessed the invasion.
“The Russian Church has tried to block overseas activities. We are trying to lift it, as the church is one of the most important factors for the future of the existence of the Ukrainian state,” said Ukrainian church leader. Metropolitan Epiphanius said in an interview in Rome in December. “We're trying to destroy these blocks. We're telling the truth because the truth destroys the wall.”
Recently he preached that message to as many religious leaders as he could reach. He says he speaks regularly with Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of orthodox Christians around the world.
A swirling debate among Western officials about how to negotiate the end of the war, Metropolitan Epiphanius said the outcome of Ukraine was unpredictable, but he almost doubted his hopes for Ukraine's fate. left behind.
“We believe that God can create miracles just as God created Syrian miracles, and Assad left Syria,” he said. “We ask everyone to use spiritual weapons, prayers.”
