Archbishop thanks dismissed general for ‘tireless’ service to Ukraine

Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk thanked General Valerii Zaluzhnyi “for two years of tireless struggle” after he was dismissed by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy from the command of Ukraine’s armed forces.

The popular general was replaced by General Oleksandr Syrskyi, whom Shevchuk greeted with prayers “that the Almighty God may bless the Ukrainian defenders and bless the new commander-in-chief”.

In a statement on 9 February, the day after Zaluzhnyi’s dismissal, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church said: “In this struggle [God] relies on people whom he calls to serve to protect and defend their neighbours. We are grateful to everyone who accepted God’s invitation and responsibility in this difficult and exacting time for each of us.”

Shevchuk echoed these themes in a homily on 11 February, with prayers “that the fruit of God’s love will abundantly capture the hearts of today’s youth”.

“Today, our men and women at the front, our volunteers, and even those fathers and mothers who are ready to give themselves to their children and give birth to sons and daughters of Ukraine in marital love all speak to us about this,” he said.

The failure of last year’s counter-offensive to recapture significant territory from Russian forces exposed Ukraine’s faltering recruitment, with Zaluzhnyi describing a “stalemate” on the frontline and calling for the enlistment of half-a-million troops – a scheme Zelenskiy quashed, and which reportedly became a source of tension among Ukraine’s military leaders.

In a message marking the 104^th week of the war on 12 February, Shevchuk condemned Russian propaganda “denying to the whole world our state’s right to exist”. He appealed to the world to reject this “because lies kill no less than Russian missiles, bombs, and bullets”.

He referred, in a separate message that day, to the war’s “information front”.

“The world is forgetting about Ukraine,” he said. “Just as our soldiers are fighting for the freedom and existence of their homeland at the front, so are they defending the right to freedom of speech in Ukraine. It is well known that freedom of conscience, religion, and speech are the fundamental features of a free, democratic state.”

Speaking at an Aid to the Church in Need event on 14 February, Shevchuk said it was “very important to condemn war crimes”, citing the Bucha massacre and warning such crimes would be repeated if they went unnoticed.

“People in Ukraine are being killed because they are Ukrainians,” he said.

A Russian Orthodox priest defrocked for criticising the invasion of Ukraine has warned that Christian’s in the West are being seduced by “the rhetoric of family values” promoted by the Russian government and the Moscow Patriarchate.

“We need to highlight the discrepancy between rhetoric and practice, and help dispel romantic notions about Russia,” Prof Cyril Hovorun told the Glavkom news agency.

The head of the independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) Metropolitan Epiphany, insisted in a statement last month that it was Ukrainians who understood “the real values of life” after suffering the effects of two years of war.

This month, the OCU removed the Russian prince and saint Aleksandr Nevsky from its liturgical calendar.

The thirteenth-century Prince of Novgorod and Grand Duke of Kiev and Vladimir, a successful soldier who rejected an offer of union with Rome, has often been the subject of praise by Vladimir Putin and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, who has said he represents “the entire historical perspective of Russia”.

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