The war is pushing thousands of people to ask fundamental questions about suffering, hope and the meaning of life. According to the Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, this spiritual search is giving rise to a phenomenon of conversions and a return to religious practice that he describes as “the strongest moment of conversion in the recent history” of the country.
During a visit to the headquarters of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) in Spain, coinciding with the celebration in Madrid of the Permanent Synod of Greek-Catholic Bishops, the Ukrainian primate stated that many people are finding in faith answers they cannot find anywhere else.
“Where is God in the midst of war?”
“Why? What is the meaning of my pain? Is there hope? Where is God in the midst of war? No one can find an answer to this outside the Christian faith,” Shevchuk affirmed.
The archbishop believes that the suffering caused by the Russian invasion has led many Ukrainians to rediscover the spiritual dimension of their lives. For this reason, he described the present moment as a kairos, a time of grace in which numerous conversions and returns to religious practice are taking place.
Greek-Catholics grow while Orthodox affiliation declines
According to data shared by the prelate, the percentage of citizens who identify as Orthodox has fallen from 70% to 52%. In addition, 18% of the population still consider themselves Orthodox, but no longer feel linked to any specific Church.
In contrast, the Greek-Catholic Church has experienced notable growth. Before the war it represented between 7.5% and 8% of the Ukrainian population, whereas it now reaches 12%.
The Church in the midst of suffering
The archbishop defined the current mission of the Ukrainian Church as a genuine “pastoral of pain.”
“We are sufferers,” he stated, explaining that priests and bishops accompany families marked daily by death, destruction and forced displacement.
“It is a tremendous sorrow to celebrate endless funerals every day and to bury young people and children. Each of the bishops carries within himself the pain of his own people, whom we must accompany,” he explained.
Shevchuk also highlighted the work of priests who remain with their communities even in areas closest to the front line.
“When the State begins the evacuation of civilians because of danger, the priest is always the last to leave. Like the captain of a ship, he abandons his vessel last,” he affirmed.
Poor priests and a war the world seems to forget
The Greek-Catholic primate also expressed concern about what he sees as growing international disinterest in the conflict.
“It hurts us deeply that the world forgets us, that it forgets there is a war,” he said, lamenting that many people no longer perceive the magnitude of the tragedy the country continues to endure.
The situation also affects the clergy. According to a survey cited by Shevchuk, more than half of the priests of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church live below the poverty line. 38% would have difficulty buying clothing and 3% buying basic foodstuffs.
Despite this, 92% of the priests surveyed say they feel happy to serve their people, a figure the archbishop especially highlighted during his address.
“Evil is not eternal”
Asked about the future of the conflict, Shevchuk expressed his conviction that the war will end.
“The war will end because evil is not eternal. The Lord is eternal and Love is eternal,” he affirmed.
The archbishop concluded with a call to pray for peace and recalled that millions of Ukrainians continue to pray daily for the end of the war and for the reconstruction of their country.