Archbishop Borys Gudziak believes the March 9 bombing of a maternity hospital in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol is the start of a “new stage” of the war in Ukraine. Because the country has yet to fall to the Russian forces, said Archbishop Gudziak, who serves as the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church’s Archeparchy of Philadelphia, he believes the invaders may ramp up attacks on civilian targets.
“The foreign minister of the Russian Federation said, ‘We attacked (the hospital) because there were soldiers in that building.’ There were no soldiers in that building. There were mothers giving birth and mothers weaning their children, mothers hoping to go home,” he said. “But this statement is very revelatory because it shows they intended to hit that building. They aimed at it.”
According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 564 Ukrainian civilians have been killed and 982 were injured as of March 11.
Archbishop Gudziak, the U.S.-born son of Ukrainian immigrants, spent decades of his life living in Ukraine and other countries in Europe. He spoke to the press about the war at the Ukrainian Catholic National Shrine of the Holy Family in Washington March 10. Flowers left at the shrine by well-wishers decorated the church.
In his remarks, Archbishop Gudziak thanked the many countries welcoming the more than 2 million Ukrainian refugees. “Imagine Philadelphia and Washington completely evacuated and (their inhabitants) forced to go across the country in freezing weather to wait for endless hours, sometimes for days, to cross the border,” he said.
Though the situation in Ukraine is devastating, Archbishop Gudziak said that the country is staying strong. “Those of us in the Ukrainian American community who are in daily contact with relatives, what we are inspired by is the fortitude of the people on the ground,” he said. “Through their response, they are encouraging us.”
The Ukrainian Catholic Church and its charitable arm, Caritas, are doing what they can to serve those in need, said Archbishop Gudziak. For decades during the Soviet Union’s rule, the church was forced underground. “It’s a church that still has a living legacy of martyrs,” he said. In the last 30 years, it has rebuilt its infrastructure and started a university.
“(Catholics) are trying to help welcome the refugees in the western part of the country and distribute humanitarian aid to the central and eastern parts of the country. The Ukrainian Catholic cathedral in Kyiv has had on average about 200 people sleeping there every night. In some of these besieged cities, (Masses) are regular but they’re in hidden quarters, in basements,” he said. “People are going through hell and the Catholic Church is trying to give them a glimpse of heaven.”
That evening, the shrine held a prayer service for the civilians and the military members who have died in the war. “The soldiers, according to the words of Christ, have shown the greatest love — a love that gives one’s life for one’s friends,” he said.
On display during the press conference and the memorial service was an icon of the crucified Christ being lowered into the tomb, titled “Extreme Humility.”
“For me, it’s an icon of great hope,” said Archbishop Gudziak. “It’s an icon of God’s solidarity with our suffering. God enters death and death cannot hold him. Its everlasting power is gone.”
