“I think this is due to the challenges of the time and the atmosphere that prevails on EuroMaidan. In Ukraine, people felt the danger of violence and social injustice. And these common denominators united all faiths, believers, and people of good will,” the President of UCU Bishop Borys Gudziak said on Hromadske.tv January 8, 2014, responding to reporters’ questions about the denominational peace that exists on EuroMaidan.

According to Bishop Borys Gudziak, the considerable attention of the world on the situation in Ukraine is also related to the fact that at this great public event different faiths are working together, regular joint prayers are held, and priests are providing pastoral care on the EuroMaidan.

“People on Maidan turned to the churches, to individual priests, asking them to be with them, and to pray together. Their presence at Maidan leads to peace, to broadmindedness, ensures that the various urgent issues do not cause aggression. Priests and believers purify the atmosphere, bring virtue. I am convinced that those priests who minister among the people in such difficult conditions as the Maidan do exactly what Jesus would do,” said the bishop.

The President of Catholic University believes this is a kind of the embodiment of the idea expressed by Pope Francis in his message “Evangelii Gaudium” (The Joy of the Gospel) that ministers should be with the people, that the pastors should “take on the smell of the sheep.”

The main task for 2014 Bishop Borys sees as finding understanding and acceptance of human dignity.

“I encourage everyone to prepare for a long arduous competition. It is not longer short. We need to go to the depths, to the sources, to move from appeals to principles and values. This Maidan has begun to assess what human dignity is. This year, the main task facing us all is to understand what is dignity, mine and my neighbors’. And the main criterion should be that it is God-given dignity,” said Bishop Borys.

UCU Press-Service