Ukrainian Americans living in the Bay Area are watching the situation back home with a lot of stress. Many have family and friends who are caught in the middle of the growing crisis.
There were Sunday prayers at St. Michael’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church in San Francisco, for a homeland on the brink of a possible invasion.
“Everybody is a little bit scared, everybody is under pressure and nobody knows what will happen tomorrow,” said Father Georgiy Tyapko.
Tyapko has many family members living in Ukraine, so do his parishioners.
“We are all afraid about our relatives,” said Volodymyr Borodaykavich.
Father Tyapko hopes diplomacy and divine intervention may help de-escalate military tensions.
“In this situation we need to combine prayer and political pressure,” he said.
Nova Ukraine is planning a ‘Stand With Ukraine’ support rally. It’s scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 20 at 1 p.m. at the Ferry Building in San Francisco.
Full story at ABC7.
We are praying too.
NATO needs to stay away from Ukraine.
I think the Russia will invade and make capture of large pieces of the Ukrainian land. Maybe whole country. The Europe Union needs to do nothing. It’s for the Russia to decide what happens on its borders.
Oh then let’s just take over Canada.
So you would support Biden going to war over Ukraine?
war?: I would happily answer that question if you answer it first and give your reasons.
bohemond: I hope you are joining. If you aren’t then you have no idea what the word means.
YFC they already have a dictator
Do they have OCP missals in the pews?
This would not be happening if Trump were president. Putin doesn’t fear applesauce brains.
Keep dreaming.
Trump would be applauding Putin invading Ukraine. I think Trump would be saying, “If I had the chance to invade Ukraine, I’d do it, too.”
Trump is already praising the Putin invasion of Ukraine. I won’t give you the links to NYTimes, WashPo, Politico, etc which cut to the chase, because you all will just poo poo the source. Instead, here is the original source to the full Trump interview where he calls Putin saavy for his actions in Ukraine. He’s obviously mad that the Ukrainian President didn’t want to dig up dirt on the Biden family to help his own election. And as he says, he knows Putin very very well. https://www.clayandbuck.com/president-trump-with-cb-from-mar-a-lago/
Please pray for peace and justice. Admittedly, I’m likely more acutely concerned as a Greek Catholic. Our Church in Eastern Europe was driven underground and almost destroyed well less than a century ago by the Russians. It is not for Russia to decide what happens inside Ukraine. That should be up to Ukrainians. Below is linked an interview with Archbishop Borys Gudziak of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, the leader of the 50,000 Ukrainian Greek Catholics in the U.S. As the Archbishop stated, “It’s not the question of a Black Sea Navy port for Russia. It’s not the question of defending Russian language speakers in Ukraine — because Russian language speakers comprise a majority of the army that is defending Ukraine. It’s not about defending the Russian Orthodox Church, because many of those people who were killed were baptized in the Russian Orthodox Church. The Russians are killing Russian speakers, they’re killing members of the Russian Orthodox Church, and the reason is because Ukraine is a nascent and, in many ways, a vibrant democracy.”
As His Grace, who lived in Ukraine as an adult for two decades, also notes, “It’s a question of life or death for maybe tens of thousands of people. And it’s very important to know what stands behind what is happening. There are 1.5 million internally displaced refugees in the Ukraine right now.” Though Ukraine does indeed have serious issues to address, allowing Russia to invade and take it over (even if one part of the country at a time) is not the solution. And, apart from the injustice to Ukraine, it’s not in the best interest of other Europeans as well.
https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/pray-for-peace-and-justice-in-ukraine?utm_source=url
Clarification: It was a century ago that the Russians took over Ukraine. In my previous post, in my haste, I mis-stated the historical time frame. They ruled Ukraine from 1922 – 1991. The Catholic Church there was persecuted and driven underground until just 30 years ago. I think I’m still a little shocked that it seems so many, including many of our brother and sister Catholics, seem intent on justifying further Russian aggression against the people of Ukraine.
Thank you for the link, Deacon Anderson, I will read the rest of it later. My concern is if this administration gets involved over there, they will encourage some of this administration’s decadence on the Ukrainians. I have read that some Ukrainians over there have the same fears, and it is it not just Putin backers saying it. The U.S. and Europe need to clean up their own houses before they get involved in another war.
]
]Will just keep praying for peace.
I recently learned that the Lutheran church has what it calls a Byzantine Rite. Ukrainian Lutherans who use the eastern liturgy with only modest changes. And apparently the Russians gave them one of the ancient cathedrals during their occupation. I need to follow up with more definitive sources but maybe you know something about this?
A very nice post, as usual. Thank you.
Well, those prayers didn’t work.