THE 20th ANNIVERSARY OF THE CHORNOBYL NUCLEAR DISASTER

PASTORAL LETTER: We pray for the life of Ukraine

Pastoral letter of the Permanent Conference of Ukrainian Orthodox Bishops Beyond the Borders of Ukraine addressed "to our beloved spiritual children, the clergy and faithful of our Holy Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Ukraine and beyond her borders on the 20th anniversary of the worst nuclear disaster the world has ever known - the catastrophic explosion of the nuclear plant in Chornobyl, Ukraine, on April 26, 1986."

Dearly Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

Christ is risen! Indeed He is risen!

Twenty years after the horrifying explosion in a small city in north-central Ukraine near the Belarus border - Chornobyl - from nearly every nation in the world we hear the prayers arising to our Heavenly Father beseeching eternal repose and blessed memory for those who perished immediately following this nuclear disaster and for the healing of those who continue to suffer the consequences of the 1986 tragedy, whether personally injured or perhaps as survivors of those who perished unnecessarily. We hear the prayer arising most especially for the children - the future of the nation - who have seemed to be the most easily damaged victims of the tragedy.

On April 26, 1986, our Ukraine - just beginning to experience the taste of freedom under what was then called "glasnost," our Ukraine - having experienced so many other tragedies throughout her history, our Ukraine - having patiently carried all her historical crosses, our Ukraine - just beginning to hope for and expect something better for her people, experienced, instead, a new Golgotha, the consequences of which were appallingly tragic not only for her, but for the nations on all her borders, beneath the death-bearing, invisible clouds of radioactive toxins.

Our Ukraine again found herself weeping and wailing at the loss of her children, like Rachel of old, and could not be comforted. Hundreds of thousands of innocent victims will never be able to return to their homes or to their land, which is so very central to their existence as a people and a nation. All that was familiar to them now lays barren and cannot produce the abundance of harvest for their sustenance.

As we bask in the Light of the Resurrection of our Lord, we commemorate both the living and the deceased victims of human error and perhaps even vanity. May this Resurrection Light and Power fill us with hope and enable us to forgive those responsible for the unnecessary explosion in Chornobyl. At the same time, however, may they also give us the courage in the name of justice and our deeply held belief in the sanctity of life, to demand from the highest pinnacles of power in this world a firm vigilance to ensure that no further Chornobyls ever occur or even threaten mankind.

Government organs in Ukraine have informed us that more than 4,000 people perished during and following the explosion in attempts to halt the expansion of the cloud of radiation and that over 100,000 Ukrainians (let alone the thousands more in Belarus and other nations) still bear the consequences of that spring day of 1986.

The Chornobyl disaster was and is not a horror for Ukraine alone, but a horror for the entire world. It has become the symbol that educates us all that technological and scientific advances should ensure us and future generations of peace, calm and progress rather than grief and troubled times.

Spiritually uniting our prayers at this 20th anniversary with the prayers of people all over our planet, we beseech our Almighty Father for His blessings during these difficult days of commemoration.

We commend the souls of those who perished and the lives of those who continue to suffer, including the families of those who perished, to the healing power of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, for He is the Helper of the helpless, the Hope of the hopeless, the Savior of the storm-tossed, the Haven of the voyager and the Healer of the sick. We stand before Him in humility and beseech His eternal blessings upon the victims of one of the worst disasters the world has known. May He grant eternal rest to those who perished in a place where there is no more suffering, nor sorrow, nor sickness, but only life eternal. May He extend His healing touch into the lives of those who survived, still suffering and ease their pain, raise them up and grant them fullness of life.

We ask our Lord to enable us to reach out to our brothers and sisters in compassion and with an understanding of their needs and fears. May He utilize us as His "Royal Priesthood, a holy nation" to affect their lives positively - most especially the lives of the children. He is the Author of Life and we pray at this anniversary for the very life of Ukraine.

May the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all. We assure you of our continued prayers for your spiritual welfare and express our constant need of your prayers in our behalf.

Christ is risen! Indeed He is risen!

In our Lord's all-encompassing Love,

Ý Constantine, Metropolitan
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A. and Diaspora

Ý John, Metropolitan
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada

Ý Antony, Archbishop
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A.

Ý Vsevolod, Archbishop
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A.

Ý Ioan, Archbishop
Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Diaspora
Eparchy of Australia and New Zealand

Ý Yurij, Archbishop
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada

Ý Jeremiah, Bishop
Ukrainian Orthodox Eparchy of South America (UOC of U.S.A.)

Ý Andrew, Bishop
Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Diaspora - Eparchy of Great Britain and Western Europe

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, April 23, 2006, No. 17, Vol. LXXIV

| Home Page |