Dear Editor:
The August 8 column by Metropolitan-Archbishop Borys Gudziak (Gift, challenge and charge: on Ukraine’s 30th anniversary) was an amazing reminiscence that must have touched the heart of every Ukrainian patriot who recalls that climacteric period. Just as those who aren’t spring chickens any more recall what they were doing the day Kennedy was shot or where they were at the time of the moon landing, anyone who recalls the stunning turn of historic events in August 1991 can never forget them.
The author draws a vivid picture of that time: those who refused to see that the Soviet prison of nations was wobbling, the jubilation when independence was proclaimed, the recollection of millions of lives lost or shattered for “an identity denied,” the “selfless service, ultimate sacrifice and lasting pain,” and the ensuing 30 years protecting “the treasure [that] has been entrusted to us.”
Thank you, Your Grace, for so pointedly reminding us that “each death at the Ukrainian-Russian front line, each step back from personal interest toward a common good is a sacrament,” and that “the gift [of independence] was given so that we can give of ourselves for the freedom of our brothers and sisters in Ukraine and elsewhere.”
Philadelphia