Archbishop Borys delivered a talk “Invasion, Resilience, Solidarity” at the Philadelphia chapter of the Shevchenko Scientific Society

On March 26, 2023, Metropolitan Borys Gudziak of Philadelphia delivered a speech on “Invasion, Resilience, Solidarity” for the Philadelphia Chapter of the Shevchenko Scientific Society.

The Metropolitan emphasized that the war in Ukraine which seems to be far away yet is very close”.

Metropolitan Borys Gudziak drew attention to the historical events of the past centuries, from which, as we can see, Ukraine has constantly experienced Russian attacks on its lands, and the unpunished nature of such actions has led to worse consequences. “While Ukraine was moving from its totalitarian past and corruption to democratization through protests and revolutions, Russia chose the path of restoring its empire”. The Metropolitan referred to a contemporary historian, Yale University Professor Timothy Snyder, who emphasizes that the Russian war is a genocidal war aimed at de-ukrainization.

“This cruel and unjust war has caused much destruction in Ukraine. Nevertheless, Ukraine is standing because the truth of God will prevail. We see a lot of support for Ukraine in the world, but there is also the unity within the country which is extremely important” stressed the Archbishop.

He noted that Ukrainians are awakening up the world with their battle for values and human dignity. “In the world where truth can be sold and people no longer believe in truth, Ukrainians are saying that there is good and there is absolute evil, and they are ready to lay down their lives for it”, emphasized the Archbishop.

Archbishop Borys stressed the great generosity and solidarity of the American organizations and ordinary citizens to the Ukrainian people. One of the examples of that generosity is the Metropolia Humanitarian Aid Fund which has collected 8 million USD for humanitarian needs in Ukraine.

Metropolitan Borys finished his talk citing the surveys that Ukrainians firmly believe in their victory. “They know that if Russia stops fighting, there is no war. If Ukraine stops fighting, there is no Ukraine”, he said.