The extraordinary events which led to the release of Patriarch Cardinal Josyf I Slipyj from 18 years in the Russian concentration camps, following his abduction on April 11, 1945 by the Russian occupation in Western Ukraine, which culminated in His Beatitude’s attending the sessions of Vatican Council II called by Pope John XXIII, was a gift from God.
His Beatitude’s physical ability to withstand the 18 years of inhuman conditions in the Russian concentration camps, which included the severe climate, the starvation diet, the poor clothing, the lack of proper rest, the abominable barracks and the inhuman work quotas, was a gift from God.
His Beatitude’s inner strength to withstand the tortures for the sake of preserving the autonomy of the Ukrainian Church, giving the world a Ukrainian modern-day Patriarch-Martyr is another gift from God.
His Beatitude’s influence on Vatican Council II and the successful completion of the Decree on Eastern Catholic Churches which restated and redefined the rights of these Churches, of which the Ukrainian Church is the largest, is another gift from God.
The fact that the Eastern Catholic Churches have their own canon laws, types of worship, asceticism, monasticism, theological system, expression of doctrine, which follow the Apostolic customs of the Christian East, is another gift from God.
The blessing of Ukraine by St. Andrew and the attendance of bishops from ancient Bosporic Ukraine at the Ecumenical Councils, beginning with the First Council at Nicaea in the year 325 A.D., which formed the first 1,000 years of Christianity, is another gift from God.
The firm and clear statement that the Eastern Catholic Churches are to rule themselves by electing (not nominating) their own bishops, metropolitans, and patriarchs is another gift from God.
The firm and clear statement that Patriarchs Major Archbishops hold jurisdiction over all metropolitans, bishops, clergy and faithful of their Particular Church, making this jurisdiction world wide, is another gift from God.
These thoughts lead to some searching questions. What have Ukrainians done to show gratitude by defending these gifts, their rights. The Ukrainian Catholics in Russian-occupied Ukraine have been giving their lives in the greatest martyrdom in the history of the Church, and silently continue to put their lives on the line by functioning in the Catacomb Church, driven there by the enemies of religion, the Communists and the Russian occupier. They have great merit before God.
The Ukrainians in the free world also have become silent but not for the same reasons as Catholics in Ukraine. Let the Ukrainians in the free world, who have every lawful means of protest at their disposal, ask themselves why they do not protest the continued abuses of the Ukrainian Church by enemies within and without. To whom have they left the defense of the rights of the Ukrainian Autonomous Church, these rights which have come as gif|s from the Hands of God?
