Valley priest discusses moral implications of Ukrainian war

The Rev. Lubomir Zhybak discussed the moral implications of the Ukrainian war in a recent interview with Metro Monthly. Zhybak is administrator of two local Ukrainian Catholic parishes – Holy Trinity in Youngstown and St. Anne’s in Austintown. Mark C. Peyko conducted the interview on March 1. It was edited for brevity and clarity.

Metro Monthly: As the spiritual leader of Holy Trinity, how are you helping parishioners find strength and comfort?

The Rev. Lubomir Zhybak: First of all, through my homilies, my talks, but also through the encouragement, asking the parishioners to help the suffering brothers and sisters in Ukraine with some other actions, namely making donations. There was a fund established in the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that you can send your donations to and they’ll be forwarded to the people in Ukraine. We’ve been praying for peace in Ukraine and, again, also acting through our donations, and supporting each other in whatever way we can support each other.

Metro Monthly: How are you getting news and information?

Rev. Lubomir: They’ve established this 24/7 streaming of news in Ukraine. The major channels combined and they now have the same news. Whatever channel you turn on or access via online, you can watch the same news on all channels. They’re transmitting 24/7 news of what’s happening in Ukraine.

Metro Monthly: Russia and Ukraine have a complex historical and cultural relationship. How would you describe that?

Rev. Lubomir: It is unfortunate that we have that relationship. When you look at the history of Ukraine it seems that we, Ukrainians, we always were on the defensive. We had to defend ourselves against people from the west or east, or north or south. And now, of course.

You remember Soviet Union? I was born in the USSR. I still have my Soviet birth certificate. The Soviets, they were trying to swallow all of these republics that comprised the USSR. They were trying to erase any traits that would distinguish any individual country – culturally, religiously, whatever other way.

They were trying to come up with, you probably heard this term, Homo Sovieticus – Soviet man. A Soviet man, as I understand it, would be someone who would be cut off from any roots, ancestral roots, what have you. They were trying to come up with this illusion, this Homo Sovieticus idea, and, unfortunately, the Russians were trying to impose their culture, their view of our nation on ourselves, disregarding what we think, whether we want to be part of it.

There’s this whole idea of Russian world, the Russkiy Mir, and they [are] really trying to put on the umbrella of Russia – Russia-Ukrainian people, Bella-Russian people – people of Belarus. And, of course, guess who was going to be the big brother? Russia.

When you look at the history of Ukraine and what has been done to our people, particularly, I want to mention, single out here, the artificial famine in Ukraine in 1932-33, where millions of Ukrainians were starved to death. They were starved to death by the Soviets. When you look at the gulags that our people were sent to in Siberia. Now, recently, when you look at the annexation of Crimea, when you look at all of these events, you see destruction spelled all over them. Ukrainians, we are freedom-loving people. We are peaceful people.

When you look at the Ukrainian flag, when you see these two horizontal stripes, blue and yellow. Blue represents sky and yellow represents the wheat fields. We are a peaceful nation. We are not looking for war, but, unfortunately, Russia has chosen to speak to us with the language of force. And we need to defend ourselves.

Metro Monthly: How do you describe the spirit and resilience of the Ukrainian people?

Rev. Lubomir: As I just said, we are freedom-loving people and we are very strongwilled as well, as is obvious right now. I think before this war started that people thought that it was going to start. Unfortunately, it did and I was hoping it would not although, realistically speaking, it was obvious that it was going to begin, at least to me. But I think we’re telling the whole world right now that we’re defending ourselves against this aggression.

We’re trying to defend our human dignity. We’re trying to defend the fact that we are human beings, that we bear God’s image, that we are a Christian nation, although, of course, we have other religions present in Ukraine. But we have deep, deep Christian roots in our nation going all the way back to the 10th century.

Right now, with this war, we are protecting our dignity, we are protecting our right to live freely, for the current generation, for the future generations, and it is unfortunate, it is very unfortunate, that our neighbors, and I’m not speaking, of course, for all Russians, because there are Russians who disagree with the politics of President Putin and his circle.

It is very unfortunate that our neighborly nation that claims to be Christian, particularly Russian president, you see him parading in front of cameras with the Russian Orthodox hierarchy. And if you heard his speech before this particular assault began last week, how he lectured the world about the history of how Ukrainian people came to be, which, of course, is his opinion, but even if you follow his own logic, that, if we are, according to Putin, part of this great Russian nation, how would you attack your own people then, if you follow his logic?

I mean, of course, I disagree with his history lecture, but that’s another issue. If you view Ukrainians as part of your people, how can you attack your own people? This war isn’t called for. It needs to be stopped. It needs to be stopped. I’m going to go as far as to say criminal Putin and his criminal circle, they need to be stopped. And they need to be held accountable to the full extent of the international law.

But right now, Ukraine needs support, prayerful support, but also concrete support. I think the civilized nations do realize that Ukraine needs a lot of support, militarily, to be able to defend ourselves against this massive aggression. It’s not time right now to think about, you know, some petty economic benefits.

You need to remember that what’s at stake right now is not cheap gas at the pump. What’s at stake right now is the human dignity. We had an ecumenical [prayer vigil] at Saints Peter and Paul Orthodox Ukrainian Church in Youngstown. I mentioned that this assault on the Ukrainian people, it is an assault on God himself. This assault, make no mistake, that assaulting, assaulting every human being, Ukrainian or American, whoever, is an assault on God himself because we, all of us human beings, bear God’s image.

It’s very important to realize that we need to put aside all of these economic fears and come together as civilized nations and help Ukraine right now, a nation that needs help, and show to Russia that this will not pass by the civilized people’s eyes. You cannot do that. He doesn’t have right to do that. God did not give him the right to assault a neighboring nation.

I’m going to speak as a Ukrainian Catholic priest. We need to remember, my friends, one very important thing, that whatever power people grab here on Earth will come one day to an end. And that’s going to happen with the moment of our death, rich or poor, American, Ukrainian, doesn’t matter. There’s going to come a moment of death when our dead bodies will be lying in state, wherever, in the coffins, and our souls will be before God’s tribunal. And our Lord will ask us how we acted, what we what did we do? Because, again, whatever we do to other people, we do it to God himself. This is how serious this is.

So I wish, as a Christian, I wish President Putin and his circle, unfortunately, I will refer to them as criminal circle. They are criminals. I’m saying this not because of a lack of charity. I’m saying this as stating the fact. They are international criminals that need to be stopped, and they need to be held accountable for their actions.

This will not pass by the eyes of the Lord, first of all, and the eyes of the world. I, as a Christian, in as much as it is hard for me to do, do forgive them, and I’m asking them to stop it before it is too late. Before it is too late, because what’s at stake is their eternity. I would not wish eternity in hell to anybody, Putin included, and his circle. But if he chooses that path and God, of course, will decide.

I’m not going to play God here, but I’m just saying that if he doesn’t convert, if he doesn’t stop this bloodshed, the slaughtering of his neighboring people, one day could be too late. I am telling you things that I believe through my faith are real, that life is not a joke. And I do hope that they will stop and then they will realize that what they’ve been doing was gravely, sinfully, gravely sinfully wrong.

The Rev. Lubomir Zhybak, administrator of Holy Trinity Ukrainian Catholic Church and St. Anne Ukrainian Catholic Church, discussed the moral implications of the war in Ukraine in a March interview with the Metro Monthly.

METRO MONTHLY PHOTO/RON FLAVIANO