Russian forces, like the Soviet Union’s KGB intelligence agency, persecute the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church due to its Ukrainian identity, said Bishop Stepan Meniok, a Redemptorist and bishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church’s Donetsk Exarchate.
OSV News sat down with the bishop in his residence in the Ukraine-held city of Zaporizhzhia, where he has lived since being exiled by invading Russian forces in 2014.
Ordained in the “underground” UGCC during Soviet rule in Ukraine, Bishop Meniok told OSV News he longs to return to his flock, who are now without any UGCC priests due to Russian occupation.
The cathedral in Donetsk, the Church of the Protection of the Mother of God, is closed. “I don’t really know what happened in Severodonetsk. In Lysychansk the church was already completed, but somebody put a red flag (similar to that of the Soviet Union) there,” he said.
If the territories occupied by the Russians are liberated, he said, “I would immediately go back. If I came back to Donetsk, and we celebrated the first liturgy (since occupation) there, I would cry through the whole homily.”
Asked why he thinks the Russians are persecuting the UGCC, he said, “They are afraid of Ukrainian identity, the Ukrainian language. They know that UGCC priests help and educate people.” He added, “Pray for Ukraine. God is powerful. He can do everything.”