BRAMA, October 25, 2007, 9:00 am ET
Press release
UAOC Bishop condemns recent anti-semitism in Ukraine
Calls for Annual Holocaust Memorial Day
Bishop Paul Peter Jesep, who serves as Director of Public Affairs and Government Relations in the United States by Appointment to His Beatitude Metropolitan Myfodii of Kyiv and All Ukraine of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church Kyiv Patriarchate (UAOC), Ukraine's third largest Orthodox Church, issued a personal statement calling on the government of President Viktor Yuschenko to designate an annual, national Holocaust Memorial and Awareness Day to help address the rising trend of anti-Semitism.
"The rise in anti-Semitism against Ukrainian citizens must be aggressively addressed," Bishop Jesep said. "Whatever efforts that have been made have failed. There is not only a legal need to punish hate crimes, but also an ongoing need for vigilance that changes cultural and societal attitudes," said Bishop Jesep.
Referring to recent attacks against Ukrainian-Jewish citizens in Zhitomir, Sevastopol, Cherkassy and Uzhgorod he added, "These sins cannot be tolerated by either the government or the Church. All Church leaders have a moral duty to forcefully speak out against this evil. Although passage and rigorous enforcement of anti-hate crime laws is critical to addressing the problem, the Church and government must work together to address the sociological issues as well."
"One of several ways to address cultural and societal anti-Semitism is to call for an annual Holocaust Memorial and Awareness Day," Bishop Jesep said. "The Holocaust was not just a crime against the Jewish people. It was a crime against the entire Ukrainian nation. It was a crime against humanity. It was a moral crime against sisters and brothers equally loved by the same God. Ukrainians, regardless of their faith, must take the time to remember and understand the horror of the Holocaust and what it meant for their nation and for all humanity."
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Related:
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Mar 23 12 - Friends of Ukraine Take Action
Feb 24 12 - Will Ukraine have Its First Modern Political Martyr?
Jan 23 12 - Holocaust Remembrance Day
Dec 30 11 - Ukrainian World Praise for Major Archbishop Shevchuk
Dec 21 11 - Lessons from Muscovy
Aug 10 11 - Russian Truth
Apr 14 11 - President Yanukovych's Chance to Show Leadership
Mar 14 11 - An Open Letter to Viktor Yanukovych
Aug 27 10 - Independent Ukraine 2010
Jan 31 10 - Remembering Ukraine's Jews
Jan 15 10 - Orange Forever!
Aug 27 09 - UAOC Mourns the Passing of Senator Edward Kennedy
Jan 14 08 - UAOC Bishop Condemns United Fatherland and Union of Orthodox Citizens
Oct 25 07 - Bishop calls for Annual Holocaust Memorial Day
May 28 07 - Priests try to end anti-Semitism
Feb 12 07 - Statement on Anti-Semitism
Feb 5 07 - Kyiv Patriarchate Appoints U.S. Director of Public Affairs
Nov 23 05 - Archbishop Husar's Orange Revolution of Faith
Sep 12 05 - Yushchenko showed leadership
Sep 7 05 - Metropolitan Mefodiy of Kyiv to visit America
Sep 2 05 - UAOC issues strong condemnation of anti-semitism
Apr 28 05 - Yushchenko at the Kennedy Library
Apr 1 05 - Diaspora rebirth begins in dialogue
Mar 11 05 - The Politics of Orthodoxy
Feb 11 05 - The Diaspora's Future
Jan 21 05 - Ukraine, Orthodoxy, and the Greek Prelate
Dec 22 04 - Has the Diaspora failed? Can more be done?
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Aug 13 04 - Op-ed: Foreign churches cannot dictate a unilateral non-Ukrainian spirituality in Ukraine (Patriarch Filaret and Ukrainian Spirituality)
Jul 26 04 - Op-ed: Viktor Yushchenko and Ukraine's future (Ukraine needs a patriot as its next leader)
Mar 18 04 - Ukrainian influence in the 2004 American presidential election
Email: VladykaPaulPeter(at)aol.com.
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