To maintain the upcoming assistance, Ukraine’s call to Trump’s allies: Conservative Christians

Ukraine sends its largest delegation ever to a gathering of politically influential Christian leaders in Washington this week, as it seeks to put an argument that the protection of religious freedom is a strong reason for continuing to help in Russian resistance.

The Ukrainian priests, members of Parliament, and military priests who will attend the national breakfast of prayer say they hope that the message of fighting religious persecution with Trump administration officials and members of Congress who are sure to be there is also.

Breakfast, prayer, a major event in the social evaluation in Washington since 1953, offers an opportunity for men’s executives, religious and diplomatic leaders to the knight to reach the influential secretariat specialists in the government. While the meeting is open to all religions, its purpose, according to its website, is “gathering together in the spirit of Jesus Nazareth.”

The Ukrainians will argue with those who have gathered that more Russian progress will expand the area of ​​the suppression of many Christian denominations, as well as The destruction and plundering of churches And the arrest of priests and priests – the procedures documented by rights groups in the areas that have already been done by the Russian occupation.

“Russia not only kills people, not only destroys our cities, but also destroys Russia and prohibits religious societies” in the areas under its control, said Roman Louzinski, a member of Parliament in the opposition Holos Party.

Mr. Lozynskyi is a member of the Greek Catholic Church, and is part of a branch known as the Eastern Catholic rituals that follow the Vatican, who is persecuted in the Russian parts of Ukraine. He recalled the deportation of a Greek Catholic friend and priest in the Russian -controlled city of Militopol as an example of the suppression of Catholic gatherings under occupation.

More than 100 Ukrainian shepherds, politicians, military priests and priests, including the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the first feast of the Dhattas, in Washington for breakfast on Thursday and relevant events during the week. Organizing Ukrainian effort.

Ukrainian Orthodox priests and chiefs are among the goals in eastern Ukraine. An estimated 50 priests were killed in the lands occupied by Russian-including the largest church officials in Jiason, who refused to join the Russian Orthodox Church-over the past three years. Other priests were forced to leave or to celebrate the Mass secretly.

Mr. Ongurian, the Baptists, said that the Ukrainians also intend to shed light on the plight of the evangelists. Within its borders, Russia targeted the Evangelists with investigations and arrested Jehovah’s Witnesses. The repression extends to occupied Ukraine.

“Ukraine is the center of the Bible belt in Europe.” He said that about a million Ukrainians attend the evangelical services weekly.

Russia occupies about 19 percent of Ukrainian lands and is manufactured Slow but fixed gains. Ukraine defends itself in a fierce trench along the front of about 600 miles.

“Part of this war is my soul,” said Mr. Unguryan. “It is important to know America about this.”

The Ukrainians who attend the breakfast in prayer want to show the vitality of the Christian churches in the country, as about 70 percent of the population says in investigative studies that they are religious.

This effort aims to swing the supporters of Mr. Trump, who expressed doubts about the heavy military and financial aid of the Biden administration to Ukraine. This week, Mr. Trump said that continuous assistance can be exchanged United States access to Ukrainian minerals.

Previous religious awareness in the United States has already resulted in the results of Ukraine.

Last summer, Parliament Speaker Mike Johnson gave a video of a Christian gathering in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Baptists appealed to him military and diplomatic support for their country. Mr. Johnson is the southern Baptist who put his conservative Christian faith in the midst of his political career.

The Ukrainian churches and the parliament have sent delegations to breakfast since the early first decade of the twentieth century, but in recent years, the attendees have increased, describing the annual visit “Ukrainian Week” in Washington. In the past years, dozens of religious and political leaders have appeared. Mr. Unguryan said that the largest delegation this year is an appreciation of the importance of Christianity for many supporters of Mr. Trump.

“These are very important issues that can unite Ukraine, a very conservative Christian state, with a very conservative Christian America,” said Mr. Ongurian, who promoted conservative social policies in Ukraine.

Lyodella Philipovic, a researcher in Ukrainian religion, said in an interview that Ukrainian Protestant Pastles volunteered widely as a military appointment during the war. She said that the Ukrainian evangelists opened about 100 churches in other European countries to provide Ukrainian language services for refugees in the country.

Russia, under the leadership of President Vladimir F. Putin is marginalizing or banning churches outside what the Kremlin called the four “traditional” religions – Orthodox Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Buddhism. Russia is listed on the list of “particularly interesting countries” to restrict freedom of religion.

In the occupied territories in East and South Ukraine, the Catholic and Protestant churches face “threats, interrogations and arbitrary arrests,” according to a report issued in January by Mission Eurosia, a group that promotes evangelical Christianity in the previous Soviet states.

The report said: “The Russian occupation authorities have participated widely in prison and illegal convictions on the lush charges of extremism, torture and even murder.” Description of the closure and looting of churches, and the removal of crosses. In general, Russia invaded, damaged, or led to looting at least 630 religious sites.

The visit of the Metropolitan Day to Washington is part of his efforts to win the international recognition of its church and support it from religious leaders over its position against Russia. His Church in Independence in 2019 won the Russian Orthodox Church, but some gatherings continued to follow the hierarchy in Moscow.

Last year, Ukraine The Orthodox branch banned It is in line with the Russian Church, and attracts criticism from the Kremlin and Pope Francis. Ukrainian officials said the restrictions are necessary, as some priests were Russian spies or encouraged fishermen to pray for the head of the Russian Church, which blessed the invasion.

“The Russian Church has tried to prevent our activity abroad, and we are trying to cancel its ban, because the Church is one of the most important elements of the Ukrainian state,” Metropolitan Eid Al -Ghattas, the leader of the Ukrainian Church, said in an interview in December in Rome. “We are trying to destroy these blocs, and talk about the truth, because the truth destroys the walls.”

Recently, this message was preached to the largest possible number of religious leaders. He says he is speaking regularly to the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeo of Constantinople, the spiritual leader of the Orthodox Christians in the world.

With discussions taking place between Western officials on how to negotiate the end of the war, the capital said that the result of Ukraine is unpredictable, but it has not left little doubt about its hopes of Ukraine’s fate.

He said: “We believe that God can create a miracle, as he created a miracle of Syria, and Assad left Syria.” “We ask everyone spiritual weapons, prayers.”