Christian Leaders Urge Ukrainian President to Safeguard Stability
Christian leaders from five denominations urged Ukraine's president, as guarantor of the Constitution, to ensure the country's stability amid the current institutional crisis after last week’s controversial elections
Christian leaders from five denominations urged Ukraine's president, as guarantor of the Constitution, to ensure the country's stability amid the current institutional crisis after last week’s controversial elections. According to Zenit News, the leaders expressed their perplexity on the management of the political crisis in an open letter addressed to President Leonid Kuchma.
"In times of general national trials, this authority of the head of the government takes on decisive significance,” read the letter signed by leaders from the Orthodox, Baptist, Pentecostal, Evangelical, and Catholic churches. “The dignified execution of this mandate lays the path to historical greatness for the president, and his inability to rise to the moment calls down upon him historical judgment and destines him to national disregard."
After a controversial election on Nov. 21 declared Moscow-backed Prime Minister Victor Yanukovich winner over West-leaning opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, an estimated 200,000 protesters gathered in the capital of Kiev in the bitter cold of a driving snowstorm to denounce the election as a fraud.
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The protestors were met by ranks of riot police as they encircled the presidential offices in downtown Kiev. No violence was reported, however.
As Ukraine’s citizens continued to protest in the streets of Kiev, Church leaders and European politicians urged against violence.
“Ukraine must remain intact - splitting the country would lead to a serious crisis,” external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told MEPs at a discussion in the European Parliament on Wednesday.
Atzo Nicolai, speaking on behalf of the Dutch EU presidency, said that Europe was calling on both sides “to show restraint” and to find resolutions in a “non-violent manner.”
According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Kuchma has flown to Moscow to discuss Ukraine's political crisis with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, as the Supreme Court prepares to rule on the country's disputed presidential election.
In their letter, the Christian leaders told Kuchma, "For Ukraine in general, and for you personally, Mr. President, such a decisive moment has arisen. That examination of conscience which today you are forced to make is not simple and we are asking Almighty God to help you. However, to make such an examination is unavoidable."
The letter was published by the communications service of the Greek-Catholic Church.
