A Forgotten Genocide

From the Religious Information Service of Ukraine:

The deputy head of the State Archives of the Security Service of Ukraine, Serhii Kokin, said in an interview to the German Wave that the archives of Ukraine contain over a thousand documents confirming that the top leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was involved in the destruction of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, UNIAN reports. RISU’s Ukrainian-language web site posted this story on August 5, 2009.

How many history lessons bother to tell you about this? I'm wagering not too many.

Kokin says that historians have already declassified 240 documents of the workers of security service of USSR, who watched priests, interrogated and tortured them, and wrote reports for Khrushchev on the basis of their testimonies. He is convinced that the historic truth should be restored. However, he could not say if it will be possible to initiate proceedings and sentence the perpetrators on the basis of these proofs.

How many martyrs, I wonder?

“According to Rafael Lemkin, the liquidation of a national church is an attribute of genocide, as it is aimed against a certain group of people. The question arises why exactly the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was liquidated when there were also other denominations,” noted Kokin.

Because it was Catholic. And Catholicism and communism don't mix. Next question.

Say a special prayer tonight for our Ukrainian brethren. Things haven't gotten a whole lot better for them. Their usurped churches are still in the hands of those who took them. They are squeezed by the Orthodox and seem almost abandoned by Rome at times. Oh, and if you are in Dallas, go see Fr. Vasyl at St. Sophia in the Colony.