On the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Terrorism, Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kyiv and All Ukraine issued a strong message on social media, describing Russia’s war against Ukraine as both terrorist and genocidal.
“By its very nature, the war that the Russian state has been waging against us for many years, decades, and even centuries, is terrorist and genocidal,” he wrote. “It uses various forms of violence against the civilian population to achieve its own political and ideological goals.”
The Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine listed the many forms of terror inflicted on the Ukrainian people throughout history: “It is difficult even to enumerate all the means of terror that this aggressive state has carried out against the Ukrainian people: intimidation, bans, humiliation, physical extermination, artificial famines, deportations, mass torture, armed seizures of territory, ‘cleansing’ of local populations, the violent imposition of a foreign language and religious institutions, full-scale armed invasion – and in the end, real war.”
Metropolitan Epifaniy noted that while the word terrorism is absent from the Bible, its reality and moral condemnation are clearly described: “In the Bible you will not find the word ‘terrorism’, as this definition came later. However, its essence is described in detail – violence against a person – and it is categorically condemned and punished by God’s Law.”
He reminded the faithful that prayer for the innocent victims must be joined with condemnation of the perpetrators: “We commemorate and pray for the souls of innocent victims, asking the Lord to grant them rest in the Kingdom of Heaven and protection for their families. At the same time, murderers and killers await merciless punishment from the Almighty, curse, oblivion, and condemnation from people.”
The Metropolitan sharply accused the Kremlin of continuous crimes: “The Kremlin’s authorities and their servants terrorize our peaceful people every day and night. Whatever they call their murderous actions, however they justify them – they bring evil, death, and destruction. This Russian empire of evil continues to kill and destroy the innocent.”
Epifaniy stressed that the only way to resist such evil is through rejection and moral clarity: “How should we fight this evil? By non-acceptance! Evil cannot be tolerated, it must be stopped. Between light and darkness there can be no unity – Scripture teaches us so. One cannot put an equal sign between victims and abusers, between the enslaved and the aggressors.”
Finally, he appealed to the international community to take decisive action: “I hope that the international community – the community of free and wise citizens, people of goodwill – will condemn acts of genocide, terror, and the numerous war crimes committed by the Russian empire of evil on our land. And that they will make sufficient efforts to stop the spread of evil, establish a just and lasting peace in Ukraine, and protect other nations from Russian aggression.”
