The Ukrainian bishop of Kyiv said he discussed faith and the plight of the Ukrainian people with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a Feb. 4 meeting at the State Department.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a very good meeting, because first of all, I met him as with a brother of faith,\u201d Bishop Vitaliy Kryvytskyi, SDB, of Kyiv\u2013Zhytomyr told EWTN News in an exclusive interview during his visit to the U.S. \u201cI am not a politician,\u201d he said. \u201cThe only thing I want to do is give witness of faith.\u201d<\/p>\n
The meeting comes ahead of the four-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, in what was an escalation of a conflict that began in 2014.<\/p>\n
Kryvytskyi said that Rubio told him he prays for the Ukrainian people every night.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also saw that we had something in common,\u201d Kryvytskyi said, noting that Rubio\u2019s family members from Cuba \u201cknow what communism is.\u201d He said: \u201cWe all went through that difficult period, and we don\u2019t want to go back to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ahead of the fourth anniversary of Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Kryvytskyi said Ukrainians are experiencing electricity blackouts that \u201care longer than they were before.\u201d In Kyiv, he noted that a lot of buildings lack electricity and heating. \u201cOutside, it is very cold, people are freezing to death in their apartments,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The bishop described the Catholic Church in Ukraine as being actively engaged on the humanitarian front. \u201cWe\u2019re doing everything possible to turn our churches into an oasis, where people can come and just find the most essential things, even to charge a phone, to have a warm cup of coffee, or just to stay warm.\u201d A lot of people come to Ukrainian churches for food as well, he said, because many do not have electricity to cook.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the same time,\u201d he said, \u201cwe\u2019re here to answer your questions: people that have asked us \u2018How long is this going to take?\u2019 and we answer that it is through God that we find the strength and hope to go through this.\u201d For many, he said, it has served as an opportunity to learn to pray for the first time.<\/p>\n
In his own prayer life, Kryvytskyi said the war has transformed the way Scripture impacts him. \u201cFor example, reading the Psalms on a daily basis, I understood that many times they speak about war [and] it\u2019s like they took on a different color.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI found myself the same as the author who wrote the Psalms, and with the same understanding,\u201d he said, adding that he also has begun praying the rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet on a more frequent basis.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the faithful to keep their faith during this time of trial is not easy,\u201d he said. \u201cToday, if you look at it from a certain aspect, maybe we\u2019re stronger than we were four years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n