"When the communism comes back..."

Maduro is a communist, just see who his friends are...

 

He is acttualy a communist of the old school in the Latin American stile.

 

Bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church calls for enforced "reprogramming" of Ukrainians in the occupied territories


Occupied Ukrainians dislike Russia because the "state formation" called Ukraine has turned "native Russian lands" into "a field full of weeds."

The Russian propaganda channel Tsargrad published an interview with the head of the Synodal Missionary Department, Bishop Yevfimiy of Luhovytsia, in which the latter spoke of his plans to work in the occupied territories of Ukraine. This was reported by Religion in Ukraine.

In particular, Bishop Yevfimiy mentioned the creation of the educational project "Orthodoxy" at the end of July, aimed at bringing the training of "Orthodox missionaries" to a "new level". The project was headed by Archpriest Aleksandr Timofeev, who works for the Russian army, builds "marching churches" of the Russian Orthodox Church and provides "spiritual care" to the Russian occupation forces.

One of the tasks assigned to Timofeev is to "reprogram" the residents of the occupied territories who still refuse to accept Russia as their homeland. According to Yevfimiy, "weeds" have grown on the "missionary field" during Ukraine's "domination": "Our Department pays special attention to the military mission. Our employees regularly travel to the area of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and study the peculiarities of the missionary field on the ground. To put it bluntly, after many years of these primordially Russian lands being dominated by the state entity called "Ukraine", this field has become overgrown with weeds. Since there are no other options, we must work in these conditions."

In late June, the PACE adopted a resolution entitled "Countering the erasure of cultural identity in time of war and peace," in which it recognized Russia's genocidal intent in destroying Ukrainian cultural heritage and forcibly changing the identity of Ukrainians. In early June, the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) presented a report proving the involvement of Russian Orthodox Church priests in engaging Ukrainian children deported from orphanages and boarding schools in the occupied Donetsk region in "military-patriotic" activities. According to ISW, the deportation of Ukrainian children with the intention of destroying their Ukrainian identity through Russification projects involving the ROC is a violation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which prohibits the "forcible transfer of children of one group to another group" on the grounds of it constituting an act of genocide.

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Source:
https://risu.ua/en/bishop-of-the-ru...krainians-in-the-occupied-territories_n150144

 

UGCC Churches Evacuated in Myrnohrad, Donetsk Oblast, Under Fire

All parishioners of the UGCC have been evacuated from Myrnohrad in Donetsk region. Only a priest and volunteers working on the evacuation remained at the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. Before this, the Church of the Holy Trinity was evacuated and consecrated last year.



Fr. Ivan Vasylenko shared this on his Facebook page.

On August 11, the iconostasis was dismantled in the Church of Saints Peter and Paul and all valuable items were packed for transport to Dnipro.



Among the items to be evacuated, the priest showed a marble angel from 1894, which survived two world wars and now faces another.

“We are beginning the evacuation of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul. It hurts; I feel desolate. We have to transport the iconostasis, icons, banners, library, and all the consecrated items from Myrnohrad and the Donetsk region. This church was built for the glory of God and the salvation of human souls. The enemy is already near, so this is all we can do,” said the priest.

“Just today we prayed here, hugged each other, people cried and left. I am the only one left. Now we are going to dismantle the icons with the young man who helped with the construction,” the priest added.

Despite all the events, the parish continues to support local residents with humanitarian aid. At 3:00 PM every day, the church opens a social wardrobe where locals can receive clothes and food.

The UGCC Department for Information

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Source:
https://ugcc.ua/en/data/ugcc-churches-evacuated-in-myrnohrad-donetsk-oblast-under-fire-1165/

 

More here:

Russian forces destroy Catholic church in Ukraine, as another parish prepares for attack

The remains of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church of the Holy Martyr Cyprian and the Martyr Justina in Antonivka, Ukraine are seen after an Aug. 11, 2024 missile strike by Russian forces. (OSV News photo/Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Information Department)

(OSV News) — Russian forces have destroyed another Ukrainian Greek Catholic church, while a priest at a separate parish is hastening to remove sacred items ahead of an expected Russian attack.

On Aug. 11, a Russian rocket leveled the Church of the Holy Martyr Cyprian and the Martyr Justina in Antonivka, located in Ukraine’s Kherson region.

News of the strike, which took place on a Sunday, was reported by the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church on its information website that same day. The UGCC did not specify if there had been casualties.

Images shared by the UGCC showed the severely damaged remains of the Antonivka church amid rubble. Windows and doors had been completely blown out, with structural framing warped and twisted.

The UGCC noted that the Antonivka church had also been struck Aug. 9 by a Russian drone. Parishioners and area residents had managed to extinguish the resulting flames.

The parish, formed in 2005, originally worshipped in a residence, moving in 2012 to a private chapel in the rectory of Father Igor Makar. The now-ruined church had been newly built shortly thereafter, and was consecrated in May 2014 by Bishop Mykhaylo Bubniy.

In Myrnohrad, a city in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, a priest and a volunteer worked Aug. 11 to save sacred objects and art at the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, as Russian forces have shelled the area.

Father Ivan Vasylenko posted several videos and photos of the effort to his Facebook page, noting that “parishioners (have) all left the city.”

“We consecrated, prayed. … Today, people hugged, cried and already left,” said the priest, who urged Myrnohrad residents seeking shelter to contact the Jesuit Refugee Service.

The “evacuation” of the holy items from the church evoked a “weird double sense,” he said.

In a video included in one Aug. 12 post, Father Vasylensko showed the interior of the church and the items set to be rescued, saying, “Jesus, Lord, Our Savior, Jesus Christ, the Blessed One — it just hurts, my heart is so empty. I don’t even know what’s going on inside. … I don’t know where to start, what to do.”

However, with Russian forces having advanced to nearby Hrodivka, “those church things consecrated for the glory of God must be taken out of the city of Myrnohrad,” he said. “This temple was built for the glory of God and the salvation of human souls in Myrnohrad.”

Icons, banners, the parish library and the iconostasis — a screen of icons used in Byzantine Christian tradition to separate the sanctuary from the nave — are all being extricated with the help of a layman experienced in construction, said Father Vasylenko.

The video, during which the priest can be heard sighing several times, lingered briefly on a statue of Our Lady of Fatima, devotion to whom stresses prayer for the conversion of Russia.

A marble angel crafted in 1894, “which survived two world wars and now faced a new war,” will also be rescued from the church, said the UGCC.

Since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 — declared a genocide in two major human rights reports by the New Lines Institute and the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights — Russia has destroyed at least 660 religious sites representing several faith confessions. Clergy and faithful of various denominations have been expelled, detained, tortured and, in some cases, killed.

In late June, Ukrainian Catholic priests Father Ivan Levitsky and Father Bohdan Geleta were released after a year and a half of Russian captivity, during which they were reported to be regularly tortured.

Russian occupation officials in the Zaporizhzhia region issued a written order in December 2022 banning the UGCC, the Knights of Columbus and Caritas, the official humanitarian arm of the worldwide Catholic Church.

“Jesus, have mercy on us,” said Father Vasylenko in his Facebook video. “Take care, (my) people. … Praise God for everything.”

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Source:
https://catholicreview.org/russian-...kraine-as-another-parish-prepares-for-attack/

 

My Rosary for all!so very sad

 

Russian preacher could face prison for opposition to war



A Russian preacher who helps the homeless could face years in prison and has been fined by authorities in his home country for opposing the invasion of Ukraine.

Eduard Aleksandrovich Charov, 53, who identifies as Christian of no official church, serves the homeless with his wife Inna Charova at their house in the village of Savinovo in Russia’s Sverdlovsk Region, in the Urals mountains, reported independent Russian news site Takiye Dela.

The couple liquidated their non-profit organization in 2021, formerly a state-registered homeless shelter known as For the Sake of Christ. “You have to pay too much to the state for the right to help your neighbor,” Charov reportedly explained.

His opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine resulted in the loss of volunteers who were helping at the shelter, he told Novaya Gazeta Kazakhstan news site. The couple decided to accept the homeless as private guests.

Russian authorities, however, cracked down on Charov, a “sympathetic and caring person,” according to the Rev. Igor Savvateyev, a Savinovo parish priest.

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Source:
https://www.christiandaily.com/news/russian-preacher-could-face-prison-for-opposition-to-war.html

 

My interpretation of when communism comes again -

The original rise was tied into the misery of folks during the industrial revolution by way of capitalism. Today we see the price of goods going higher and higher, people being taxed on more things and at higher rates, insurance costs on home/cars increasing at a fast rate, etc. Additionally we see you folks protesting Gaza, etc etc. I think what is coming in the near future is that the cost of living will explode due to some unforseen shock to the system (financial, political or otherwise). It will impact much of the western world and people will be angry at the 1%s like Bezos and Musk, etc. living flamboyant lives while the rest are scraping by. I think this will cause a groundswell from the youth upwards (especially starting with them as they do not have any experience with what communism is outside of theory) that will lead to revolutions in many countries. The return of communism will be come about by the greed of capitalism (as St. John Paul II said - they are two sides of the same coin) and people will see 'communism' as the answer. But as with the first rise, this new rise will spread quickly throughout the world and will be adopted by so many as an answer to their problems and it will be very, very violent.

 

One bad thing that develops mainly under capitalism is the creation of new needs, things that 20 years ago could have been considered futile, today are seen as basic necessities. For example, I know a lot of people who could easily last a few days without eating but would hardly go 24 hours without accessing certain features on their smartphone or smart TV, I'm talking about virtual services, which are paid for in one way or another. And it is true that these people become violent when they are deprived of such virtual services. But this is also true for physical goods and services, things that are perfectly dispensable.

 

A distinct possibility for individuals with no Godly influences in their lives.

 

Faith and prayer sustained him, says Ukrainian Catholic priest captured, tortured by Russia

Ukrainian Catholic Redemptorist Fathers Ivan Levitsky and Bohdan Geleta are seen in this undated photo posted to the website of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church June 28, 2024. According to the UGCC, the images was taken while both priests were held in a Russian prison. The priests, captured by Russian forces from Berdyansk, Ukraine, in November 2022, were announced as freed by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy June 28. (OSV News/Screen shot from UGCC website)

Faith, prayer and a transcendent hope in Christ sustained a Ukrainian Catholic priest amid more than a year and a half of Russian captivity and torture – and now, he is sharing his story to remind others that God “loves us and wants to save us.”

Redemptorist Father Bohdan Geleta reflected on his experiences in an hourlong interview with host Taras Babenchuk that aired Aug. 20 on Zhyve TV, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church’s television channel.

In November 2022, Father Geleta and his fellow Redemptorist Father Ivan Levitsky were seized by Russian forces from their parish, Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos in Berdyansk, Ukraine.

The two – whose exact locations and conditions were largely unknown to Ukrainian and Church officials for most of their 18-month captivity – were among 10 prisoners returned to Ukraine in late June. Both priests had lost significant amounts of weight, and their heads had been shaved.

Father Geleta confirmed that he and Father Levitsky had been subjected to both psychological and physical torture at the hands of Russian forces, confirming reports that Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the UGCC, had received within the first weeks of the priests’ capture, which took place a full nine months after Russian troops took over Berdyansk.

Initially, the two priests had been able to continue their pastoral ministry after the Russian occupation, celebrating Divine Liturgy, praying and taking in refugees, said Father Geleta.

In fact, the refugees motivated them to stay, he said, and provide both spiritual and material support.

Yet prayers for peace had to be done “very delicately” since “it was dangerous to express such a sentiment there,” he said – and a car marked with the letter “Z,” a symbol of Russian troops in Ukraine, circled the Church “several times” as “a sign” that Russian occupiers were watching.

On Nov. 16, 2022, the occupiers made their move in broad daylight. Father Geleta had just returned from a burial and was preparing to celebrate Divine Liturgy; Father Levitsky was about to hold an outdoor prayer gathering.

“Two masked people came into the Church. I think they were military. They were carrying weapons, and they came up and said in Russian: ‘Come with us,’” Father Geleta recalled. “I asked them in Ukrainian what they wanted, why they came into the Church dressed like they were. They told me that they did not understand Ukrainian. I switched to Russian. Then I changed my clothes, took off my vestments, and went with them to the central pre-trial detention center in Berdyansk … And there they drew up a report that Father Ivan and I had violated some rules. We had to take permission from the authorities to pray in the city.”

The charge is a typical one for Russian occupation forces in Ukraine, who have broadly sought to suppress all faiths except Russian-aligned Orthodox groups by destroying houses of worship; detaining, torturing and killing clergy; and creating laws – in violation of the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit the imposition of outside rule by occupying forces – to restrict religious practice. In Zaporizhzhia, the region surrounding Berdyansk, Russian occupation officials issued a written decree banning the UGCC as well as the Knights of Columbus and Caritas, the official humanitarian arm of the worldwide Catholic Church.

Father Geleta and Father Levitsky, who were kept separate for most of their imprisonment, were first taken to damp basement cells where they “could also hear screams from our cell in the corridors,” as captives were tortured. One of Father Geleta’s cellmates had been electrically shocked and forced to learn the Russian national anthem – or face execution.

The priests were first offered an opportunity to cooperate with employees of the FSB, Russia’s security bureau, which has in some cases sought to recruit religious leaders to promote Russia’s grip in occupied areas of Ukraine.

“They said if we agreed, they would show us around and tell us what we needed to do,” said Father Geleta. “But we refused.”

The priests were also questioned on camera by Russian propagandists, he said, noting that his inquisitors “really don’t like the word ‘war,’” but instead prefer the Kremlin’s euphemism, “special military operation” to describe their attacks on Ukraine, which began in 2014 and which have been determined to constitute genocide, according to two major reports from the New Lines Institute and the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights.

Yet “neither Father Ivan nor I compromised,” said Father Geleta. “We just told the truth, that it was a war, that they were criminals, to their faces,” he said, adding that it was clear they would be “punished” for their stance.

Their captors, Father Geleta said, “forgot about us for four months,” after which they accused the priests of storing weapons in their Church, a charge for which they were to be tried and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

The two were transferred for five more months to Russian penal colony No. 77 in Berdyansk, where Father Geleta was moved to a solitary cell with a speaker that was “was blaring Soviet songs all day long,” which he was forced to listen to.

“I realized then how a person goes crazy, I realized why people commit suicide then,” said Father Geleta. “And, of course, the Lord God helps, and he gives strength through prayer. God, Jesus Christ, Mary and the angels were all present. Prayer was salvation. And as I was saying, I felt the prayer of the Church.”

The priests were moved once more – driven handcuffed and blindfolded, with bags on their heads – to another penal colony in Horlivka, located in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, where prisoners were “harmed almost every day … the admission was very terrible, very cruel,” said Father Geleta.

 

(Cont.)

Those who had fought in Ukraine’s Azov regiment, which along with civilians had defied Russia’s occupation of Mariupol until the city fell in May 2022, were “very much abused there,” he said.

The priests were also abused multiple times. “I was almost never beaten during the admission, but Father Ivan was beaten so severely that he lost consciousness twice,” Father Geleta said.

The Ukrainian priest said that while he was being tortured – something “you can’t get used to” – he “remembered Jesus Christ, his cross, his suffering.”

“And such strength and grace poured in that, that I was saying: Lord, I can sympathize with you,” he said. “When they were taking me somewhere, I was already preparing internally, praying and asking God to give me strength. I did not know whether I would survive or not.”

He and Father Levitsky shared a cell for just 15 days of their 10-month imprisonment at Horlivka, where according to the priest about 2,000 prisoners of war were held.

“We had the opportunity to get to know a lot of people,” said Father Geleta. “They told us a lot, and they were looking for help from the inside, spiritual help.”

While unable to celebrate liturgy, Father Geleta said he began holding morning and evening prayer meetings of about five minutes each, reading a passage from a Russian-language Bible, reciting the Our Father and Hail Mary, and then praying for prisoners’ intentions.

“It was enough to “spiritually gain such energy and go on living,” he said. “I wouldn’t say that it was some kind of propaganda or preaching, because the Our Father and the Hail Mary are common Christian prayers. … The warders didn’t even come in and see us.”

Father Geleta said he was also able to hear Confessions, and sensed that “the whole Church” prayed for the priests’ release.

He said his captors considered UGCC Catholics as “sect that split from Orthodoxy,” and that the UGCC and its priests must be “eradicated, isolated from society, and purified.”

“They genuinely praise God. Genuinely, yet they beat people, you know?” Father Geleta said of his captors. “It’s such religious fanaticism.”

When the June prisoner exchange was arranged, he and Father Levitsky thought they were possibly being moved to Siberia, said Father Geleta, who felt “profoundly grateful” upon regaining his freedom.

“Even now I cannot digest it all, realize it. It is still … coming to me,” he said.

As he readjusts to freedom, Father Geleta has discerned the hand of the divine in the sufferings he and Father Levitsky endured.

“Together with Father Ivan we sympathized and bore this cross with those prisoners who fought for freedom, for a free Ukraine, for winning this happiness of not only living like people, but being close to God, to the salvation of the Lord,” he said.

“And it will probably remain there, this particle, for a lifetime, you know, as long as I live on earth,” he acknowledged.

“And I want to tell all the others, and especially those families, those mothers, wives, who have their sons, their fathers, their sisters in captivity, not to lose hope, to pray, to turn to God, and everything will be all right. The Lord God knows that even through these sufferings he leads everyone to himself. We do not know this, it is a mystery. Otherwise, a person might not be able to bear it,” Father Geleta said.

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Source:
https://www.cathstan.org/us-world/f...n-catholic-priest-captured-tortured-by-russia