“The neighboring aggressor state … sows death all about them,” said Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, in the words of the Eastern-rite church’s summary of a recent homily.

“Every time we hear that the number of troops on the borders of our country is increasing, when the whole world is worried, and some countries are even preparing to evacuate the families of their diplomats from Ukraine and tell their citizens not to go to Ukraine – it only increases fear,” he added.