Our stranght in our faith - marking the anniversary of St. Illia of Morom and Stepan Bandera

Today, the day of St. Ilia of the Pechersk is better known as Ilya Murom, the defender of the Orthodox faith and of Rus'-Ukraine, a hero of the ancient Rus' epic tales. Having passed a way of a warrior he decided to change a chain mail on a monkish cassock and maintain the struggle on a spiritual battlefield. St Ilia combine in himself the double ideal of a belligerent Church and as a hero, and as an ascetic.

At the same time, today is the birthday of Stepan Bandera - not only an outstanding fighter for the freedom of Ukrainian people, but also a loyal Christian and struggler against anti-christian Bolshevism, the consequences of which cultural influence the Western World reaps now. Even now his name triggers horror and hatred among the enemies of Ukraine.

In his works of 1957, Stepan Bandera wrote: "The religion, its defense at the face of the onslaught of wicked communism, the true confession and the maintenance of the living Christian faith is the most important thing not only of the Church itself, but of the whole people, all national forces, in particular the national liberation movement. We shall not separate the defense of Christian faith and the Church from the national liberation struggle, but focus the main attention and main efforts around the most important allegations against which the enemy directs the strongest offensive."