I will shamelessly borrow the words of Larry Johnson, who said something to the effect of “beating a dead horse”. Instead, the entire world is not beating a dead horse, as Canada is a jack-ass.
https://sonar21.com/canadas-nazi-celebration-goes-viral/
For those who may not know, the other day, Zelensky spoke before the Parliament in Ottawa. He received twelve (12!) standing ovations.
You know who else received a thunderous standing O? One Yaroslav Hunka, a 98 year-old “veteran” of the Ukrainian armed forces, a man “who fought against the Russians”, fighting for the Ukraine’s “independence”.
Trouble is, he did his fighting while a volunteer of the notorious Galizien Division of the SS.
In case you didn’t know, the men who volunteered for the SS were nasty pieces of work, killing not only Soviet soldiers but murdering tens of thousands of Jews and over a hundred thousand Poles.
In case you didn’t know, the Soviets were on our side.
Today, A high ranking Polish government official has called for Polan to begin an extradition request for Yaroslav Hunka, the 98-year-old Ukrainian Canadian who served the Nazi SS Galizien unit during WWII.
The extradition is apparently to prosecute Yarolav for war crimes committed against Polish and Jewish civilians during WWII.
Of was it a clever way to smoke out any living Nazis?
What’s even worse was that this speech took place on the eve of Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year.
I guess somebody in Ottawa didn’t get the memo. Or did they?
OK, snark off: are you going to tell me that there was no way that the people in charge of protocols for Canada didn’t know about this guy? Or were they willing to take the chance because they hate Russia so much and hoped nobody would notice?
I’m going with “B”.
Here is Prime Minister Justin Castro apologizing for this major faux pas:
https://www.rt.com/news/583544-canada-nazi-ukraine-applause/
It’s fascinating. The not z’s are valued for their anti-Russian-ness. That is the war America and Canada are fighting at the current moment. It seems all else must bend to serve that narrative – wartime propaganda. “The enemy of my enemy is my ally.” All the more so because of not z history in the Americas.
They’re not focusing on the antisemitic aspect, just the anti-Russian. And on Yom Kippur for good measure. It is quite bizarre. Much like liberals lauding Muslims despite their hostility to wokeness.
It seems as though it need not actually make sense to the Establishment anymore so long as it “feels right”.
George, these days—we truly live in The Twilight Zone!
Apparently ‘Russian disinformation” campaigns are more effective than anyone could have dreamed, as they managed to fool and embarrass the most well-informed political elite of an entire country.
That Vladimir must be one clever fellow.
Yeah…let’s look to these folks to lecture us on the perils of disinformation.
What’s boggles the mind is that Germany was fighting, for all intents and purposes, Bolshevism. They also calculated the necessity of bringing that war onto Soviet front lines when it became clear the Soviets were preparing to take Germany and then the rest of Europe (which they did, for intents and purposes).
The mind boggling part is that Ukrainians sympathetic to the Far Right, ‘Nazi’ elements around Kiev behave as if Russia is the land of the Soviets, and the West is the land of the Free, when the opposite is true.
The far right supported by the far left. Go figure.
I don’t actually think it’s fundamentally political. Rather, it’s tribal. The neo-Nazi’s in the Ukraine and in Canada hate Russia and Russians. It’s an obsession like Moby Dick. And their Nazism consists largely in cultural rituals that distinguish them as anti-Russian, not anti-Bolshevik. They are pulling down statues of old Soviets not because they were Soviets but because they were Russian. Completely tribalistic.
Which makes it all the more deranged inasmuch as ethnically there is no real distinction between them and Russians. They are all Eastern Slavs. They use the Nazism as leeway to be hateful and barbaric against their enemies and to prop up their egos with Ukrainian nationalism when the Ukraine itself is really just a region of Russia (with parts of it historically belonging to other nations as well).
Nazism is the ultimate inoculation to a sense of regional and political inferiority. It gives them mojo for the fight against the evil Orcs.
Yes, it’s a trojan horse
I’ve been out of the country for a month and haven’t really been following the news, good to see the Canadians are providing some clown world hypocrisy entertainment. At this point you just have to laugh.
I’m glad that my grandfather who flew bomber missions against Germany didn’t see this. He received a Purple Heart and a Distinguished Flying Cross for his efforts.
Boy, did Orwell call it or what?
Welcome to the Ministry of Truth. I’m glad my grandparents aren’t alive to see this day. I was reading an article from the Simon Wiesenthal website about how they were protesting about the Bandera celebrations in Kiev last year and not a peep from the MSN. I look at Fox News, so as I can keep an eye on the insanity, and you can find the Canadian Parliament SS debacle in the Canadian section. The main feed seems to focus more on who Taylor Swift is smooching and pictures of Matt Damon’s wife in her bikini. I haven’t seen much in the MSM about the worldwide condemnation about this nor Poland’s loud protests. It’s what happens when people deny Christ and put their heads in the sand. Watch out and be wary, the election is merely a distraction.Looks like the MSM is keeping Winston busy!
https://www.wiesenthal.com/about/news/wiesenthal-center-protests-25.html
Ask yourself this question. If Bandera wasn’t a Nazi then why is Simon upset?
I can answer that: because Bandera was an ultra-nationalist who murdered tens of thousands of non-Ukrainians in an effort to “purify” the Ukraine.
Please understand, I understand why many Ukrainians hated the Soviets, the Holodomyr especially. I myself have written in these pages that I understood how many (not all) Ukrainians looked upon the Wehrmacht as liberators. That does not justify the perpetration of war crimes against innocent civilians.
Larry Johnson raises an interesting point:
“Yaroslav Hunka, the 98 year old former member of a Nazi SS Division, detonated a public relations bomb with his Friday appearance before the Canadian Parliament and it is continuing to set off secondary and tertiary explosions. Unbelievable. But this is not just a story about Canada celebrating a Nazi murderer. I think the real story is that Ukraine’s President Zelensky played a direct role in making this happen. Why? Because Ukraine reportedly put out a stamp Monday with Hunka’s elderly mug featured prominently with the accompanying title, “Heroes Don’t Die.” Let that settle in for a minute. Why did Zelensky, a Jew, order the pre-production of a stamp celebrating a retired member of the Waffen SS as a “Hero” before he showed up in Canada? This was pre-planned. I think Zelensky and his team genuinely thought this would be a PR victory. Boy! Instead of Canada embracing the elderly SS trooper and rallying support to send more military aid to Ukraine, the country is in an uproar and starting to ask some tough questions..”
Quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat!
Whom God would destroy, he first makes mad!
This is part of the Western distancing from the Ukraine debacle. The Five Eyes knew exactly who this fellow was. Everybody’s talking about Ukrainian Nazis now. This is no coincidence. Z was received poorly and left with little. His offensive failed miserably. Everyone can see the fat lady warming up. So, we’ve already canonized the Ukrainians as saints resisting the onslaught of the devil.
In order to turn on them and leave them out to dry, the halo has to be removed. The dog is being wagged.
With any luck, Trudeau might go too…
Misha, let me ask your opinion as I play this out: do you think that the 5Is did this on purposely to (1) create an exit ramp from the Ukraine, and (2) get rid of Trudeau?
Why do I hypothesize #2? Word on the street is that King Charles III has it in for Trudeau.
Just hypothesizing.
I definitely think it is part of distancing the West from the Ukraine debacle. Somebody put them up to it. That somebody had to have foreseen the consequences: Namely, that the press would figure out who the old boy was and that it would shine a light on the Ukrainian Nazi problem – a bright light.
I just don’t believe that they would have done such a stupid thing were it not for the intelligence services at least standing down and possibly even having agents encourage it. Those responsible for vetting him had to have known.
Now as to Trudeau, I have no firm opinion. It reflects terribly on him and on the speaker of their lower house, but the truth is that the entire legislature – everyone present – is stained by the thing. Perhaps Trudeau and the speaker are more stained because they actually met with the man before his appearance. And, of course, it’s poetic justice for Trudeau given his remarks during the truckers’ strike. But I’m not sure why the DS would have it in for Trudeau. Seems like he’s a team player.
Zelensky, on the other hand, has outlived his usefulness, as has the Ukraine war. They don’t want an uncontrolled conflict with Russia going on leading into the 2024 election. Too much of a wild card from day to day. For example, Russia could blast across the Ukraine in September of next year and create a second Afghanistan right before the election. And God only knows when Ukraine will run out of fight. They’re already surrendering by the thousands.
I suppose anything’s possible. Personally, I’m convinced that it’s the Biden Curse. He’s a usurper and it haunts everything he does. The Lord is not his friend.
RE: “Those responsible for vetting him had to have known.”
Of course they did and they let Trudeau walk right into it. Either the DS intelligence services have been infiltrated or they’re just plain tied of Trudeau. Either way, it works for me.
Perhaps Trudeau is becoming so unpopular
that he is now seen by the DS as a liability?
After all, the Liberals have been thrown out
of every provincial government bar one.
I think that’s exactly what’s happening. The Canadian truckers are fixing to go in with horns blaring. They say it won’t be like the last time. Trudeau should retire himself quickly.
BTW, we should remind people that the last time the truckers protested, the Trudeau government told us that when the truckers went “honk-honk” it was secret code for “Heil Hitler”.
I guess they can’t use that stupidity again.
Why not?
Trudeau uses the ‘Russian disinformation’ trope
at every conceivable (and inconveivable) opportunity.
My fear is that Canada’s elites are moving Nazis to fore.
Bomb threat at Holy Trinity Monastery Jordanville NY.
Prayers please. The monastery is under lockdown and the bomb sniffing dogs are there🙏🏻😢
https://orthochristian.com/156338.html
Oh, no! Please keep us informed.
Everything ok and no bomb found. Glory be to God
“I’m writing this letter, to try and put some perspective on Yaroslav Hunka, the man who is central to the furor that has caused Anthony Rota to resign as Speaker of Canada’s House of Commons.
Assuming that the biographical information I could find online is basically correct, it would seem that as a young man of 18, Hunka joined a German military unit. In his own words, he joined the Ukrainian underground “to fight Russia, so I was fighting the same people they’re fighting now.”
From the story that appeared in the National Post, there are three excerpts that are relevant. One states that the division’s soldiers had volunteered “not because of a love of the Germans but because of their hatred for the Russians and the Communist tyranny.” and that the “Galicia Division recruits may have been attracted by the idea of eventually seeking a sovereign Ukraine through force.”
It then goes on to comment that “Ukrainians had plenty of reasons to resist Soviet rule; the region was only a few years removed from a Moscow-engineered famine now recognized by Canada as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people.”
It seems as if Hunka emigrated to Canada in 1954. That being the case, he was admitted nine years after the end of WW2, so the processing of his application would not have been part of the overwhelming volume of applications that would have been the case a little under a decade earlier.
My point is that we should assume that his case for admittance would have been well scrutinized, and as a result, he was granted entry. From what I have read, it would seem that Hunka settled in Toronto, raised a family there, and was active in the Ukrainian community.
As far as I am aware, there have been no accusations of personal wrongdoing or concealment of facts that would support that his admission into Canada was in any way fraudulent.
With that in mind, it seems to me that the picture we can see is one of a young patriotic Ukrainian man, caught up in the fog of war, and forced to make a decision as to which side represented a greater threat to his homeland.
Can we say with conviction that if any of us had to make a similar decision it would have been easy?
Which side was the greater enemy?
Is it different today?
Significant questions. And especially so, given the following statement published by the Canadian Prime Minister’s office just four days ago following the visit by the Ukrainian President “to showcase Canada’s ongoing solidarity and unwavering support for Ukraine as it continues to defend itself against Russia’s war of aggression.”
The more things change, the more they stay the same.”
– Ian T. Saunders
Couple of minor points: Ukrainians may have had plenty of reasons to resist Soviet rule, but the same could be said for the Russians. The Holodomor was not Moscow-engineered. It was Soviet-engineered under Stalin due to the class dynamics which existed between the land-owning peasants (kulaks) with strong political interests which were vested in the ownership of private property, and the ruling Soviet Communist party’s fundamental tenets which were diametrically opposed. Moscow had nothing to do with it. Anyone who attributes the atrocities of the Soviets in the past to today’s Russia is being intellectually dishonest.
I believe the Soviet command was based in Moscow – in the Kremlin, so yes, it was Moscow-engineered. The capital of the Soviet Union was Moscow. That’s where Stalin was…
Yes, Ukrainians did have plenty of reasons to resist Soviet rule. The Holodomor was certainly a factor. And some of them allied themselves with the Germans in their hope to free their country from Bolshevism. Many Russians did the same thing, fighting with Vlasov and others. Calling them “nazis” now is absurd, insanely ignorant, and disrespectful of their own desperate struggle to free their people from the evils of Communism.
History, I should think, has vindicated them – from 1945-1991 how many millions of people were killed, imprisoned, tortured under Soviet/Communist occupation?
Hunka fought for his people and nation, and is indeed a respected veteran of WW2. He subsequently lived out his years and now, at 98 years old, is being threatened with extradition to a foreign country to be imprisoned and surely die. To what end? What is he guilty of? This is the real tragedy here.
Stalin lived in GEORGIA, not Moscow. So if you’re going to sully the name of a place, why not say the “Georgian-engineered” famine.
Russia, BTW, was also a victim. The famine caused mass starvation in the grain-growing regions.
What makes you think one evil cancels out another?
So Nazis Ukrainians are OK because the Soviets were bad???? Communism by any other name is still communism. The Ukrainian nationalists are wearing Nazis emblems! They call themselves Nazis. Tell them it’s absurd.
I’m beginning to think Hunka is not an innocent victim of circumstance. Had you not said what you did, I wouldn’t have thought twice about it.
Herman, FWIW, Wall Street Bankers financed Lenin and thereby created the Soviet Union for their own purposes. All peoples of the former Russian Empire –especially the Christian ones–suffered horribly because of Bolshevism.
That said, the perpetration of war crimes (enthusiastically I might add) by Waffen SS troops cannot be justified.
As for Zelensky, a Jew, he deserves all the obloquy possible because he made a mockery of the entire Holocaust narrative.
His division murdered thousands of Jewish and Polish men, women and children. He’s indefensible.
How much do you really know about him? You can read Hunka’s own words here:
“He described in the blog post how Russian dictator Josef Stalin had members of his village and relatives rounded up and sent to Siberia, where some died.
“This was the first demonstration of ‘father’ Stalin’s guardianship over us – the first echelons of ‘enemies of the people’ to Siberia. More and more new ones followed them,” he wrote, adding, “One Saturday, the director of the Tkachuk school called three tenth-grade students from the bursa, and no one saw them again.”
Hunka wrote, “Fear of the unknown enveloped us and the entire nation. The terror of Moscow Communism raged over the Berezhansk land.”
He described how villagers welcomed German soldiers “with joy” when they entered his town in July 1941, “knowing that there would no longer be that terrifying knocking on the door in the middle of the night, and at least it would be possible to sleep peacefully now.”
https://komb-a-ingwar.blogspot.com/2011/03/blog-post_21.html?m=1
And yet, while he and his “slept peacefully” at night, they exacted Stalinist terror (with absolute relish I might add) on innocent civilians who lived in their midst. Their only crime? Being Poles, Slovaks or Jews.
This too from Grayzone is pretty good.
This is Hunka.
This seems to be the source of a number of quotes from him:
https://komb-a-ingwar.blogspot.com/2011/03/blog-post_21.html?m=0
It is clear that Hunka hated the Poles and, probably, the Jews. He certainly hated the Bolsheviks, which of course is no sin. He strikes me as being very parochial. Now, there is no question that his division committed mass murders. To what extent he physically participated in them, we do not seem to know.
But he was clearly a Nazi and a soldier in the SS.
It’s interesting to me to see someone go out of their way to champion someone like Hunka by trying to discredit Russia. But that’s always the way it is with them. They try too hard and in their efforts to deceive, they draw attention to themselves. How much smarter it would be to remain silent.
Again explain this
https://www.wiesenthal.com/about/news/swc-urges-canadian-prime.html
Excerpt from article
The Simon Wiesenthal Center is calling on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to explicitly condemn the Galicia Division, an organization founded by the Nazis and part of the Waffen SS, that swore their allegiance to Hitler during World War II.
This follows the hailing of a 98-year-old “hero” by the Canadian parliament, who was a member of the Galicia Division. The Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Canadian affiliate – Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies has already called for the resignation of Anthony Rota as Speaker of the House of Commons after the former member of the Waffen SS, notorious for its involvement in Holocaust atrocities, was celebrated on the floor of the House of Commons.
This is from the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Simon Wiesenthal was a famous Nazi hunter. I would think they know what they are talking about.
https://www.wiesenthal.com/about/news/swc-urges-canadian-prime.html
The Simon Wiesenthal Center is calling on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to explicitly condemn the Galicia Division, an organization founded by the Nazis and part of the Waffen SS, that swore their allegiance to Hitler during World War II.
This follows the hailing of a 98-year-old “hero” by the Canadian parliament, who was a member of the Galicia Division. The Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Canadian affiliate – Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies has already called for the resignation of Anthony Rota as Speaker of the House of Commons after the former member of the Waffen SS, notorious for its involvement in Holocaust atrocities, was celebrated on the floor of the House of Commons.
It seems one of the most respected institutions that have fought anti-semitism and who have brought many Nazi war criminals to Justice would not agree with you.
Here is another article that sheds light on Simon Wiesenthal’s opinion of Canada.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/wiesenthal-prodded-the-conscience-of-nations/article4120917/
Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal’s demand for justice was loud and persistent. For more than 50 years, he diligently gathered information about war criminals who had tried to rebuild their lives in quiet corners of the world. He peppered governments with documents. He prodded the conscience of nations.
However, he had only minimal success in bringing war criminals to justice, especially in Canada, prominent figures involved in the pursuit of Nazi war criminals said yesterday after his death in Vienna at 96.
Mr. Wiesenthal decided in 1977 that he would never step back into Canada. And he didn’t. He felt the Canadian government did not have the political will to pursue Nazi war criminals who had settled in the country, said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, a co-founder of the Los-Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center.
If that’s the case then explain this.
https://www.wiesenthal.com/about/news/wiesenthal-center-protests-25.html
Here’s a little part of the article
January 3, 2022
Jerusalem-The Simon Wiesenthal Center today sent a letter of protest to the Ukrainian ambassador to Israel, Yevgen Korniychuk, in response to the mass march in Kiev on New Year’s Day of thousands of Ukrainians to mark the birthday of World War II Ukrainian leader Stefan Bandera, who collaborated with the Nazis and whose men actively participated in the mass murder of thousands of Jews and other civilians.
Here’s another article
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/the-fight-for-historical-truth-about-the-holocaust-in-ukraine-485696
An excerpt from the above article.
The second objective is to convince world opinion that the crimes of the Soviet Union and its satellite Communist regimes were equally evil when compared to those of the Nazis, and that these crimes, too, constituted genocide. Historically inaccurate, the canard of equivalency is politically of central importance to certain quarters in Eastern and Central Europe where, by claiming to be victims of the worst crime imaginable, they seek to deflect or avoid painful discussions about local participation by their nationals in Holocaust crimes.
This phenomenon is particularly noticeable in Ukraine.
Check the Simon Wiesenthal Center website and search for Ukraine.
Sounds like they wanted a free Ukraine minus the Jews.
“…they seek to deflect or avoid painful discussions about
local participation by their nationals in Holocaust crimes.”
Precisely: “If you think I’m bad, Pal,
see what those bad men there did!”
The Lord summed it up perfectly
when he spoke of motes and beams.
[Matt 7:1-5]
look what the Ukrainian Nazis did in Poland during WW2. murder, torture, maiming, rape.
Looks like Ukrainians are surrendering by the thousands:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyyps0QaSc8
Bomb Threat Forces Evacuation Of Russian Orthodox Seminary & Monastery In New York
See: https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/bomb-threat-forces-evacuation-russian-orthodox-seminary-monastery-new-york
Scott Ritter did a good summary of how Ukraine got to this point from 2005 to the present. Fast forward if you need to but its an excellent historical timeline emphasizing that Russia gave everyone – Ukraine, US, NATO, the EU – every chance to avoid war, massive death, destruction and economic devastation, yet the US was hell bent on this.
What JFK tried to do before his assassination
w/Jeffrey Sachs | The Chris Hedges Report
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wqm9Yl1gGEY
[Video – 50:09]
‘ Jeffrey Sachs gives an excellent overview of how close
we came to nuclear Armageddon in the 1963 crisis
and how Kennedy went against the Deep State.
He then relates it to the behaviour of the USA
from the fall of the Berlin Wall up until today. ‘
It seems it took one Party Commissar on a submarine
to prevent the outbreak of a nuclear World War III
following a US grenade attack on that sub…
Misha, if you have time to listen, what are your thoughts on the recent video that Ritter did above? Since the Ukrainians (and the West) are not willing to negotiate, he states that Russia is getting ready to take another 7 territories on top of the ones it has already annexed, bringing the total to 10.
He seems to imply that Kiev is not one of the regions that will be directly annexed, which leads me to believe that Russia will set up a pro-Russian government in Kiev. If this is the case then will this new hypothetical pro-Russian government be responsible with de-Nazifying the remainder of what is left of Ukraine (i.e. Lvov)? I’m having a hard time thinking they will be able to achieve this without military power. If the Russian goal is to annihilate the Ukrainian army then who exactly will achieve this?
Which brings me to my next question: Do you think Russia will just steamroll all the way to the Polish border, de-Nazify the remainder of what is left of Ukraine, set up a pro-Russian government in Kiev, then retreat back to the areas which it has annexed?
It’s hard to see it any other way.
In terms of de-Nazification and the Church, which presumably is part of the Russian plan, this also seems like it would be the only way for the Russians to assist in retaking the Kiev Caves and the dozens (hundreds?) of temples that have been stolen by the OCU. It also seems like the only way that the OCU will be banned from Ukraine. Furthermore, a Russian strategic victory over NATO/West will eventually lead to the downfall of Bartholomew as he has essentially outlived his usefulness to the Western powers.
In a more eschatological aspect, this way also seems like it is going to be the nail in the coffin to any hope that Bartholomew had to reunify with Rome. My guess is that he thought he could annex Ukraine, get the remainder of the Orthodox Churches to go along with the OCU bandwagon and eventually prepare the way for the false union with Rome, which is part of the wider NATO/Western liberalism plan to have one pan-religion. If Russia defeats Ukraine, weakens or totally collapses the EU/NATO/West, then that plan is totally thrown out the window.
Putin spoke the other day at Valdai and answered questions. It might be worth perusing.
It seems that given his remarks and the statements of other Russian officials in the last week or two, the Russian strategy in the Ukraine is coming more into focus. I think they are going to drive west along the southern coast to Odessa and Transnistria while advancing incrementally from the Donbas into oblasts west of the current lines. They will likely continue fortifying the four oblasts they currently control (excluding Crimea) and repeat the same procedure of erecting the “Surovikin lines” of defense across the next oblasts.
The logic of this would be that they will be securing the lion’s share of the ethnic Russian population in the Ukraine and will likely cause a collapse of the military and/or the government at some point due to the bleeding of men and equipment necessary to engage Russian forces as well as by cutting off Ukraine’s access to the sea.
I do not expect a treaty or armistice. They will proceed til they obtain a surrender or until they are no longer opposed at all.
Metropolitan Epiphanios Consecrated An Icon With
Nazi Stepan Bandera!! | Helleniscope – October 7, 2023
https://www.helleniscope.com/2023/10/07/metropolitan-epiphany-consecrated-an-icon-with-nazi-stepan-banderas-en-gr/
‘ In a ceremony that happened last June and was largely overlooked by most of us, Metropolitan Epiphany had consecrated an icon that includes images of Nazi soldiers including their leader, Stepan Bandera, who still today is celebrated as a national hero in Ukraine!! The episode was brought to our attention by a posting in a Greek website which referred to a facebook post of June 19 – link here… The photos of this FB post are absolutely speaking for themselves.
PHOTO: The bottom part of the icon shows Stepan Bandera and his Nazi fellow fighters…
Says this Facebook post (English Translation):
With a weapon in his hands and with God in his heart
An icon for the 104th Brigade of the Territorial Defense of the Rivne Region was consecrated in the St. George Men’s Monastery at the Cossack Graves.
The idea of writing an image belongs to the chaplain service. The master became a soldier of the brigade, and in civilian life – the icon painter Tymofiy Paperny. The artist is known for numerous paintings of temples and iconostasis. The Holy Mother of God was chosen as the patroness, who, even in Cossack times, acted as the patroness of the Ukrainian army and protector against the enemy.
The author of the icon developed a unique plot at the request of the military, somewhat modernizing the traditional iconography. Under the holy omophorion cover, he symbolically united defenders of Ukraine of different times: Cossacks, UPA soldiers, and modern Ukrainian heroes. He also depicted two shrines of Rivne – the Holy Intercession Cathedral and the Holy Resurrection Cathedral.
The icon was consecrated by Metropolitan Epiphany of Kyiv and All Ukraine, Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. The Metropolitan noted that the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and military chaplains will always pray and spiritually support our soldiers.
The commander of the brigade, Lt. Col. Serhiy Kasprov, on behalf of the entire staff, thanked Metropolitan Epiphanius and Metropolitan Hilarion of Rivne and Ostroh for their help to the troops. In memory of the visit, he presented them with commemorative plaques.
The icon of the brigade will become a spiritual symbol and amulet for the military. God is with us!
We will win!
============
From a news website (link here) we learn that “the icon, as reported by SPN, was painted for the 104th brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, whose patron saint is the Holy Mother of God, who, they say, “even in Cossack times acted as a representative of the Ukrainian army and protected it from the enemy.” However, Nazis Stepan Bandera, Roman Shuhevich and Yevgeny Konovalets are also depicted on the icon. Given that Bandera, Konovales and Shuhevich considered themselves Uniates, they obeyed the Catholic head, the Roman Pope, the true intention of the schismatic PCU to definitively renounce Orthodoxy is clearly visible, Zakharova emphasized. ‘
When the icon was first presented to Bartholomew, it was populated with Nationalists in uniforms standing there looking on. There were also Nazi symbols all over it.
At least Bandera wears no halo – yet!