Faith against hatred

The head of the UGCC Sviatoslav (Shevchuk) personally hallowed the monument to the Greek Catholic priest, who at the time of the World War II rescued the Jews and because of that died in Majdanek concentration camp.

The event gathered many people, among them there were nearly 1,000 priests of the UGCC as well as students and the family of Omelian Kovch.

There also came representatives of the local authorities and local community. The ceremony was attended by Mykhailo Kostiuk – head of the Lviv Oblast State Administration, Oleh Pankevych – head of the Lviv Oblast Council, and Andrii Sadovy – Lviv’s City mayor, Svitlana Tiapina – representative of the Embassy of Israel in Ukraine, Jaroslaw Drozd – Consul General of Poland in Lviv, and writer Maria Matios.

The head of the UGCC thanked the family of Father Kovch for “bringing into this world such a great and saint man, hero of the Christian faith, and luminary for UGCC clergy.

” He also thanked everyone who got involved into the organization of the monument construction. “I am proud of Omelian Kovch – a man of kindness,” said Maria Matios. “This man fully sacrificed himself in order for us to live today,” said Andrii Sadovy at the ceremony.

The project of a 2.5-meter sculpture was created by the sculptor Volodymyr Odrekhivsky jointly with architects Oleksandr Yarema, Oleksandr Libych, Denys Beliukh, and Oleksandr Matushkovy.

The monument construction was funded by different confessions from all over Ukraine.

Representatives of the Lviv Jewish Community also donated for the construction of the monument to Kovch.