"Spiritual Power" on Blood: The Truth About the Ukrainian Pantheon

In Ukraine, OUN figures are being turned into a Pantheon of heroes. Photo: UOJ

The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine has begun speaking in almost religious language. In a statement on the 145th anniversary of Symon Petliura, the GUR wrote that Petliura, Andriy Melnyk, Yevhen Konovalets and "all national heroes buried in foreign lands" should rest in Ukrainian soil, and the Pantheon should become "a place of spiritual strength for the Ukrainian nation."

Let us note that it is not church leaders speaking about "spiritual strength," but military intelligence. Should this be understood to mean that "spirituality" in our country is being removed from the religious and moral sphere and transferred to the state and special services?

Of course, Ukraine needs spiritual strength. But what kind of spirituality exactly are we being offered? Let us examine this.

The Pantheon as a new state shrine

On May 19, 2026, Zelensky announced the beginning of the reburial of one of the OUN leaders Andriy Melnyk. It was also stated there that decisions were being prepared for the reburial of Yevhen Konovalets and other historical figures.

And already on May 25, 2026, Zelensky participated in the ceremony of Melnyk's reburial at the National Military Memorial Cemetery and said that this was only the first step, and that Ukrainians of previous generations should rest alongside the heroes of the current war. The media reported that work was underway on several hundred persons, including Stepan Bandera.

In essence, the authorities are building not just a memorial. They are building a new state shrine. The Pantheon is meant to become a place where political memory receives an almost sacred status. And lying there will be not simply dead people, but "identity markers" around which the image of the "correct" Ukrainian, "correct" history and "correct" spirituality is formed.

Who should emanate "spiritual strength"?

Let us start with Melnyk. After Konovalets' assassination, he headed the OUN-M. In 1941, Melnyk's detachments entered Ukraine following the Wehrmacht and participated in forming the Ukrainian auxiliary police – the very same force that carried out repressions against the civilian population and persecuted Jews.

The reaction followed immediately. Israel and Yad Vashem sharply condemned the reburial. Yad Vashem particularly emphasized: honoring the leader of a movement that collaborated with Nazi Germany during the Holocaust period undermines the very moral foundation of memory about it.

With Stepan Bandera, the situation is even more acute. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum records: in the 1941 Lviv pogrom, Ukrainian nationalist activists participated alongside German forces. Thousands of Jews perished. Historians debate Bandera's personal responsibility – from July 1941 to September 1944 he was in German detention. But no one disputes that his wing of OUN-UPA directly participated in the Volhynian massacre, which claimed up to 60,000 Polish victims.

And it is precisely in this context that on May 26, 2026, Zelensky signed decree №440/2026, granting a Special Operations Forces unit the honorary designation "named after the Heroes of UPA" – "with the aim of restoring the historical traditions of the national army."

Poland's reaction was predictable. Former Prime Minister Leszek Miller called this "an open spit in the face of every Pole" whose family suffered from the Volhynian massacre. President Nawrocki initiated stripping Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle. Nobel Prize laureate, former president Lech Wałęsa wrote on Facebook: "The President of Ukraine, by honoring bandits from UPA, has insulted me and all our murdered compatriots" – and publicly removed the Ukrainian flag from his chest.

Symon Petliura, who is also planned for reburial, also does not appear to be a moral, let alone spiritual authority. The "Encyclopedia of Ukraine" acknowledges: his name is inextricably linked with the pogroms of 1918–1921. As the de facto head of military and state power of the UNR, he bears political responsibility for these events – the UNR army accounts for 40% of all pogroms of that period. According to various estimates, between 50,000 and 125,000 people died, up to 150,000 permanently lost their ability to work, 200,000 children were orphaned. The total number of Jewish victims reaches one million. In 1926 in Paris, Petliura was shot by Sholom Schwarzbard – in revenge for the pogroms. The killer did not deny what he had done. The French court acquitted him – and this verdict became a moral assessment not only of Schwarzbard, but also of Petliura.

Hatred as virtue

Perhaps these are accidental tragedies of a noble movement, and its ideological core itself was pure?

Documents say otherwise. "The Decalogue of the Ukrainian Nationalist": "With hatred and merciless struggle you will meet the enemies of Your Nation." Dmytro Dontsov, the chief ideologist of Ukrainian integral nationalism, wrote directly: "Nothing in history has been created without violence and iron ruthlessness."

These are not accidental excesses. These are programmatic texts. Hatred and ruthlessness here are not costs of struggle, but foundations of virtue.

Christianity teaches otherwise: "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you..." (Mt. 5:44).

Therefore, if the state replaces this Christian spirituality with the "spirituality" of hatred and the cult of violence – this is no longer a historical dispute. This is a change in our entire national consciousness. Our mental code. Our 1000-year Christian history.

The "spirituality" of mutual hatred

There is another dimension to this story that is spoken of less often.

The problem with the Pantheon is not only that its heroes are controversial for Jews, Poles and Western historians. The problem is that many of them were hostile to each other – cursed and killed one another.

Petliura participated in the armed overthrow of Skoropadsky. After Konovalets' assassination, the OUN split – and this split was by no means theoretical: in 1941 in Zhytomyr, Bandera's followers killed two prominent OUN-M figures – Mykola Stsiborsky and Omelyan Senyk.

When Bulba-Borovets' detachments refused to submit to OUN-B, Klyachkivsky and Shukhevych's people unleashed real terror against them, resulting in the killing of many leaders of the original UPA. After the war, Bandera's wing of OUN continued to conflict not only with Melnyk's followers, but with all other Ukrainian anti-Soviet groups in emigration.

We are told about a Pantheon of unity and spiritual strength. But the history of these "spiritual figures" is an endless war of all against all: Petliura against Skoropadsky, Bandera's followers against Melnyk's followers, OUN-B against Bulba-Borovets. What national unity can be built on such a foundation?

In lieu of conclusion

First. Ukraine wants to be part of Europe, counts on the support of Poland, Israel, the USA, the EU. But in Europe, memory of the Holocaust and ethnic cleansing is not an internal Ukrainian matter. This is part of pan-European morality, forged after World War II. To elevate to cult status those who for allies are symbols of these tragedies is not a sovereign choice. This is a strategic mistake.

Second. One can say as much as one likes that Melnyk, Bandera, UPA, Petliura fought for independence. But if the struggle involved hundreds of thousands of innocent victims, anti-Semitism, collaboration with Nazis and internal terror – this must be spoken of honestly. And not elevated to cult status.

Third. Christianity remembers the dead – but does not fashion political idols from them. Prayer and hope in God's mercy – this is Christian memory of the departed. A state Pantheon is something else. This is not simply honoring memory. This is cultivating violence, hatred, stepping over any moral norms in the name of an abstract nation. This is turning historical figures into national idols.

And idols always demand sacrifices. First – of historical truth. Then – of conscience. In the end – of living people.

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