Ruskyj Sion, a blogger I follow, commented with the below. It seemed worthy of a reposting here:
One must be careful, when posting "stories" that appear on Ukrainian or Russian news services without a proper understanding of their immediate context, especially now that Ukraine is approaching its first presidential election (25 October 2009) since the Orange Revolution in 2004.
The Kyivan Partiarchate has posted its own version of the event (http://www.cerkva.info/2009/04/18/hram_Beeve.html), claiming that the benefactor of the Church of the Transfiguration, Ivan Salo, bequeathed it to the Kyvian Patriarchate. There was no seizing of church property, nor desecration; moreover, the civil authorities were not called in to intervene.
One must keep in mind that the Sumy Region of Ukraine is from where President Yushchenko hails. Yushchenko has been a strong supporter of the Kyivan Patriarchate and the idea of a Ukrainian Orthodox Church, independent of Moscow.
Hence, it is no surprise that the Sumy Bishop of the Moscow Patriarchate, Jevlohij, wrote to President Yushchenko the following: "Today, your little Fatherland [the Sumy Region] is the only one in Ukraine, where presently the seizing of Orthodox churches continues and pressure is placed upon Orthodox believers. With respect, I ask You, as Head of State, to renew the legal right of the Orthodox inhabitants of the village of Bejevo, Lypovodolyns'kyj region, and stop the schismatics." In his letter of protest, Bishop Jevlohij referred to the members of the Kyivan Patriarchate as "Filaretian sectarians."
In a word, one can expect more stories like this to surface with the forth-coming presidential election. Religion plays a huge role in Ukrainian politics: pro-Russian candidates seek out the votes of the Ukrainian faithful belonging to the Moscow Patriarchate, while Western-leaning candidates rely on the votes of Ukrainian believers of those religious confessions independent of Moscow.
This simplification of things might help your readers unfamiliar with the Ukrainian reality place the Interfax "story" in its larger context.
The Kyivan Partiarchate has posted its own version of the event (http://www.cerkva.info/2009/04/18/hram_Beeve.html), claiming that the benefactor of the Church of the Transfiguration, Ivan Salo, bequeathed it to the Kyvian Patriarchate. There was no seizing of church property, nor desecration; moreover, the civil authorities were not called in to intervene.
One must keep in mind that the Sumy Region of Ukraine is from where President Yushchenko hails. Yushchenko has been a strong supporter of the Kyivan Patriarchate and the idea of a Ukrainian Orthodox Church, independent of Moscow.
Hence, it is no surprise that the Sumy Bishop of the Moscow Patriarchate, Jevlohij, wrote to President Yushchenko the following: "Today, your little Fatherland [the Sumy Region] is the only one in Ukraine, where presently the seizing of Orthodox churches continues and pressure is placed upon Orthodox believers. With respect, I ask You, as Head of State, to renew the legal right of the Orthodox inhabitants of the village of Bejevo, Lypovodolyns'kyj region, and stop the schismatics." In his letter of protest, Bishop Jevlohij referred to the members of the Kyivan Patriarchate as "Filaretian sectarians."
In a word, one can expect more stories like this to surface with the forth-coming presidential election. Religion plays a huge role in Ukrainian politics: pro-Russian candidates seek out the votes of the Ukrainian faithful belonging to the Moscow Patriarchate, while Western-leaning candidates rely on the votes of Ukrainian believers of those religious confessions independent of Moscow.
This simplification of things might help your readers unfamiliar with the Ukrainian reality place the Interfax "story" in its larger context.
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The Ukrainian Orthodox Church 'merger' with the Russian Orthodox Church in the 17th century, was undertaken informally - no legal documents were ever signed - and it therefore remains distinct and viable in its own right on a technicality (much to the annoyance of Moscow). A repeat forceable unification in the 1920s rained havoc and saw Moscow decimate Ukrainian Orthodoxy and seize countless property, in an attempt to russify a nation. Little has changed in terms of tactics today with the Moscow-backed Church in Ukraine continuing in its attempts to trivialise and 'snub out' (and this is very much a remnant of Stalinist thinking)the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (and the Ukrainian Eastern Rite Catholic Church)because as you say it is the 'glue' that has kept a nation together politically; much the same as happened in Poland, where the Roman Catholic Church toether with Solidarnosc kept a nation resolute in Soviet times.
ReplyDeleteI monitored the Ukrainian Presidential elections (repeat 2nd round) in 1994 and subsequently the Parliamentaries in 1996, and was appalled to see how much pressure the Moscow-affiliated clergy placed on its older parisioners to vote for the Party of Regions. The elderly (who are still supremely reverential to all religious) were told that their souls would be damned if they did not vote for Mr Yanukovich, and many that we saw in the rural areas, fully took that on board and displayed their ballot papers for all to see, to affirm their allegiance.
I find Ruskyj Sion's 'rubbishing' of the Ukrainian Eastern Rite Catholic and Kyivan Orthodox churches quite unpalatable, as it has one function only: to discredit a Church heading for unification. The blogger presents factually inaccurate information and his theological understanding is at best rudimentary. In truth the Kyivan Orthodox Church, Autocephalous Orthodox Church, the Ukrainian Catholics, the Roman Catholics, the Jewish and Muslim Communites are on good terms with one another; it is the Moscow-backed Orthodox Church that seems to be at odds with the rest, but, we don't hear about this from Ruskyj Sion. No matter,I will continue to take solace in the fact that he/she cannot influence the 1000s in Ukraine that are voluntarily leaving the Moscow-affiliated Orthodox Church for the Kyivan Orthodox Church, as this is what truly matters at the end of the day.