1988: A LOOK BACK: The year of the Millennium (12/25/88)

1988: A LOOK BACK

The year of the Millennium

If our readers were asked to describe the year 1988 in just one word, that word would no doubt be M-i-l-l-e-n-n-i-u-m. For in 1988, Ukrainians throughout the world celebrated the Millennium of Christianity in Ukraine, the 1,000th anniversary of a Christian heritage whose roots date back to 988 with the baptism of the people of Kievan Rus' on the banks of the Dnieper River by Prince Volodymyr the Great.

And celebrate they did with more than 500 various events in every corner of the world which Ukrainians call home. Jubilees took place everywhere - from Cairo, Egypt, to Atlanta, Georgia. In the United States and Canada, Ukrainians asked their non-Ukrainian friends and neighbors to "Come Celebrate with Us," as Millennium billboards, designed by Luba Maziar, publicized this historic anniversary. More than 380 posters depicting the golden domes of Kiev's St. Sophia Sobor were displayed along U.S. highways from Los Angeles to Stamford, Conn. The blue and gold billboards also added color to the late spring cityscapes of New York, Chicago, Denver, and various smaller cities and towns in North America. Commuters using public transportation in such urban areas as New York and Cleveland were made aware of the Millennium as buses displayed Millennium panels.

However Ukrainians in the free world not only asked the public to celebrate this jubilee; they also enlighted people and governments about the continued religious persecution of believers in Soviet Ukraine.

When Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Don Mazankowski joined Ukrainians in Ottawa on January 22 to proclaim 1988 the Millennium year in Canada, Ukrainian Orthodox and Catholic hierarchs reminded their faithful that this would also be the year to disseminate information about the destruction and liquidation of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Ukraine and the Ukrainian Catholic Church.

The United States Congress followed suit, passing a resolution, which discouraged the U.S. government from taking part in Millennium ceremonies in the Soviet Union as long as individuals remain harassed and imprisoned for their religious beliefs, called for the legalization of the Ukrainian Catholic and Orthodox Churches in the Soviet Union, and urged its leadership to continue speaking out against violations of religious liberty.

This angered the deputies of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and they responded to this resolution, sending a letter charging that it is of "biased character," carries "groundless statements" on violations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and that "no people here (in Ukraine) are imprisoned or persecuted for their religious convictions."

The U.S. National Committee to Commemorate the Millennium of Christianity in Ukraine reacted to this letter, calling the Soviet Ukrainian deputies "willing surrogates in whitewashing the Kremlin's religious rights abuses in Ukraine. Under the guise of fraternity among Soviet nations, their statement attempts to further promote misconceptions and historical inaccuracies designed to usurp Ukrainian identity," wrote the committee.

The National Committee continued to inform the U.S. government about religious rights abuses, and together with Congress hosted a pysanka and icon exhibit in the Rotunda. In gratitude to the senators and congressmen, the national committee presented each one with a Ukrainian pysanka, a symbol of rebirth and life, during this year's Easter season.

In May, Cardinal Myroslav Ivan Lubachivsky, leader of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, and Metropolitan Mstyslav Skrypnyk of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the U.S.A. met with President Ronald Reagan appealing to him to demand religious liberty for Ukrainian Catholic and Orthodox believers during his summit in Moscow in late spring.

May 29, the Feast of the Pentecost, was proclaimed a "Day of Prayer and Unity" by the World Congress of Free Ukrainians and the National Committee. The day was marked with the joyous ringing of church bells for 1,000 seconds - the resounding peals were dedicated to the 50 million Ukrainians - Orthodox, Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal - in the Soviet Union who continue to live under a system that does not allow them to worship freely.

Keston College, a religious rights organization, based in England, commemorated this day also as "Suffering Church Sunday," a day during which Western Christians would think, pray and celebrate with believers in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

The first of the Ukrainian communities in the free world to mark the Millennium was the Ukrainian settlement in Great Britain on Sunday, May 29. In an ecumenical ceremony, Cardinal Lubachivsky of the Ukrainian Catholic Church and Metropolitan Mstyslav of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church issued a joint statement.

In response to the Soviet usurpation of the Millennium of Christianity in Kievan Rus', Ukrainian Americans held a Truth March in Washington, on Sunday, June 5, the same day the Soviets marked the Millennium of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow. After one week of the officially sanctioned celebrations, the commemorations moved to Kiev, with more than 500 spiritual leaders representing over 100 nations joining the hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church to celebrate the Christian faith in a society where the official line toes atheism.

(In a most "benevolent gesture," the Soviet government gave the Monastery of the Caves, the Kiev Pecherska Lavra, back to the Russian Orthodox Church.)

The leader of the Universal Catholic Church, Pope John Paul II did not go to Moscow, deciding that this was "not the most appropriate time," however, he did send a delegation, which included Cardinals Agostino Casaroli, John O'Connor of New York, Johannes Willebrands of the Netherlands and Josef Glemp of Poland, among others.

The holy father also issued two messages on the occasion of the Millennium, one an apostolic letter geared toward the general public and one for Ukrainian Catholics specifically, and in July Vatican representatives met with leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church in Finland, which did not make Metropolitan Filaret of Kiev happy. The upset Filaret stated: "Restoration of the Church will mean a deterioration of brotherly ecumenical relations," referring to the Russian Orthodox Church and the Vatican.

Also absent from the official celebrations in the Soviet Union were representatives of the Greek Orthodox Church, who decided to boycott the Millennium celebrations of the Russian Orthodox Church, which reportedly challenged the Greek ecumenical patriarchate's authority.

On June 5, as the official jubilee of the Millennium was getting under way in Moscow, the unofficial Ukrainian Culturological Club hosted its own observances, right in the cradle of the birth of Christianity in Ukraine, the capital city of Kiev, in a ceremony at the monument to St. Volodymyr. Although a representative from the Committee of Religious Affairs issued a warning to the gathering, the assembled had the most fortunate opportunity to listen to Yevhen Sverstiuk, Ukrainian writer and philosopher, who on the occasion of the Millennium expressed these thoughts: "We must remind ourselves that we are the heirs of a 1,000-year-old Christian heritage - heirs of its sources, its values, and not merely those materialized in stone and gold and of its unsubstitutable truths. Surrogates, even if created by a talented hand, give no light and no warmth."

Ukrainian Catholics in western Ukraine, reportedly up to 4 million strong, celebrated the Millennium, albeit secretly, holding services in the forests of Buniv, Kalush, Hoshiv, Bilichin and Zarvanytsia, among others. According to Stepan Khmara, a religious rights activist from Chervonohrad, who throughout the year appealed to the Helsinki signatories and the U.S. government, as well as the Vatican, on behalf of the Ukrainian Catholic Church wrote about the services in May and June, stating: "the powers that be doubtless knew about the masses, but this time they chose to turn a blind eye."

This was not so in Zarvanytsia, where Millennium services were held on July 17, celebrated by Bishop Pavlo Vasylyk. At this time the local militia tried to disperse the gathering of 10,000 faithful, reportedly the largest public assembly of Ukrainian Catholics in the Soviet Union since the Stalinist regime outlawed the Church in 1946. However, the officials were not able to break up the commemorations. Members of the Committee in Defense of the Ukrainian Catholic Church collected signatures for their petition to legalize the Church; and Bishop Vasylyk stated: "Fortunate are those who remain steadfast through God's trials."

The summer months brought the zenith of religious celebrations throughout the world, beginning with five-day observances organized by the Ukrainian Catholic Church. More than 7,000 pilgrims led by 18 Ukrainian Catholic hierarchs gathered in the sweltering heat of a Roman summer, on July 7-12 where Pope John Paul II bestowed his apostolic blessing on the faithful who traveled from Poland, Yugoslavia, Germany, England, France, Belgium, Austria, Canada, the United States, Brazil, Argentina and Australia. Catholics from western Ukraine sent a Millennial message to the gathered masses in Rome.

The Ukrainian community in Prnjavor, Yugoslavia, which dates back to 1900, hosted Millennium celebrations in their parish one week after the Rome commemorations, allowing more than 3,000 people to participate in their observances.

In August, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A. based in South Bound Brook, N.J., culminated its yearlong celebration of the Millennium of the Baptism of Ukraine, with a call for unity and renewed hope among Ukrainian faithful. Thousands of Ukrainian Orthodox faithful attended the three-day celebrations, among them, the newly arrived dissident Ukrainian Orthodox priest, the Rev. Vasyl Romaniuk and his son, Taras.

Probably the largest recorded attendance at any one single Millennium event would have to be the Millennium services in Jasna Gora, Czestochowa, where more than 70,000 Ukrainians and Poles gathered on September 10-11 to pray near the shrine of the Black Madonna. Cardinal Glemp along with 15 other Roman Catholic hierarchs from Poland joined their Ukrainian brothers and sisters, led by Cardinal Lubachivsky, in a celebration of faith.

Both in the United States and Canada, the lay celebrations of the Millennium of Christianity in Ukraine took place the weekend of October 7-9 in the respective nations capitals.

In Washington, close to 20,000 Ukrainian Americans demanded freedom for Churches in Ukraine. The three-day observances witnessed members of the National Millennium Committee and clergy delivering a letter to the Soviet Embassy, which called on General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to allow these Churches to exist and function openly.

The weekend commemorations also included a solemn ecumenical moleben, a rally and demonstration.

In Ottawa, Canada's capital city, the celebrations were smaller in size, but grander in scale, as the Ukrainian Canadians were welcomed by Minister of Finance Michael Wilson, who delivered the official greetings from Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Also delivering greetings during the weekend celebrations were Joe Clark, secretary of state for external affairs, as well as Canadian Supreme Court Justice John Sopinka.

International celebrations of the Millennium concluded at the Fifth World Congress of Free Ukrainians, held in Toronto at the end of November. The year ended with a manifestation in Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens, where close to 10,000 Ukrainians including many delegates to the four-day conclave gathered to honor the 1,000-year-old Christian heritage and laud the conclusion of the successful congress.

These above-mentioned events included the participation of the masses, however, local events in myriad Ukrainian communities in the free world honored this jubilant tradition. In communities from Pittsburgh to Houston, from Vienna, Austria, to Melbourne, Australia, Ukrainians shed light on the Millennial history of the Ukrainian Church. Picnics, parades, concerts, bazaars, re-enactments of the baptism of Rus' featuring Ss. Volodymyr and Olha, official proclamations were bountitul.

In Washington the Ukrainian Catholics blessed their National Shrine, in Winnipeg Ukrainian Orthodox blessed their cathedral.

In the world of academia, during conferences in Ravenna, Italy, at the University of London and the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, to name a few, scholars explored the historic roots of Christianity in Ukraine, and our Ukrainian scholars such as Drs. Andrew Sorokowski, Paul R. Magocsi and Myron B. Kuropas examined Christianity's role in building the Ukrainian nation on the pages of The Weekly.

Books such as "A Thousand Years of Christianity in Ukraine" published by Smoloskyp and "Church in Ruins" by Oleh W. Iwanusiw, as well as Harvard's numerous monographs on religious and historical concerns, in the English-language allowed Ukrainians to educate their friends and neighbors, their local and national media, their schools and civic organizations about the history of the Ukrainian Churches, and our rich Christian tradition.

In Ukraine, the journal "Christian Voice," began publication, with chief editor Ivan Hel, head of the Committee for the Defense of the Rights of Believers and the Church in Ukraine.

Highlighting music, the international language, Ukrainians were able to stage a number of successful concerts, which illuminated the beauty of Slavic religious music. Featuring such beautiful Ukrainian compositions as "Lord of Heaven and Earth."

Among the significant concerts were events held in New York's Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, London's Royal Albert Hall, Ottawa's National Arts Center, Washington's DAR Constitution Hall and the Vatican's Pope Paul VI Hall, where more than 600 performed as Pope Paul II sat in the audience.

In other notable developments, the Ukrainian Sport Association of the U.S.A. and Canada, with the Tryzub Sport club and the National Committee organized a Millennium Olympiad and Youth Rally for teens and young adults during the Memorial Day weekend.

Both Canada and the Vatican issued Millennium postage stamps on the occasion of this historic anniversary, and the United States and Canada marketed Millennium wines and champagnes - nectars with which to toast the Millennium year.

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