EDITORIAL: Christmas from Ukraine (01/12/97)

EDITORIAL

Christmas from Ukraine

On January 6, that is Christmas Eve by the Julian calendar, the air waves here were filled with Christmas broadcasts from Ukraine carried by Radio Ukraine International. There were homilies from spiritual leaders, greetings from government officials, reports on Christmas themes and highlights of divine liturgies.

As one loyal listener informed The Weekly, the Christmas Eve broadcast carried excerpts of a liturgy celebrated at St. Volodymyr Sobor by Patriarch Filaret and other hierarchs and clergy. It was a Ukrainian-language liturgy broadcast from that cathedral, which is the seat of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate.

Then the international service of Radio Ukraine opted to broadcast an even longer excerpt of another liturgy - this one celebrated by Metropolitan Volodymyr Sabodan of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate from the Trapezna (Refectory) Church of the Pecherska Lavra, the famed Kyivan Cave Monastery. The liturgy was celebrated in the Russian language.

Now, we are not about to tell the people of Ukraine what language they should worship in. After all, the new Constitution of Ukraine guarantees language rights to all of Ukraine's citizens. What we do object to, however, is Radio Ukraine International's decision to broadcast a Russian-language liturgy - close to 45 minutes of it - to the world.

Why should Ukraine's official radio broadcast a Russian-language liturgy? Who does the radio station think its audience is: the Russian diaspora? Surely that is the audience for radio broadcasts emanating from Russia. The Ukrainian diaspora audience, meanwhile, has been treated with insensitivity, indeed with disrespect. They do not believe that "eto vsio ravno" (it's all equal) when it comes to language. What need does the Ukrainian diaspora audience have for a Russian-language liturgy?

Furthermore, if Ukrainian is the state language of Ukaine, does that not apply also to its international radio service? The voice of Ukraine should be delivered in Ukrainian. It's as simple as that.

* * *

Still on the topic of Radio Ukraine International, but on a brighter note, it should be noted that the day after the liturgies were aired, the radio broadcast the Christmas messages of three Orthodox hierarchs, the aforementioned Patriarch Filaret (who called for unity among all of Ukraine's Orthodox Churches) and Metropolitan Volodymyr, and Patriarch Dymytrii of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, as well as Cardinal Myroslav Ivan Lubachivsky, primate of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church. All four messages - even Metropolitan Sabodan's - were delivered in Ukrainian.

Could it be that someone at the Radio Ukraine saw in hindsight that broadcasting Metropolitan Sabodan's Russian liturgy was a serious faux pas? We certainly hope so.

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