LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (09/07/97)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

A reaction to letter by Askold Lozynskyj

Dear Editor:

It is because I know and respect Askold Lozynskyj, one of the few people of his generation still active in our community, that I was shocked - shocked - by his response to The Ukrainian Weekly's editorial of July 20.

After paying "pen-service" to the need for "constructive criticism" and "treatises on democracy," Mr. Lozynskyj proceeded to scourge The Weekly's editors for "arrogant assertions" and "being disingenuous." The cruelest cut of all, however, was his statement addressed directly to the editors. He wrote: "I was distressed by the contempt you demonstrated towards the community you serve, which pays your salary and is underserving, certainly, of your disdain."

Correction! The Ukrainian community does not pay the editors' salaries, the Ukrainian National Association does.

If criticism is a form of disdain, then Mr. Lozynskyj needs to be reminded that while serving as a supreme advisor of the Ukrainian National Association, a society whose interests he took an oath to protect, he was openly and often remorselessly critical of the organization and its leadership. At the ill-fated 1980 convention of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, for example, it was Mr. Lozynskyj and his political associates who led the fight to diminish the UNA influence within the UCCA. When the U.S. State Department assigned Valentyn Moroz, a Ukrainian dissident, to the UNA for guidance and protection, Mr. Lozynskyj was one of those who helped convince Mr. Moroz to leave the UNA and to join Mr. Lozynskyj's political organization. Despite these actions (which some of us believed were a sign of disloyalty), UNA delegates, honoring Mr. Lozynskyj's right to demur, re-elected him to the Supreme Assembly. He resigned a year later.

Mr. Lozynskyj accuses The Weekly of hyperbole and then suggests that the people at the banquet were entitled to "converse with the president of their Ukraine" because like the "Man of LaMancha," they were "willing to march into hell for a heavenly cause." Puh-lease! Ukrainian Division and UPA members, perhaps, but how many of them were at the banquet? I'm sure that most banquet participants worked for Ukraine like Mr. Lozynskyj and I did, from the comfort of our desks and in the warm atmosphere of our respective and receptive communities. That sort of effort can hardly be described as a "march into hell."

Although I haven't always agreed with Mr. Lozynskyj or the UCCA, I respect both the man and the organization. When I criticize I do so without disdain, but with a certain fondness for their grit.

Myron B. Kuropas
De Kalb, Ill.

Hurrah for column by Paszczak Tracz

Dear Editor:

Finally, a "The things we do ..." segment (August 10) besides the Yuletide and Pascha editions. I do hope you encourage Orysia Paszczak Tracz to make this a regular series.

Ms. Tracz has a good point: researching our pre-Christian past is not promoting paganism. Did not Christ Himself say "I came not to destroy but to perfect ..." (Mat. 5:17)? To the New Age generation, our ancestral ways may foster a mysticism that matures beyond "childish things" (1 Cor. 13:1).

My grandmother, like many early emigration Lemky was devoted to her Church and diligent in its link to folk tradition. A primal memory was asking Baba why a candle was burning in a loaf of bread at a distinctive pungent supper. She merely said "Because." Baba may not have satisfied my question, but I developed an early thirst to know why, when little was being translated.

As one of Europe's largest ethnic groups subdivided into regional distinctions, perhaps a "Dear Orysia" segment could also be added to ask about and share "po nashomu" (our ways) ...?

If we look just at Pascha (Easter), the only standard "from the east to the west, and from the north to the sea" is that the foods are all prepared beforehand and served unheated. Could this be descended from a Jewish Sabbath requirement? Is the blessing of these foods merely a Counter Reformation reaction? With Lemkivshchyna languishing, and the once familiar outside ovens gone, except for the excellent but deteriorating example at Manor Junior College, how else can we preserve our waning traditions or oral histories? Where other than a regular feature article would such memoirs be more accessible and appreciated?

Where else, for example, can we debate whether or not the term "Ukrainian'' is too politically correct for our "po nashomu" ways? Celtic does it for the Irish, so what form can we use to distinguish our primal lineage from the post Soviet or imperial and emigration eras of compromise? We could consider reclaiming our "maiden" name Rusyn, or should it be in the current hyphenated usage of Rus-Ukrainian, or even the older Ukrainian né Rusyn form to distinguish the vitality of our ways from the imitations?

As far as embarrassing so-called Ukrainians concerning the integrity of our distinctive lineage, haven't we Americanized and homogenized our traditions enough? Most bring baskets for Pascha that can be used by their children for the Easter Bunny, instead of baskets that are able to hold an entire Bright Week's of groceries, with the Pascha breads separately wrapped.

Instead of a grocery store bouquet of flowers (kvitky), remember when members of the congregation eyed one another to see who brought the largest arrangement of medicinal herbs (zillia) for the Dormition blessing? Why is the wearing of the green only popular on March 17, even though greenery decoration on Pentecost transcends our custom to apostolic times?

I should note that I do not see anything wrong with substituting an arrangement of wheat stalks for the "dukh" instead of a sheal of wheat at Christmas, but singing "shchedrivky" in our churches is as off the track as accompanying church hymns with guitar, or even bandura. A dictionary of translation and transliteration of nouns could be a natural development, so a "rushnyk" will be translated as "ritual cloth" or "runner," but not "towel."

We see our Slavonic Church as distinct from the philosophical Greek or legalistic Roman Churches. The Slavs were directed by a sense of a loving ambiance in their mysticism. The Greeks too bless grapes on Transfiguration, and the Latins candles on the Presentation. What makes our Church of Rus sui juris?

Michael Jula
Carnegie, Pa.

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