NEWS AND VIEWS: Ukrainian Catholics express disappointment regarding contacts between Vatican, Moscow (09/21/97)

NEWS AND VIEWS

Ukrainian Catholics express disappointment regarding contacts between Vatican, Moscow

by Deacon Yourij Malachowsky

Ukrainian Catholics in Ukraine and in the diaspora were truly astonished and disappointed by the "bilateral conversations" between delegations of the Holy See and the Patriarchate of Moscow during meetings in Moscow (December 17-18, 1996).

Although the main issue on the agenda was the relations between Ukrainians of the Greek-Catholic and the Orthodox Churches in Ukraine, no representatives of these two bodies were present at the Moscow gathering. This is totally unacceptable - any discussion regarding the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church and the Ukrainian Orthodox Churches should be conducted with the full, direct and equal participation of these Churches.

The Vatican Press Office's communique of December 21, 1996, stated that "the most profound concern at the moment is caused by a difficult and sometimes critical situation in the relationship between the Orthodox Church and the Greek-Catholic Church which has developed in western Ukraine and Transcarpathia during recent years." This is a painful and very erroneous statement that calls into question the existence of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church in that region for centuries. At the same meeting, the Russian delegation expressed "its anxiety over the attempt of expansion of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church in the Orthodox territory in eastern Ukraine."

This is a very curious statement indeed. There is no "Orthodox territory" in eastern Ukraine, just as there is no "Catholic territory" in western Ukraine. Furthermore, how can the Moscow Patriarchate claim territorial rights in a sovereign, independent Ukrainian state?

The Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church's ecumenical leaders, respectively, Cardinal Edward I. Cassidy, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, president of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External Relations, also met on May 7-8 in Bari, southern Italy, and invited representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate and Eastern-rite Catholics from Ukraine to join them. Representing those Churches were Bishop Ilarion of Donetsk and Mariupol, and Archpriest Vasily Jarema, secretary of the Diocese of Mukachiv and Uzhorod, both of the Moscow Patriarchate; Auxiliary Bishop Vasyl Medwit of Lviv, Bishop Ivan Semedi of Mukachiv and the Rev. Mykhailo Voloshyn, the Redemptorist superior in Ukraine, of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church.

Reprinted below is a letter regarding this matter sent to Cardinal Cassidy by the Ukrainian Patriarchal Society, New York City Branch.

Your Eminence:

We, the members of the Ukrainian Patriarchal Society in the U.S.A., New York Branch, are pleased to learn that the meeting held in Bari, southern Italy, on May 7-8 between the delegations of the Holy See and the Moscow Patriarchate also included representatives from the Ukrainian (Greek) Catholic Church. This we view as welcome progress over the bilateral meeting held in Moscow on December 17-18, 1996, where only delegations from the Holy See and the Moscow Patriarchate were present, even though the main issue on the agenda was the relationship between the Ukrainian (Greek) Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches.

We request that, in the future, the series of discussions led by Your Eminence, which touch on the tensions between the Orthodox Churches and the Eastern-rite Catholics in Ukraine, include representatives of these Churches, particularly the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate.

Many of the lingering tensions between the Churches in Ukraine are due to the rebirth of the Ukrainian Catholic Church and its attempts, after so many years underground, to reclaim property confiscated by the Communists and given to the Russian Orthodox Church. Moreover, now that Ukraine is independent and the Constitution guarantees the Ukrainian people religious freedom, some of the Orthodox congregations have decided to break their ties with the Russian Orthodox Church, whose rite and liturgy were forced on them during Communist rule.

We wholeheartedly agree that both Churches in Ukraine should take every effort toward reconciliation and eradication of every form of violence, be it physical, verbal or moral. Confessional intolerance has no place among true Christians.

We laud the leaders at the Bari meeting for agreeing to establish a joint working group in Ukraine comprising representatives of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches which would deal with problems as they arise rather than have them referred to Moscow or the Vatican, or even the local government.

We also want to reiterate the centuries-long loyalty of the Ukrainian (Greek) Catholic Church to the Holy See. We are all for discussion, dialogue, communications - but these should always be based on historical facts, impartiality and, above all, justice.

Yours in Christ,

For the New York Regional Council of the Ukrainian Patriarch Society in the U.S.A.:

the Rev. Deacon Yourij Malachowsky
Chairman

Oleksander Motyl
Secretary

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