LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (12/07/97)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Church should value nationalism

Dear Editor:

Andrew Estocin's letter to the editor (October 26) represents the unfortunate philosophy and logic that has contributed to the break-up of Ukrainians both in the diaspora and in Ukraine. There is a huge difference between "nationalism" and "politics." Nationalism means loyalty and devotion to a nation, in other words, a sense of identity, a heritage, specific traditions, a separate language, literature, etc. Politics is the science and art of government within a national structure.

Contrary to what Mr. Estocin writes, our Orthodox youth should be raised on a vision of Orthodox Christianity that stresses Ukrainian nationalism. Other Orthodox Christians are. E.g., read the enthronement homily of Greek Orthodox Archbishop Spyridon. Although U.S.-born, he stresses the value of Greek heritage and language - in other words Greek nationalism.

Others want and fight for their own Church jurisdictions. There are Greek Orthodox, Finnish Orthodox, Bulgarian Orthodox, Romanian Orthodox, Ukrainian Catholics, Polish Catholics, etc. Why? One reason is that a nationalistic Church nurtures, preserves and perpetuates a national identity. Also, history has proven that some jurisdictions (e.g., Russian) have used the Church to subjugate countries to a foreign power and to try to eliminate everything nationalistic. But perhaps that is unimportant for Mr. Estocin.

Simon T. Nahnybida
Basking Ridge, N.J.

Patriarch not "man of vision"

Dear Editor:

I am, as I am sure are many other Ukrainian Orthodox, in complete disagreement with your "Man of vision" editorial of November 9.

Patriarch Bartholomew's visit to the Ukrainian Orthodox Center in South Bound Brook, N.J., was not such a resounding success as your editorial and recent articles in The Ukrainian Weekly and Svoboda make it appear. As reported by the New Jersey Network News on Monday evening, November 27, there were approximately 500 people at the Orthodox Center to welcome the patriarch. Furthermore, more than 50 percent of those present were Greek and not Ukrainian.

This was not a "welcome" by the Ukrainian Orthodox community. This was a silent protest by the Ukrainian Orthodox faithful to the recent statements made by the patriarch in Odesa that there is "only one canonical Church in Ukraine and that is the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate." And further, "all others should unite under the Moscow Patriarchate." These statements are certainly not from a "man of vision" or a man who "feels our pain."

When Archbishop Antony, on a visit to Istanbul on November 7, asked for clarification, the patriarch responded that "We recognize the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate as the canonical jurisdiction here." What about the thousands of Orthodox faithful who belong to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate and the thousands who belong to the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church? Are these people pagans? On this question the patriarch of Constantinople is very generous. He recognizes that there are "problems" in Ukraine that need to be solved.

These are statements not of a "man of vision" but of a man whose vision is myopic and whose judgement has been overpowered by Patriarch Aleksei II of Moscow.

Patriarch Bartholomew does not "feel our pain." He is rubbing salt into our wounds.

Victor Babanskyj
Watchung, N.J.

Editor's note: According to security personnel that accompanied Patriarch Bartholomew, 1,200 people were awaiting the arrival of the patriarch, the number that we provided in our report of November 2. The group that awaited the patriarch was divided into two: at the time of his arrival, several hundred people were waiting at the meadow, outside the Orthodox Center for the patriarch's helicopter to land. However, the majority of people were already waiting by the church. Later the two groups merged during the moleben. That evening, approximately 500 people attended the banquet inside the center.

We have no way of knowing whether more than 50 percent of those in attendance were of Greek descent, since we did not do a survey of the crowd. We're not sure how Mr. Babanskyj can be so sure either. However, because we spoke with several guests, we do know that Serbian, Greek, Ukrainian and Carpatho-Rusyn Orthodox faithful were present.

In the printed materials that we have received from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A. and the Archdiocese of the Greek Orthodox Church, nowhere does Patriarch Bartholomew state that the Orthodox faithful in Ukraine "should, or must, unite under the Moscow Patriarchate." We would like to know Mr. Babanskyj's source for the quote that he attributes to the patriarch. Information to that effect was distributed by the Interfax and Reuters news services, which were transmitting information released by sources associated with the patriarch of Moscow. Mr. Babanskyj can decide for himself how much credence he wishes to give to "news reports" vis-à-vis the Ukrainian Orthodox Church that originated with the Moscow patriarch; this paper views such sources with skepticism.

I admire courage of Prof. Koropeckyj

Dear Editor:

I support Prof. Roman Koropeckyj's letter of October 26, unreservedly. I admire his courage in writing to you.

M. Szul
Toronto

Note from the editor:

The Ukrainian Weekly welcomes letters to the editor and commentaries on a variety of topics of concern to the Ukrainian American and Ukrainian Canadian communities. Opinions expressed by columnists, commentators and letter-writers are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of either The Weekly editorial staff or its publisher, the Ukrainian National Association.

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