NEWS AND VIEWS: The bells of St. Michael's (01/04/98)

NEWS AND VIEWS: The bells of St. Michael's

by Michael Heretz

In 1996 President Leonid Kuchma issued an appeal to the Ukrainian nation around the world. It was titled "Let Us Renew Our Ukrainian Spirituality." The appeal was signed by Patriarch Filaret and also by a number of well-known Ukrainian writers and scholars. Little-noted in the appeal was a call to the Ukrainian diaspora to join hands in rebuilding St. Michael's Cathedral of the Golden Domes, destroyed by the Soviets in 1935.

Unfortunately, very few in our community in the diaspora were made aware of the president's appeal, and there has been virtually no response to it. Determined to proceed with the rebuilding of St. Michael's Cathedral of the Golden Domes, President Kuchma and Kyiv Mayor Oleksander Omelchenko decided to tap into their already strained budgets and to begin the reconstruction with state and city funds.

Construction is now under way. We are pleased to report that the finest construction techniques are being employed and the work is proceeding rapidly. It is the goal of the president and the mayor that the reconstruction of at least the bell tower of the famous cathedral should be completed before the Kyiv Days celebration this coming May and that the entire project be completed before the year 2000. There is every sign that this goal will be achieved.

But the president and the mayor left one part of the bell tower out of their budget: the bells.

Mayor Omelchenko made it quite clear that while he and President Kuchma have undertaken the general construction, he expects that the bells will be purchased by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate. It is his stated intention to return the cathedral to the Kyiv Patriarchate. But first, and quite rightly, the mayor expects that there should be some indication that the Church has sufficient interest in the rebuilding project. In this sense, the purchase of the bells by the people of the Kyiv Patriarchate would constitute "down payment."

Most importantly the Kyiv Patriarchate's purchase of the bells will give the mayor a firm moral basis for the eventual transfer of the completed Cathedral to the Kyiv Patriarchate and not to others, who have expressed interest in it.

Only $25,000 is needed to duplicate the original 12th century bells.

This is not just another appeal for funds. If the 3,000 parishes of the Kyiv Patriarchate fail to deliver such a minimal amount of money for the bells of St. Michael's Cathedral of the Golden Domes, we have learned that Moscow Patriarchate stands ready to provide the funds immediately. They would expect that if they provide the money for the bells, they would be the ones to hold the rebuilt St. Michael's Cathedral of the Golden Domes. If we do not respond to this appeal, the mayor will have no moral basis to deny their request.

Attempts to raise the money among Kyiv Patriarchate parishes have been unsuccessful. This is no surprise, considering the difficult economic conditions. Patriarch Filaret has turned to us, the St. Andrew's Society, asking us to appeal to persons of good will in the U.S. to help raise the necessary funds so that St. Michael's Cathedral of the Golden Domes does not meet the same fate as the Monastery of Caves, which is now held by the Moscow Patriarchate.

Let us all work together to realize the 60-year dream of all Ukrainians: that the bells of St. Michael's Cathedral of the Golden Domes will again ring out across Kyiv, as they did for more than 800 years before the cathedral's destruction.

Please help us to buy the bells and restore St. Michael's Cathedral of the Golden Domes to the Kyiv Patriarchate. To let our historic temple fall into the hands of the successors to the very group that violently destroyed it in 1935 would be a harsh insult to all of us. Please do not let this happen.

The names of those able to give $1,000 or more will be permanently inscribed at the bell tower entrance, and the names of all contributors, even those who can send only $5 or $10 will be published in the official Information Bulletin of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate. The edition of the bulletin containing the names will be preserved at the cathedral forever, for you, your children and your children's children to see.

All donations are tax-deductible in the U.S. Please make checks payable to St. Michael's Cathedral Fund and mail to: St. Andrew's Society, c/o Anna Wojtiuk, 162-4 E. 23rd St., Paterson, NJ 07514.