Ukraine commemorates centennial of Patriarch Mstyslav's birth (05/10/98)

Ukraine commemorates centennial of Patriarch Mstyslav's birth

by Roman Woronowycz

KYIV - Mstyslav Skrypnyk was a soldier, a politician, a writer, a religious man and, finally, the first patriarch of the modern Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

In early April, Ukraine commemorated the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ukraine's first Orthodox patriarch, who died in 1993, with celebrations in Kyiv, Poltava and Lviv.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A. will hold celebrations on May 17 at the Archdiocesan Church Center in South Bound Brook, N.J., with a divine liturgy and panakhyda, followed by the dedication of a stone memorial.

The 95-year life of Patriarch Mstyslav stretched through one of the most turbulent periods of Ukrainian history: from the Bolshevik Revolution and Ukraine's initial fight for independence in the years 1918-1920, during which he served in the Ukrainian National Republic Army; through terms as a representative to the Polish Sejm from the Polish-occupied Volyn region of Ukraine; to his ordination as a priest in 1942 and then exile to the West after World War II; and finally his election as the patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, after Ukraine declared independence for a second time in the 20th century in 1991.

It is difficult to conceive that he would have accepted the schisms that have occurred in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church since his death, a Church that he helped re-establish in Ukraine after independence was declared. Had he lived, the Orthodox faith in Ukraine, no doubt, would have been different, believes his daughter-in-law Sofia Skrypnyk. "In his testament he told [the religious factions] to come together, look each other in the eye and elect the one who has the most potential," said Mrs. Skrypnyk. "If he lived, the split would not have happened."

Of the three Orthodox Churches in Ukraine only the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate did not commemorate Patriarch Mstyslav's centennial.

The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church that the late patriarch re-rooted in Ukraine, which today is struggling for survival, held a celebratory religious service at its small chapel near the Church of St. Michael of the Golden Domes. The UAOC also organized a meeting with the press at which the current leader of the UAOC, Patriarch Dymytrii, recalled his friendship with Mstyslav and the impact the first patriarch had on the Church.

"He was a man who had a vision, who knew how the Church in Ukraine should look," said Patriarch Dymytrii.

The main commemorations were organized by the organizing committee of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate, which broke with the UAOC in 1992. The committee was chaired by UOC-KP Patriarch Filaret and included newly elected National Deputy Ivan Drach and Prof. Dmytro Stepovyk.

The celebrations of the birth of Patriarch Mstyslav began on April 7 at the Budynok Uchytelia (Teacher's Building), the premises of the Central Rada, which in 1918 declared Ukraine's independence. Patriarch Filaret spoke, as did National Deputy and former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs Mykola Zhulynskyi and National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy President Viacheslav Briukhovetsky.

Conspicuous by his presence was Patriarch Dymytrii, whose Church has been feuding with Patriarch Filaret's UOC-KP over church property for years. The two religious men even exchanged formalities during the evening, a hopeful sign for future dialogue said Yaroslav Skrypnyk, Patriarch Mstyslav's son who lives in Edmonton, but attended most of the celebrations in Ukraine with his wife.

Earlier that day the public was invited to the National Art Museum for the unveiling of an official portrait of the late patriarch painted by the artist Feodosii Humeniuk.

Then on April 10, Patriarch Mstyslav's birthday, he was again honored with the placing of a commemorative plaque at the historic Church of St. Andrew the First-Called, Kyiv's most beautiful religious building. The blessing of the plaque was followed by a panakhyda sung by the Kyiv Spiritual Academy and Seminary.

That evening a gala concert of spiritual music was held at the Volodymyrskyi Sobor, where attendees listened to the works of Vedel, Bortniansky, Leontovych and Sonevytsky, among others.

Patriarch Mstyslav's son Yaroslav said he believes his father made a lasting contribution to the development of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

He explained that his father's legacy is in how the Ukrainian nation looks at him today. "He is looked at today as the symbol of a united Ukrainian Orthodox Church, as the person who renewed the Ukrainian Autocephalous Church in Ukraine," said Mr. Skrypnyk.

"They look at him as a political, cultural and religious figure. He contributed to the rebuilding of the Ukrainian nation, a person who renewed not only the spiritual but the national aspect of the Ukrainian people. He also reinvigorated the intellectual landscape of the Ukrainian nation."

Patriarch Mstyslav was born Stepan Skrypnyk in Poltava on April 10, 1898. The nephew of the Ukrainian World War I military and political leader, Symon Petliura, the young Stepan dreamed of a military career. He finished Officers' School in the city of Orenburg in the Urals just as the Bolshevik Revolution began and became a diplomatic courier for the newly formed Ukrainian National Republic Army, and later an officer of the chief otaman (supreme commander) of the UNR, who happened to be his famous uncle.

After the war he ended up in Poland, where he spent time in a detention camp before resettling to the western Ukrainian region of Volyn. After attending the School of Political Sciences in Warsaw, he was elected to the Polish Sejm in 1930. He served until 1939 and gained a reputation as a defender of the Ukrainian Orthodox faith.

In 1942, after the death of his wife in a Soviet concentration camp, Stepan entered the priesthood and quickly became bishop of Pereiaslav. During the German occupation he was arrested and persecuted by the Gestapo and ended up in Germany.

After the war he emigrated to North America. In 1947 he was named archbishop of Winnipeg, the head of the Canadian Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada, and then in 1949 he became metropolitan of the UOC of the United States.

In 1969 his authority was extended over the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Churches of Europe and Australia.

Finally, at the age of 92, he was named patriarch of Kyiv and all Ukraine. He returned to Ukraine several times after his appointment, the first time on October 20, 1990. In Kyiv he was greeted by thousands as a returning hero.

Surrounded by a quickly disintegrating Church, which was feeling pressure from within and also from the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow, the nonagenarian did what he could. But by 1992 the UAOC had lost its legal standing in Ukraine and had yet to find a permanent home.

Before Patriarch Mstyslav could act on the problems confronting the UAOC, he passed away on June 11, 1993, in Canada.

He was interred in South Bound Brook, N.J., the UOC center in the United States.

There have been some efforts to have the patriarch's body transferred to Ukraine, but no concrete plans have yet developed. As Hryhorii Melanchenko, a reporter for the Kyiv newspaper the Ukrainska Hazeta wrote in a tribute to the late patriarch that an unfinished piece of business for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is to have Patriarch Mstyslav's body interred in Kyiv. "The one thing that troubles the soul," wrote Mr. Melanchenko in the April 23 article, "is why the body of the first Ukrainian patriarch still lies on the distant American continent. We must believe that a time will come when the remains of the famous son of the Ukrainian nation will be returned to [Ukraine] and buried on native soil on the territory of our largest shrine - St. Sophia Sobor."