LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (08/16/98)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Stories about UOC: a service to readers

Dear Editor:

Thank you, thank you, editors of The Ukrainian Weekly.

The July 19 issue of The Ukrainian Weekly with three very informative articles on the plight of the faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-U.S.A. was exactly what was needed. The debate that has been going on in the "Letters to the Editors" section was informative, but not enough to educate interested readers.

Furthermore, the UOC-U.S.A. hierarchs have refused to publish a definitive reply to the mountain of questions that have been raised since signing the agreement in Istanbul with Patriarch Bartholomew, giving up the independence of UOC-U.S.A., severing ties with the Ukrainian Orthodox Churches (Autocephalous and Kyiv Patriarchate) in Ukraine and becoming a diocese of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

I am sure there has been tremendous pressure on the editors of The Ukrainian Weekly regarding this issue. I am happy to see that freedom of the press is alive and well within the Ukrainian diaspora.

Victor Babanskyj
Watchung, N.J.

Patriarch could have mapped out future

Dear Editor:

Those of us agonizing over the loss of our Church (some say it was "hijacked'') should remember that the late Patriarch Mstyslav could have prevented it.

He had the time and power to leave the Church in the hands of people for whom Ukraine and the resurrection of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine mattered. As it is, he left the Church in the hands of those who '"no longer find the dedication to Ukraine and its customs so compelling" (Dr. Frank Sysyn, The Weekly, July 19) who forsook Ukraine for the privilege of picnicking together with their "canonical" neighborhood parishes; who now adorn the Consistory with a huge portrait of a hierarch hostile to the Church in Ukraine, Patriarch Bartholomew, and who may not be able to tolerate much longer the monument to Metropolitan Vasyl Lypkivskyj - the greatest "schismatic" of them all - so prominently situated on the grounds of Bound Brook.

Yes, Patriarch Mstyslav could have mapped out a different future for his Church; he must have thought of himself as immortal.

Petro Matula
Potomac, Md.

We should mark famine's anniversary

Dear Editor:

Let us commemorate the genocide of Ukrainians by famine. It is important for Ukrainians to commemorate this tragic event in our history. In 1932 the masters of the Soviet empire created this famine to break the will and the spirit of the Ukrainian people. As a result, about 7 million Ukrainians died. Soviet authorities had such total control over their empire that they successfully prevented news of this event from reaching the west. Soviet authorities also had total control over the educational curriculum of schools in Ukraine. As a result, Ukrainians living in Ukraine were taught the "Soviet truth" about this crime: "There was no famine; there was no genocide."

In recent years the horrors of this Ukrainian tragedy have been amply documented in the West; most notably by the Congressional Commission on the Ukraine Famine, "Investigation of the Ukraine Famine, 1932-1933" Report to Congress, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, 1988; by historian Robert Conquest, "Harvest of Sorrow," Oxford University Press, 1986; and by numerous eyewitnesses, including Miron Dolot, "Execution by Hunger," Norton and Co., New York, 1985. Since the fall of the Soviet empire, these books have become available in Ukraine. Nevertheless, seven years after independence, many (perhaps most) citizens of Ukraine still consider discussion of this subject a "provocation." This act of genocide was among the most heinous crimes committed by any government of this, or any, century. We cannot allow this historical fact to be forgotten, despite any discomfort our "remembrance" may cause the heirs of the perpetrators of this crime. Ukrainians in the West have a special responsibility. We were not subjected to "Soviet education."

On the 50th anniversary of this event, Patriarch Mstyslav of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church proclaimed that the Saturday before "Zeleni Sviata" (approximately 60 days after Easter) be the national day of mourning for those who died in the famine. That year many Ukrainians in the West participated in church-sponsored ceremonies. Since then, it seems that many of us have forgotten. This year the Ukrainian Canadian Congress commemorated the Famine-Genocide in Ukraine at its annual convention. This commemoration included religious services conducted by Ukrainian Orthodox and Ukrainian Catholic priests. I suggest that starting next year every Ukrainian community throughout the world, including all Ukrainian churches, schools, cultural and political organizations, dedicate an entire month every year to the remembrance of this event.

I hope that this letter will stimulate some long overdue dialogue on this subject.

Orest Diachok
Oakton, Va.

Reaction to reaction to Myron Kuropas

Dear Editor:

I find it amusing that the response by Prof. Roman Szporluk and James Ivan Clem to the column "The Grunts Carry Us" served to confirm Myron Kuropas' observation concerning the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute: one cannot help but sense that in their lengthy elucidation they simply continued to repeat that the emperor's clothes are made of golden thread.

Peter Bylen
Westchester, Ill.

The Ukrainian Weekly welcomes letters to the editor. Letters should be typed (double-spaced) and signed; they must be originals, not photocopies.

The daytime phone number and address of the letter-writer must be given for verification purposes.

| Home Page |