1999: THE YEAR IN REVIEW: Religious affairs: a relative calm (12/26/99)

1999: THE YEAR IN REVIEW

Religious affairs: a relative calm

The situation in religious communities in Ukraine and in the West, with only a few exceptions, was generally calm. The level of violence and tension between Churches in Ukraine continues to decrease, though there are still incidents of conflict, notably among the Orthodox Church. However, whereas there is calm in the Ukrainian Catholic Church in the West and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Canada, there is a deepening tension within the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the United States.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church

Several years ago the leaders of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the United States of America chose to bring their Church under the jurisdiction of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople. They explained their decision to the faithful of the Church with the claims that this step would make the Church in America canonical and would help in obtaining recognition for the Church in Ukraine. Opponents of this move contend that the hierarchs committed fraud against the faithful of the Church. They claim that the Church in America always was canonical; that the lay leaders and hierarchs misrepresented to the faithful the religious and administrative implications of this decision, including not fully or properly explaining the relationship with Constantinople; and that the hierarchs did not follow proper Church procedure to make such a decision, therefore forfeiting legitimacy.

In 1998 several U.S. parishes left the jurisdiction of the UOC/USA, which is headquartered in South Bound Brook, N.J., over this issue and were accepted into the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate by Patriarch Filaret. This split has increased tension between Patriarch Filaret and the hierarchs of the UOC/USA.

Patriarch Filaret visited the United States between October 22 and November 11, his second visit in a year, touring several of his parishes, as well as several that have not yet left the UOC/USA but are in opposition to the UOC/USA decision to accept the jurisdiction of Constantinople.

During his visit this year, Patriarch Filaret spoke strongly against the actions of the hierarchs of the UOC/USA. His basic message was: the hierarchs in South Bound Brook have misled the faithful; the natural relationship for all Ukrainian Orthodox faithful is with Kyiv, not with Moscow or Constantinople; the faithful here need to reaffirm their desire to remain with Kyiv. The patriarch spoke of good relations with the government of Ukraine and of improving relations with the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, citing the friendly relations between the two Churches in the diaspora as a model.

Besides widening divisions in the United States between Orthodox parishes that support the hierarchs in South Bound Brook and those that do not, the Church in Ukraine also remains divided among three churches: the UOC - Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP) led by Patriarch Filaret; the UOC - Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), led in Ukraine by Metropolitan Volodymyr Sabodan, who is loyal to the Moscow Patriarch Aleksei II; and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC), led by Patriarch Dymytrii.

Patriarch Dymytrii of the UAOC visited the United States from December 28, 1998, to January 4 of this year. Unlike Patriarch Filaret, Patriarch Dymytrii notes that he is on good terms with the hierarchs in the United States and the visit produced an agreement with the UOC/USA to strengthen frayed ties and to work toward a united Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

"The specific matter that we discussed was a request that they [UOC/USA] develop a discussion with the center in Constantinople that it turn its face toward Ukraine, that it stop looking at Ukraine through the eyes of Moscow's politics, and that it take the Ukrainian Church under its spiritual omophorion," said Patriarch Dymytrii in an interview with The Weekly in February after his return to Ukraine.

Included in the program of cooperation between the UAOC and the UOC/USA is the opening of a representative office of the UOC/USA in Kyiv in the form of a center of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

Patriarch Dymytrii heads what is now the smallest of the three Orthodox Churches in Ukraine - one that has been decimated by defections to the UOC-KP since the death in 1993 of Patriarch Mstyslav, the first leader of the Church after Ukraine's independence. Though Patriarch Filaret claims to work well with Patriarch Dymytrii, the latter has few kind words for the former.

Patriarch Dymytrii claims that during his visit to South Bound Brook he brought documents that prove Patriarch Filaret is not the rightful heir to the patriarchal throne of the late Patriarch Mstyslav, According to Patriarch Dymytrii, the UAOC now hopes that, through renewed contacts with the UOC/USA, it can begin the process of achieving Eucharistic union with Constantinople and eventually uniting the various Orthodox Churches of Ukraine into a single entity. Patriarch Dymytrii hopes that the UOC/USA can act as a mediator between Kyiv and Constantinople in the UAOC's bid for recognition by the historic seat of Orthodox Christianity.

One of the few incidents of inter-Church violence was the attack on Patriarch Filaret in Mariupol on April 30 by dozens of supporters of the rival Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate. The patriarch was physically attacked, barely escaping serious injury. Attacks were targeted also at the faithful gathered to greet him. The Ukrainian religious leader later stated at a press conference that this violent incident and others are being directed from Russia. Patriarch Filaret was on a tour of UOC-KP parishes in the Donetsk Oblast and was about to bless the construction site of a new church when some 80 attackers, who had arrived by bus, fell upon him, several bishops and clergy, and a dozen or so of the faithful gathered to take part in the ceremony.

In the United States relations within the UOC/USA continue to deteriorate as a lawsuit and counterclaims involving hierarchs and laity of the UOC/USA and members of Holy Ascension Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Clifton, N.J., were filed this summer in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Somerset County. The majority of the members of Holy Ascension Parish have expressed concern about, as well as opposition to, the hierarchs' decision to join Constantinople.

The original lawsuit, filed on May 27, lists the UOC/USA, Archbishop Antony (head of the Consistory of the UOC/USA), the Rev. Arkadiusz Mironko and 41 other individuals as plaintiffs. Listed as defendants are John Luchejko, John Marchenko, Roma Lisovich and Walter Mohuchy, trustees or members of the parish board of Holy Ascension Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

In a seven-count complaint, the plaintiffs allege that the defendants, of Holy Ascension Parish, violated acts of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Constitution; used funds inappropriately; defamed the Church, Archbishop Antony and the Rev. Mironko; deprived plaintiffs of the ability to receive sacraments and pastoral services, thereby depriving them of their legal right to worship; did not conduct proper board meetings; wrongfully interfered in the employment of the Rev. Mironko; and breached terms of the contract between the UOC/USA and Holy Ascension Parish.

In turn, on August 10, the defendants filed an answer in which they denied all the allegations made against them by Archbishop Antony and the other plaintiffs and then filed a nine-count counterclaim, which includes allegations that Metropolitan Constantine of the UOC/USA and Archbishop Antony "willingly, knowingly, intentionally and clandestinely" abdicated their responsibility to the basic principles and traditions of the UOC, including remaining an independent Church, by becoming bishops of the Ecumenical Patriarchate; committed fraud upon the Church by willfully misleading the faithful and the participants of the sobors (the Church's highest governing body); broke an implied trust with the parishes with regard to funds; and intimidated those who dissented from their points of view. There were four other claims, including ones against the Metropolitan Council of the Church.

Meeting on July 15-17, the Metropolitan Council voted to support the hierarchs'decision to file a lawsuit against the trustees of Holy Ascension Parish, characterizing the lawsuit as an "effort to restore discipline and order in church life."

A delegation from the UOC/USA, headed by Metropolitan Constantine, met on September 21-22 with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in Istanbul (Constantinople). According to information released by the UOC/USA, "This meeting took place in accordance with the decision of the 15th UOC/USA Sobor, as well as the latest meeting of the Metropolitan Council, with regard to obtaining an explanation in greater detail of the previously accepted 'Points of Agreement' that served as the basis upon which the UOC/USA accepted the omophorion of the ecumenical patriarch."

The statement released by the UOC/USA also noted that other topics of discussion included the ecumenical patriarch's position regarding the various branches of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine and that agreement was reached regarding the specific participation of the ecumenical patriarch in activities to establish one "pomisna" (particular) Orthodox Church in Ukraine that would be recognized by world Orthodoxy.

The Ukrainian Catholic Church

For the first time since Ukraine's independence, an official invitation was extended on February 10 by President Leonid Kuchma to Pope John Paul II, as head of state of the Vatican, to visit Ukraine in 1999. A visit by the pope would be the first ever to Ukraine by the worldwide head of the Catholic Church.

The invitation was personally handed to the pope by Prime Minister Valerii Pustovoitenko. However, since it is the policy of the the pope to not visit a country before a major election, such as the Ukraine's presidential vote in November, there was no visit this year. And, as the Vatican has declared 2000 a jubilee year during which the pope will not maintain his customary heavy travel schedule, no visit has been scheduled for next year either.

Bishop Lubomyr Husar, special auxiliary to the head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, met in Ottawa with professors and staff of the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies and with St. Paul University officials the third week in January. He was the guest of honor at a banquet marking the university's 150th anniversary. The Sheptytsky Institute meeting was held following a week of consultations on liturgical renewal in the Ukrainian Catholic Church. The study group visited Ottawa's Roman Catholic Archbishop Marcel Gervais, who is chancellor of St. Paul University, as well as the apostolic nuncio, Archbishop Carlo Curis. Bishop Husar also paid a visit to Ambassador Volodymyr Khandogiy at the Embassy of Ukraine in Ottawa.

Ukrainian Catholic hierarchs held a synod at St. Nicholas Monastery in Krekhiv, Ukraine (25 miles northwest of Lviv), on September 1-8. Among the topics discussed and decisions made was a proposed reorganization of eparchies that are too large, in either territory or in population, in order to better manage the eparchy and provide better pastoral care. Also discussed was the official name of the Church, taking into account papal documents and claims by faithful in Ukraine and the diaspora that the term Greek-Catholic does not properly reflect the original tradition of the Church. Among the suggestions offered was "Kyivan Catholic Church." This issue, it was decided, will be resolved in the future and based on an all-Church discussion.

It was determined that the Ukrainian Catholic Church will participate in the following millennial events: opening of the Holy Doors of St. Peter's Basilica, this year on December 24-25; an ecumenical ceremony commemorating the martyrs of the 20th century, May 7, 2000; World Youth Day in Rome, August 19-20, 2000; and a divine liturgy concelebrated by all the Byzantine Churches on October 1, 2000. An all-Ukraine pilgrimage to the Mother of God Shrine in Zarvanytsia has been scheduled for July 22-30, 2000.

Jews in Ukraine

The U.S. Department of State on February 26 released its human rights report for 1998. Though the government of Ukraine was not cited for official discrimination, the report did cite a "deep-seated societal anti-Semitism; and some discrimination against religious, racial and ethnic minorities," as well as some discrimination against "non-traditional faiths," such as Jehovah's Witnesses, Baptists and Pentecostals.

During his visit to the United States Chief Rabbi of Ukraine Yaakov Bleich spoke before the Ukrainian community on March 17 and replied to the claims about anti-Semitism made in the report. In general, Rabbi Bleich reported, Jews feel comfortable in Ukraine, and the biggest problems tend to be economic, which continues to be the main reason for Jewish emigration (20,000 annually) from Ukraine. When asked specifically about the human rights report, Rabbi Bleich responded that, in his opinion, the facts are subject to Western standards of interpretation that quite often results in a misrepresentation of the truth as evidenced, for example, by the highly publicized and controversial "60 Minutes" segment on "The Ugly Face of Freedom."

On the subject of Jewish organizations and schools in Ukraine, Rabbi Bleich said there are over 350 very active Jewish organizations in existence in Ukraine today; and that funds for humanitarian and social welfare services have been donated by the Jewish diaspora, which has received remuneration for property reclaimed from Germany. There are 16 Jewish day schools in Ukraine, 12 of which are partially supported by the Ukrainian government, with an enrollment of 5,000 Jewish students. Rabbi Bleich reported that all the lessons are taught in Ukrainian in the schools he operates in Kyiv.

Internally, the Jewish community in Ukraine split this year as three influential Jewish organizations quit the All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress, headed by businessman Vadym Rabinovich and, in turn, established the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine on April 14. On April 5, Mr. Rabinovich, in a pre-emptive move, announced the formation of the United Jewish Community of Ukraine, which he also heads, in addition to the congress. At its founding, this new association included over 300 Jewish organizations, 12 of which are national, the rest regional and local. [In an unrelated development, Vadym Rabinovich was declared "persona non grata" on June 24 by the Kuchma administration for alleged corrupt business dealings, and originally was not allowed to return to Ukraine for five years, though the order was rescinded in September.]

A highlight in Ukrainian-Jewish relations this year is the consistent attempt in the area of professional and lay scholarship to more accurately portray the situation between Jews and Ukrainians historically. A recent publication by Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute and the Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University, "A Prayer for the Government, Jews and Ukrainians in Revolutionary Times, 1917-1920" by Henry Abramson, closely looks at the bold experiment between Ukrainians and Jews and the Central Rada. The author used formerly restricted Soviet archives, the extensive documentation of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York City and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, as well as secondary sources in Slavic and Jewish languages to shed new light on the relationship between the successive Ukrainian governments and the communal violence, and discusses in depth the role of Symon Petliura, the Ukrainian leader who was later assassinated by a Jew claiming revenge for pogroms.

Produced by Miriam Weiner, an American genealogist renowned for her expertise in Eastern European archives, a new publication, "Jewish Roots in Ukraine and Moldova" is the result of eight years of intense effort and numerous trips overseas. A combination reference book, travel guide, Holocaust book and genealogical handbook, "Jewish Roots in Ukraine and Moldova," is co-published by the Route to Roots Foundation and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. Its archival inventories represent 1,400 shtetls and towns, and this 624-page book puts to rest the once widely held belief in the West that virtually all documents pertaining to Jews in these countries had been destroyed. More than 900 of the photographs are in full color, as are all 20 maps. These archives became accessible to the public for genealogical research only after Ukraine and Moldova declared their independence in 1991.

In 1995 three ethnic groups - Jews, Mennonites and Ukrainians - came together in Winnipeg to reflect on the similarities and dissimilarities of the cultures and experiences of their respective communities. The conference was titled "Building Bridges." All three groups had suffered the ignominy of hatred and violence over the centuries, most notably in Europe; all three came to Canada in the late 19th century, hoping to find a place where they could live and prosper in an environment of peace and security. All three brought with them their histories of oppression and antagonism. A new book - "A Sharing of Diversities: Proceedings of the Jewish Mennonite Ukrainian Conference, 'Building Bridges,'" edited by Fred Stambrook and Bert Friesen, and published this year by the Winnipeg Jewish Mennonite Ukrainian Committee, contains a selection of the papers presented at the conference.

Notes on religion

Metropolitan Wasyly, primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada (UOCC), was honored with a special moleben and banquet on November 1 at Holy Trinity Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral. The evening was in honor of the metropolitan on his 90th birthday and the 55th anniversary of his priestly vocation.
A sister parish program, initiated by St. Michael's Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Minneapolis in honor of the parish's 75th anniversary, was established between parishes in United States and Ukraine under jurisdiction of Patriarch Filaret.
The bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada, which falls within the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, issued a statement on April 22 protesting NATO's decision to bomb Yugoslavia to stop Serb destruction of the Kosovars and declared their support for their "fellow Orthodox Christians," the Serbs.
Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alekseii II announced in Moscow that, in honor of the jubilee year 2000, he will undertake a pilgrimage and visit his parishes found throughout the ancient territories of Kyivan-Rus'.The Russian patriarch planned to travel on Ukrainian territories in August, during Ukraine's independence celebrations. The announcement caused strong protest in Ukraine and, by early summer, the pilgrimage was canceled.
"Crisis and Reform: The Kyivan Metropolitanate, The Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Genesis of the Union of Brest" by Borys A. Gudziak was published as part of the Harvard Series in Ukrainian Studies. The book explains and re-evaluates one of the most controversial events in Slavic Church history, the Union of Brest (1596).
The executive committee of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops appointed the Rev. Peter Galadza as a member of the North American Orthodox/Roman Catholic Theological Consultation. He is the first Ukrainian Catholic to join the ecumenical body in its 33-year history, and one of only two Canadian members. The consultation meets twice annually and regularly issues statements and position papers on matters pertaining to Orthodox-Catholic rapprochement.
Following a February 22 meeting with heads of religious organizations, President Kuchma ordered the Cabinet of Ministers to solve the problem of returning to religious organizations the property, ecclesiastical objects and theological literature taken from them during the Soviet period. He ordered the State Property Fund to implement measures protecting all property that had previously belonged to religious communities from being privatized before it can be returned to its former owners and ordered the State Customs Committee to draw up proposals to simplify the procedure of transferring goods sent from abroad as aid to religious organizations.
The Rev. Dr. John Kovalchuk of Harrisburg, Pa., was elected president of the Ukrainian Evangelical Baptist Convention in the United States. The election was held September 4, at the First Ukrainian Evangelical Baptist Church in Levittown, Pa., during the group's 54th annual conference. The Ukrainian Evangelical Baptist Convention supports 46 missionaries in Ukraine, with a goal of at least two missionaries per oblast, and also has helped finance the construction of dozens of church buildings.
On March 21, during a seven-hour stopover in Ukraine's capital, Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu met with both the Ukrainian president and Prime Minister Pustovoitenko and briefly visited with leaders of the Jewish community of Ukraine.
For more than a month, rectors of the Lviv Theological Academy, the Rev. Dr. Mykhailo Dymyd, and the Rev. Dr. Borys Gudziak, traveled throughout North America visiting universities, cultural centers and Ukrainian parishes, as well as meeting with numerous bishops, Church dignitaries and representatives of lay organizations. The Rev. Dymyd announced the accreditation of the Lviv Theological Academy by the Congregation of Catholic Education in Rome.
The Rev. Wolodymyr Roman Juszczak OSBM, provincial superior of the Order of St. Basil the Great in Poland, was appointed on April 24 by Pope John Paul II as bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Wroclaw-Gdansk, Poland. He was ordained bishop on June 19. Poland has a large community of 120,000 Ukrainian Catholics. In the Eparchy of Wroclaw-Gdansk there are 53,000 Ukrainian Catholics, 32 eparchial priests and 14 religious priests. The eparchy was established on May 24, 1996.
The first class of seminarians from Ukraine to study at St. Basil College Seminary in Stamford, Conn., graduated on May 15. Bishop Basil H. Losten conferred the bachelor of arts degree on 11 seniors. More than 60 seminarians from Ukraine are studying at St. Basil College Seminary in a five-year program that leads to a degree in philosophy.
Parishioners at the Ukrainian Catholic National Shrine of the Holy Family held a double celebration on October 9-10 as Holy Family Parish marked its 50th anniversary, and the newly completed upper church of the shrine building was dedicated and officially opened. The shrine, in construction for 25 years, was designed and built as a sanctuary for all Ukrainian Catholics in the United States.
Over 300 faithful attended services at the rebuilt Church of the Transfiguration in Prnjavor, Bosnia, on August 19. Ukrainians from throughout Bosnia and Croatia, including a busload from Serbia, joined them in celebrating the reopening of the church, which had been destroyed by a powerful blast on August 2, 1992. The parish of the Church of the Transfiguration was founded in 1900, and in 1990 marked the 100th anniversary of the settlement of Ukrainians in Bosnia.
The Ukrainian Catholic Church in Australia celebrated its 50th anniversary. The first official Ukrainian Catholic liturgy in Australia is considered to have been celebrated by the Rev. Paul Smal on August 13, 1949, in a chapel next to St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Cathedral in Melbourne. In South Australia, the Rev. Dmytro Kachmar celebrated the first liturgy in that state on September 25, 1949.
On November 30, as part of his inaugural celebrations, President Kuchma, who had been sworn in for a second term as president of Ukraine, met with the leaders of all of Ukraine's mainstream religions at the Sobor of St. Sophia, one Ukraine's most renowned religious landmarks.
Published by McGill-Queen's University Press, John-Paul Himka's "Religion and Nationality in Western Ukraine" examines the collision of East and West in the Greek-Catholic Church in Galicia in the 19th century. Mr. Himka is a professor of history and classics at the University of Alberta.

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