Ten years ago, on July 28, 2010, Ukraine marked the commemoration of St. Volodymyr the Great, grand-prince of Kyiv-Rus’, and the baptism of Kyiv-Rus’-Ukraine in 988.
More than 10,000 faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP), as it was called, now absorbed as part of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, held a procession through Kyiv from St. Volodymyr Cathedral to the monument to St. Prince Volodymyr that overlooks the Dnipro River and concluded with a moleben service.
The commemoration was marred by several moves of the authorities, then under President Viktor Yanukovych. Many of the faithful from both eastern and western Ukraine were prevented from traveling to Kyiv to participate. “They threatened to confiscate transport licenses and create other ‘unpleasantries,’ ” the UOC-KP press service stated. “We saw mass refusals of transporters from fulfilling trips, which were secured in advance. Local government officials insistently ‘didn’t recommend’ the clergy of the Kyiv Patriarchate from traveling to Kyiv on July 28.”
However, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, who awarded Mr. Yanukovych the St. Prince Vladimir Order – among the Church’s highest honors – was allowed to host commemorative events at St. Sophia Cathedral and the Kyiv-Pecherska Lavra (Kyiv Monastery of the Caves), which is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Political science professor Olexiy Haran of the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy, said: “Kirill is acting as a politician above all, not as a clergyman. This visit is occurring within the ‘maloros’ model and the Russian-Ukrainian relations being built by President Yanukovych.”
The Russian patriarch’s visit was marked not only by the crowds who came to show support, but also by the largest demonstration of those who opposed it, underscoring the political as well as religious nature of the visit. Just 12 days prior to the visit, the Kyiv City Council voted to rename the stretch of Ivan Mazepa Street in front of the monastery as Lavra Street.
(Hetman Mazepa was anathematized by Russian Tsar Peter I and the Russian Orthodox Church after Mazepa aligned with King Karl XII of Sweden to fight against the Muscovite forces at the Battle of Poltava in 1709.)
Other moves by the Kyiv City Council transferred ownership of the National Kyiv-Pechersk Historical-Cultural Reserve, which includes the Caves Monastery, from the municipal jurisdiction of Kyiv to the state, under the administration of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Many suspected that the move was meant to facilitate a transfer of ownership to the Moscow Patriarchate.
Moscow’s claim on Odesa was also noted during the visit, but the July 21 visit to the area did not elicit the expected response from the local populace. Less than 5 percent of the 200,000 people who were expected by the local government leaders and the Moscow Patriarchate attended. Similarly, on July 25 in Dnipropetrovsk (today known as Dnipro), nearly 3,500 to 10,000 people arrived for an event that was expected to attract 40,000 to 80,000 worshippers. The events hosted by the UOC-MP offered free, unrestricted transportation as well, but they could not meet the projected numbers of supporters.
The effort by the Moscow Patriarchate to claim jurisdiction over the Kyiv Monastery of the Caves and the St. Sophia Cathedral complex is echoed in the recent move by the Turkish government to revert Hagia Sophia, the mother Church of Byzantium, from a museum to a mosque. The moves aim to deny the historical and cultural nature of the sites.
Source: “Russia patriarch’s visit to Ukraine sparks large demonstrations,” by Zenon Zawada, The Ukrainian Weekly, August 1, 2010.