The strong support that Ukraine has received in recent years, especially from the U.S. Congress, did not occur in a vacuum. It is the result of much work by individuals and institutions over the course of many years, indeed, over the last century. An important component of laying the groundwork was the commemoration of important anniversaries, whether it be the annual Independence Day (both 1918, and for the last 26 years, 1991) or one-offs such as the 1988 Millennium of Christianity of Kyivan Rus’.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of Ukraine’s 1918 proclamation of independence. Although this independence was short-lived, it was a seminal event in Ukrainian history and a powerful expression of the Ukrainian people’s historic commitment to freedom. Many Ukrainian Americans above the age of 35 will no doubt remember the annual ritual of January 22 “Den’ Nezalezhnosty” (Independence Day) commemorations held in their communities, which arguably stood out as the most significant annual event in the political life of the diaspora.
The U.S. Congress was by no means a stranger to these annual events. Spurred by the Ukrainian American community, Ukrainian Independence Day for many decades was faithfully marked at Capitol Hill receptions, and in countless speeches and Congressional Record statements, helping to inform an audience beyond the community of Ukraine’s historical struggle for self-determination. I recall writing more than my fair share of these statements for congressional Helsinki commissioners throughout the 1980s, often using them as a platform to address specific Soviet violations of human and national rights in Ukraine. Commemorations of historical events often provided additional opportunities to address relevant and timely matters of concern.
Indeed, 30 years ago we witnessed the full-fledged celebration of another anniversary, one that helped to focus the world’s attention on Ukraine during a period of profound transformation and contributed to major changes in the following years. Riffing through my old Helsinki Commission files a few weeks ago, I came upon materials about the commemoration of the 1988 Millennium of Christianity of Kyivan Rus’ in our nation’s capital, which rekindled memories of substantial efforts by the U.S. Congress to press for religious liberties in Soviet Ukraine, especially the legalization of the Ukrainian Catholic Church. (I should note that The Ukrainian Weekly covered all of these events in detail.)
The activity surrounding this anniversary in the United States, especially by Congress working closely with an organized and engaged Ukrainian American community, and in particular the U.S. National Committee to Commemorate the Millennium of Christianity in Ukraine – was significant. And keep in mind the context of the times – Ukraine, lacking the attributes of independence, was a relative terra incognita on the Washington policy map. Moreover, few average Americans knew much about Ukraine (often conflating it with Russia), much less about the plight of religious believers there.
In 1988, a joint congressional resolution marking the Millennium, introduced in the Senate by then Helsinki Commission Chairman Dennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.) and Rep. William Lipinski (D-Ill.) in the House of Representatives, deplored the Soviet government’s persecution of religious believers in Ukraine. It noted the banned Ukrainian Orthodox and Catholic churches, which had been forcibly liquidated during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as unregistered Pentecostal and Baptist believers. Special attention was given to the plight of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, which despite decades of suppression, continued to courageously operate in the underground.
Significantly, the resolution called for U.S. officials to boycott Soviet-sponsored Millennium events. Numerous statements, press releases, and even a pysanka and icon exhibit in the Capitol Rotunda further focused attention on this issue. Among the many accompanying efforts were letters by Sen. DeConcini and Rep. Lipinski to several major media outlets calling them out for leaving the impression that “the commemoration of this milestone in Ukrainian history is only important to the Russian recounting of events.”
Thanks in part to robust and professional efforts of the community’s U.S. National Committee to Commemorate the Millennium of Christianity in Ukraine, this joint resolution garnered unusually large numbers of co-sponsors and passed both the House and Senate overwhelmingly. As Nadia Komarnycky-McConnell, chairperson of the national committee’s Governmental Relations Committee noted at the time, the Congressional action “underscores the primacy of Ukrainian claims to the Millennium.” Thus, not only did Congress highlight the ongoing persecution of believers and banning of Churches even as the Soviet Union was liberalizing with Gorbachev’s policies of glasnost and perestroika, but it also countered the self-serving, imperialistic narrative of equating Rus’ with Russia. The Soviet government and the Russian Orthodox Church were not pleased.
The resolution upset the Supreme Soviet (Rada) of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic which – perhaps at the Kremlin’s instigation – responded by sending a lengthy letter accusing the U.S. Congress of interfering in the internal affairs of the Soviet Union, as well as of “bias” and “groundless statements.” Among other things, the letter denied that anyone in Ukraine was persecuted for their religious convictions. In attacking both the underground Ukrainian Catholic Church and the outlawed Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, it identified the Churches’ members as “collaborators of foreign oppressors” and “zealous underlings of Nazi invaders” – standard Soviet propaganda fare used to describe anyone perceived to want freedom for Ukraine.
Such a letter from the Ukrainian SSR’s Soviet, unprecedented at the time, was sent to the leaders of the House and Senate, who tasked the Helsinki Commission, chaired by Rep. Steny Hoyer (currently the No. 2 Democrat in the House of Representatives) and Sen. DeConcini, with the response. As the relevant commission staffer, I was more than happy to draft it, just as I had been pleased to work on the Millennium resolution together with colleagues in Congress and friends on the Millennium Committee. I think it is fair to say that our six-page response to the Ukrainian SSR Rada was more measured, detailed and fact-based than the Ukrainian SSR Rada’s letter to us.
Many other consequential Millennium-related events took place in Washington in 1988. In May, Cardinal Myroslav Ivan Lubachivsky of the Ukrainian Catholic Church and Metropolitan Mstyslav (Skrypnyk) of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A. met in the White House with President Ronald Reagan. They appealed to him to raise the issue of religious liberty for Ukrainian Catholic and Orthodox believers, which the president did during his Moscow summit a few weeks later. Robert McConnell, who had earlier served in the Reagan administration as assistant attorney general for congressional relations, was instrumental in all of the vital White House outreach, as well as efforts on the Hill, as were Ms. McConnell, Irene Jarosewich and Markian Bilynsky of the national committee. And later that year, in October, Washington witnessed one of the largest gatherings ever of Ukrainian Americans, with nearly 20,000 commemorating the Millennium and demanding freedom for the Churches in Ukraine.
These efforts in the nation’s capital 30 years ago in 1988 helped to build momentum for the historic changes that would take place in the following years, including the legalization of the Ukrainian Catholic Church.