Ukrainian churches reclaim their rightful heritage

By Aussiegirl

Of course the "Slavic Prince" mentioned here is Prince Volodymyr the Great, a Ukrainian Kievan who first introduced Orthodoxy Christianity in the year 988 in what was then called Rus -- present day Ukraine.

"Prince Volodymyr placed great emphasis upon the social implications of Christianity. Whenever he feasted with his Court, he distributed food to the poor and sick; nowhere else in medieval Europe were there such highly organized social services as in 10th Century Kiev. Other rulers in Kievan Rus followed Volodymyr's example. Prince Volodymyr Monomachos (reigned 1113-1125) wrote in his Testament to his sons, "Above all things forget not the poor, and support them to the extent of your means. Give to the orphan, protect the widow, and permit the mighty to destroy no man." Volodymyr was also deeply conscious of the Christian law of mercy, and when he introduced the Byzantine law code at Kiev, he insisted on mitigating its more savage and brutal features. There was no death penalty in Kievan Rus, no torture; corporal punishment was very little used." (excerpt from p. 79, "The Orthodox Church" by Timothy Ware)

In later years Muskovy took up the name "Russia" and so Ukraine began to be referred to as "the border land" -- or Ukraina.

This has long been a source of confusion and misinformation. The original Christian churches in the Slavic lands were Ukrainian, including the Pechersk Lavra and all the great monasteries and cathedrals. Russia has simply laid claim to them as in subsequent centuries Ukraine came under Russian political domination.

Orthodox Churches have always been national churches, with liturgies, music and customs of each particular culture. Ukraine must reclaim its rightful heritage -- there is no reason that the Russian Church should lay claim to what is rightfully Ukrainian.

The Russians were then centered in Muskovy. The area was divided at that time into city states and were quite independent. Thus it was actually a UKRAINIAN church from the very beginning -- it was only taken over by the Russians in the 1600's when an ill-advised treaty by Ukrainian Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky

More than 1,000 years ago, a Slavic prince ordered his subjects into the Dnieper River that slices through the Ukrainian capital to baptize themselves in his newly adopted faith. Now the powerful Russian Orthodox Church that emerged from that christening is losing control over its Ukrainian birthplace.

Having broken free of Russia's political grip in last year's Orange Revolution, many Ukrainians are turning their nationalistic impulses toward religion, and with tacit backing from their president, Viktor Yushchenko, are seeking to create an independent Ukrainian church -- an equal to Moscow, rather than a daughter.
For the Russian Orthodox Church to lose this predominantly Orthodox nation of 48 million would be a devastating blow, significantly shrinking the size of its flock and its global clout. It could sever one of the oldest links between the two neighboring countries, dealing another setback to the Kremlin's efforts to maintain influence in the former Soviet republics.

Three major Orthodox Churches operate in the former Soviet republic of Ukraine:
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate falls under the realm of the Russian Orthodox Church and is recognized by Patriarch Bartholomew I, spiritual leader of the world's 200 million Orthodox. It is Ukraine's largest with 36 dioceses, 10,689 parishes and 8,936 priests.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church Kiev Patriarchate is a breakaway group seeking official recognition as an independent, Ukrainian Orthodox Church. It has 31 dioceses, 3,523 parishes and 2,693 priests.
The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church is another splinter group that recently began the process of uniting with the Kiev Patriarchate. It has 12 dioceses, 1,175 parishes and 702 priests.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA is also recognized by Bartholomew. One of its leaders recently spoke on behalf of the recognition of an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

SOURCE: the Ukrainian State Committee on Religion. Statistics are from Jan. 1, 2005.
AP

''Russia understands and is fighting to keep the Ukrainian church . . . if it loses the church, Moscow doesn't have any hope of ever returning Ukraine into a revived Russian empire,'' said Patriarch Filaret, who heads the breakaway Ukraine Orthodox Church Kiev Patriarchate.

The split is already real, with two breakaway churches having set themselves up since the end of Soviet rule. They are talking about unifying, which would create a strong new independent church, boasting nearly 4,700 parishes and 3,400 priests. Although still smaller than the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate, as the Russian Orthodox Church is called here, its size could nudge Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of the world's 200 million Orthodox, into recognizing the new church.

That would be a significant stamp of legitimacy that Filaret says will prompt many priests and parishes to switch sides.

Losing Ukraine would cost the Russian
Orthodox Church not only followers, but also valuable church property, including some of Russian Orthodoxy's most revered sites. The oldest and holiest monastery, the Pechersky Lavra, remains under the control of the Moscow Patriarchate. But around a bend in the Dnieper, the majestic Vydubytsky Monastery, which commemorates the mass baptism ordered by Volodymyr in 988, is in the hands of the breakaway church.

In Orthodox countries, national identity is often forged equally by the state and the church, giving the clergy a powerful voice in society. That clout has been growing since the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of a communist creed hostile to religious freedom.

The Russian connection long predates
communism, dating to 1654, when a Ukrainian Cossack leader signed an alliance with Russia that gradually ushered in the Russian political, religious and cultural domination that persists to this day.

The Russian Orthodox Church promoted a message of unity between the Ukrainian and Russian peoples. Critics say this was done -- particularly during communist times -- at the expense of Ukraine's own identity. The church is basically ''an avant garde of Russian influence in Ukraine,'' said Ivan Dzyuba, a religion analyst with Ukraine's National Academy of Science.

Ukraine renewed the push for its own independent Orthodox church shortly after the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. But the Russian church resisted, sparking a division that eventually resulted in three separate Ukrainian churches: the Moscow Patriarchate, the breakaway Kiev Patriarchate, and its splinter, the Ukrainian Autonomous Orthodox Church.

The choice is often more political than spiritual.
"Of course, our links with Russia are very strong. We are all Slavs, and Russia has always been the most dominant Slavic country, but Ukraine has detached itself, so why shouldn't our church also enjoy that independence," said Nina Venhar, 57, emerging from one of the cool, candlelit churches that make up the Vydubytsky Monastery.