Reunion Between Orthodox and Uniates in Ukraine

Unrest and new movement in Ukraine.

(Kiev) Orthodoxy does not rest in Ukraine. At the same time there is a new movement in the country, which forms a transitional zone between the Latin and Greek churches. The Metropolitan of the new Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the Grand Bishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, unified with Rome, are said to have discussed the possibility of unification. Under what sign?

Historically, Ukraine belongs to the catchment area of ​​the Eastern Church and was originally under the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Because of the territorial principle of Orthodoxy, this fact is still relevant today in the field of jurisdiction.

The Ukrainians united with Rome

But the west of the country  was influenced by Poland and Lithuania for a long time and was therefore influenced by the Catholic Church. On the basis of the reunification of the Eastern and Western Churches at the Council of Florence in 1439, part of Ukrainian Orthodoxy established unity with Rome in the sixteenth century. The reason was the unauthorized elevation of Moscow as a "Third Rome" to patriarchy, after Constantinople had been conquered by the Muslims with its historic patriarchal seat.

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church united with Rome is the strongest religious community in the three westernmost regions of Ukraine, Lviv, Tarnopol and Ivano-Frankivsk (Stanislau), which belonged until 1918, as part of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, to Austria. They also celebrate like the Orthodox in the Byzantine rite.

The vast majority of today's Ukraine is Orthodox, but is divided into several, divided churches. The fault lines run along the question of statehood and the relationship with Moscow.

When the capital of the Byzantine Empire was overrun by the Ottomans in 1453, Moscow replaced Constantinople in the Russian area, which led to a split in Ukraine and gave rise to the Union of Ukrainian Orthodox in Poland-Lithuania with Rome.

About 10% of Ukrainians belong to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church today. They live mainly in the extreme southwest of the country. The number of Roman Catholics is very low at less than one percent. All Catholics together make up about 10.5 percent of Ukrainians, as of April 2018.

Ukrainian independence movement and Orthodoxy

In the course of the first independence of Ukraine in 1919 and the second independence in 1991, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate were created autocephalous, that is to say, Orthodox churches independent of Moscow, but yet not recognized by the Moscow Patriarchate.

After long conflicts, the two autocephalous churches of Ukraine in 2018 joined the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (Ukrainian Orthodox Church), which was recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople on January 6, 2019 as a canonical national church. For the recognition by Constantinople was waived on the Kiev Patriarch already established in 1991.

Religion in Ukraine (by region). In the Carpathian Mountains the new Ukrainian Orthodox Church is the largest religious community.

On 15 December 2018 Bishop Epiphanius was elected Metropolitan in the Kiev Sophia Cathedral to the first head of the new, autocephalous national church.

The Moscow-faithful part of Ukrainian Orthodoxy is affiliated to the autonomous Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The three Orthodox churches that existed from 1991 to 2018 competed for recognition as a legitimate national church. It was mainly about the ownership of the church buildings. The Ukrainian government supported the formation of an autocephalous national church in order to strengthen state independence and reduce Moscow's political and religious influence. With the 2018 merger of the two independent, Ukrainian Orthodox churches, this goal was realized against the protest of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Two-thirds of Ukrainians profess to be orthodox Christians. However, the ongoing conflict between Moscow and Kiev means that some of the Orthodox do not want to attribute themselves to one or the other of the two churches. The different numbers of church affiliation of Orthodox Ukrainians can therefore vary considerably. The latest figures come from the Razumkov Center in cooperation with the All-Ukrainian Church Council of April 2018. Today, 47 percent of Ukrainians belong to the Ukrainian Orthodox National Church, which is particularly strong in Northwest and Central Ukraine. About 14 percent of the Ukrainians, who concentrate mainly in the east of the country and in the Crimea, profess the Russian Orthodox Church.

Patriarch Filaret dissatisfied with his role

Since its canonical recognition by Constantinople, the autocephalous national church has been headed by a metropolitan, although the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Kiev Patriarchate from 1991-2018 was headed by a patriarch. Most of the time, from 1995-2018, Filaret was its head.

Filaret, now 90 years old, is Honorary Patriarch of the new Ukrainian Orthodox Church. For several weeks, however, he has been in conflict with his successor and former secretary, Metropolitan Epiphanius. Filaret recently even threatened to annul Epiphanius's allegiance and establish an independent patriarchy. The elderly patriarch is considered to be the central figure of ecclesiastical independence of Ukraine. Recently, he was honored as the "Hero of Ukraine" with the highest honor in the country.

Patriarch Filaret (his successor Epiphanius to his right)

In 1990, Filaret was considered a potential candidate for the Moscow Patriarchate. But this did not happen. When the Soviet Union broke up in 1991, he sided with the Ukrainian independence movement and separated from the Moscow Patriarchate. With this step, he laid the foundation for Ukrainian autocephaly.

The main reason for the rupture now is that Epiphanius, according to Filaret, does not sufficiently seek to be close. The honorary patriarch is worried about the future of Ukrainian autocephaly since in the presidential elections on April 21 the previous "protector of the church", Petro Poroshenko, was voted out. As the new President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Selenskyj will be sworn in within a few days, and so far he has not distinguished himself either by his closeness to the National Church or his proximity to religion.

Selenskyj met with Metropolitan Epiphanius after his election victory, without making concrete promises to the head of the National Church. Epiphanius nevertheless announced the support of the future head of state.

Filaret also demands, as a patriarch, to be mentioned in all liturgies, which is the case in only part of the churches, while Epiphanius is mentioned everywhere. Filaret's letterhead continues to bear the inscription "Patriarchate of Kiev". He is convinced that the legal status persists as a patriarch. Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople had forced him to retreat in 2018 in return for the recognition of autocephaly, otherwise he would be church leader today and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church would have patriarchal status. Moscow is the only patriarchate of Oorthodoxy that could elbow between the historic patriarchates of Constantinople, Alexandria, Jerusalem and Antioch. Filaret wants to extend this claim to Kiev, because today's capital of Ukraine was originally the "mother of all Rus".

Association of Orthodox and Uniate?

Epiphanius has not yet commented on the criticism of Filaret. For other statements of the Metropolitan provide for discussion. In a statement for Espresso.TV he spoke of the "permissibility" of a possible union with the united with Rome Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which is led by Major Archbishop Svyatoslav Shevchuk. There is very good agreement between Metropolitan Epiphanius and Grand Archbishop Svyatoslav.

Metropolitan Epiphanius (left) with Archbishop Svyatoslav of the Greek-Catholic Uniate.

The Metropolitan told Espresso.TV, "We are implementing many important projects with the Greek Catholics and are participating in numerous events". The two church leaders are said to have already talked about a possible union of the two churches. Epiphanius said:

"At a meeting with his Beatitude Svyatoslav, we talked about deepening our cooperation. In it we unfold a dialogue and do not know where it will take us. Theoretically, it is possible to get to the Union.”

Epiphanius is convinced that all Orthodox Ukrainians are destined to unite, meaning both the Orthodox Ukrainians of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Greek Catholic Ukrainians.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi

Picture: AsiaNews

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG

Ukrainian Ecclesiastical Conflict Impacts Antarctic

Chapel on Ukrainian research station switches from Moscow-compliant jurisdiction to the new independent Ukrainian church - churches and religions in Ukraine are calling for peaceful presidential elections.

Kiev (kath.net/KAP)The Ukrainian church dispute now has an impact on the Antarctic.

 The Volodymyr Chapel, which was officially part of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, was built in 2011 in the Ukrainian Vernadsky Station in Perpetual Ice. The Ukrainian National Scientific Antarctic Center in Kiev has announced that the chapel of the new autocephalous "Orthodox Church of Ukraine" is to be placed under the control of the Ukrainian media. A corresponding request to Metropolitan Epifanij, head of the church, had already been made and answered positively.

According to media reports, at the Antarctic Station's current shift change, a copy of that tomos (document) was also brought along, with which Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I released the Ukrainian Church into independence at the beginning of January 2019.

Meanwhile, there are more important decisions in Ukraine itself. The "All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religions" called on the people of the presidential election next Sunday for a "conscientious voting decision" and not to vote "against something" but "for a good and, above all, peaceful future for all". In the election of the new head of state, it should be remembered that one should choose not in their own interest, but in the interest of the good of the entire state. The elections must be peaceful, respect for those who represent other political opinions, is essential, according to the church and religious representatives.

The Council also proclaimed Saturday, 30 March, the "Day of Prayer and Fasting" for honest and peaceful elections. The "All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religions" has around 20 Christian, Muslim and Jewish churches or religious denominations.

The current incumbent President Petro Poroshenko has to fear for his re-election on Sunday. According to surveys, the former Prime Minister of Ukraine, Yulia Tymoshenko, and especially the actor and newcomer Volodymyr Selenskyj in the electoral favor before Poroshenko. According to observers Poroshenko was all the more eager to found the new Ukrainian Orthodox National Church. In the surveys, he was able to gain between six and eight percentage points.

The President is not only looking for closeness to the Orthodox, but also the Catholic Church. So this week he handed over to representatives of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Ternopil a small monastery complex that originally belonged to Dominicans and was expropriated during the communist era. According to a report by the church news portal "risu.ua.org", “historical justice" has been restored. He also wanted to thank the Greek Catholic as well as the Orthodox Church of Ukraine for their constant prayer for Ukraine, Poroshenko said.

Nearly 28 percent of already determined voters said they were voting in favor of Selenskyj. Poroshenko and Tymoshenko are going head-to-head with about 16 to 17 percent to qualify for the April run-off election. The 36 other candidates remained in the polls under 10 percent of the vote. More than 20 percent of voters, however, said they were still undecided.

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG

More than 100,000 Ukrainians Sign Position to Ban Abortion

Additionally, the signatories of the petition for passing a law defining marriage as a union between man and woman make strong.

 Kiev (kath.net/KNA) More than 100,000 Ukrainian Catholics call for a ban of abortion in a petition to President Petro Poroshenko.

As the press service Ukrainian RISU (Friday) reported they propose a constitutional amendment to protect the life of every human being "from conception to natural death." Additionally, the signatories are also for passing a law defining marriage as a union between man and woman.

The signatures were collected by Greek Catholic and Roman Catholic lay initiatives. In Ukraine about 150,000 abortions are registered annually. Abortions are still legal there until the 12th week without restriction and unpunished up to the 28th week for social and other reasons. Catholic (C) 2016 KNA news agency GmbH. All rights reserved.
Kath.net...
Trans:  Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Cardinal Husar's Views on Aberromarriage

Edit: the retired  Lubomyr Cardinal Husar was born in Lviv on February 26th 1933.  He resigned in 2011 due to ill health and is currently Archeparch Emeritus.   To the credit of the Holy See he was ordained a Bishop in 1977 by Major Archbishop Josyf Slipyj without papal permission.  There were no excommunications. 

He was made apostolic administrator of the Ukrainian Greek Major-Archeparchy of Lviv in December of 2000.  In January of 2001, the Ukrainian Greek synod elected him Major Archbishop.  On February 21st Pope John Paul II created and proclaimed Husar Cardinal-Priest of Santa Sofia a Via Boccea.    He participated in the papal conclave of 2005.

The Cardinal has been known for years as an Old Liberal with controversial positions on various issues and so we've decided to feature some of his writings in a series without a lot of comment.  We feel they speak for themselves. It's interesting that the current Patriarch has distanced himself somewhat from ++Husar's irenicism. The book is Conversations with Lubomyr Cardinal Husar: Towards a Post-confessional Christianity by Antoine Arjakovsky, Ukrainian Catholic University Press, 2007.

He might be surprised to learn he agrees with a certain depraved American pop star.

Much has been said about the recognition of homosexual
marriage.

Homosexuality to my mind is nothing new. The only problem is
that it has become very vocal, out of proportion, to my mind. Nobody
is responsible for one’s homosexuality. They simply are born that way.
And they have to face this reality, unfortunately, as it is. I feel very
sorry for these people because they are unable to experience conjugal
love, which is love that is fruitful. God created men and women for
them to have children together. Homosexuals cannot accomplish that;
in this sense their love remains sterile. If they insist on living together,
fine. But they cannot pretend that this is marriage. I also have serious
doubts about their capacity to raise children, because then a child will
grow up with homosexual tendencies. But the problem has become
terribly noisy as if half of the world consisted of homosexuals. They
are a tiny minority in humanity. And we should recognize their suf-
fering, their rights, and that’s it.

Link to source...

Ukrainian Archbishop: Moscow Patriarchate Incapable of Asking Forgiveness

The Superior of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church in Union with Rome, Schwetschuk: "The Russian Clergy has not asked for forgiveness, for annexing our entire property."

Vienna (kath.net/KAP)  An actual obstacle involving the  holdup of a meeting between the Pope and the Moscow Patriarch, is "the incapability of the Russian Orthodox Church, to recognize their own errors":  This is what the Superior of the Greek Catholic Church in Union with Rome, Senior Archbishop Swjatoslaw Schewtschuk (or Shevchuk),  told the organization "Pro Oriente" on Thursday as  reported by Italian Catholic news agency, "SIR".  The Moscow Patriarch Kyrill is saying  that the conflict between Western Ukrainian conflict between Uniates and Orthoddox must be resolved before a meeting can take place between himself and Pope Benedict, says Shevchuk.  The  Senior Archbishop considers this, however, as a pretext.

Schwetschuk recalled that the Russian Orthodox Church was used by Stalin's regime to liquidate the Greek Catholic Church.  "The Russian clergy have still not asked for forgiveness,  for annexing the entire property of the Greek Catholic Church,"  said Schewtschuk.  The ability, to ask for forgiveness, is yet an indicator of the presence of a living Christian conscience.

The Archbishop has made it clear that he is prepared, now as before,  take a long and common look at the "Psuedo-Synod" of Lwiw (Lemberg) in 1946, at which Stalin's intervention forced the unification of the Greek Catholic Church and the Moscow Patriarchate.   From 1946 to 2989 the Greek Catholic Church in west Ukraine only survived in the "catacombs".

As a positive example of ecumenical work on history and reconciliation, Schwetshuk described the apologies between the Polish Catholic Church and the Greek Catholic Church for the bloody conflicts in the years 1941-47 in the Polish-Ukrainian boarder area.   There are also efforts to make similar requests for forgiveness between the Polish Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church.  Unfortunately, between the Greek Catholic and Russian Orthodox Church, there isn't even a symbolic act of reconciliation being undertaken.

Link to kath.net....

Prayer to St. Josaphat Kuntsevych

St. Josaphat Kuntsevych was a Ukrainian archbishop. He labored in Polotsk for the reunion of the separated brethren with the Catholic Church. His untiring zeal caused his premature death. On Nov. 13, 1623 he was killed by the enemies of the reunion.

O Saint Josaphat, wonderful Saint and heroic martyr for the union of our Church with the Vicar of Christ, the Pope of Rome. Thou are glorious on account of thy zeal in the propagation of the true Catholic faith among our people. Thou art wonderful because of thy heroic martyrdom for the unity of faith of our people with the Holy See of Rome, the true center of orthodox Catholicism.

Thou art admirable on account of thy sublime virtues with which thou has adorned thy soul. We admire thy ardent love for Jesus and Mary and thy allegiance to the Vicar of Christ. Thou art a sublime example of all virtues for the people of whom thou wert born. Since thou art so powerful with God as thy miracles prove, I ask thee to obtain for me from Jesus and Mary a strong attachment to the Catholic faith and my beautiful Eastern Rite which I shall never betray nor abandon. Obtain also the grace of indefatigable zeal that I may labor for the reunion of my separated Eastern Brethren.

O glorious martyr of our Catholic Church, remember the nation of which thou wert a son, look at our people and pray to God for future reunion of all Ukrainians under one fold and one shepherd. May the day come soon in which all thy Brethren will assemble before thy holy relics in a free and independent Ukraine to give thanks to God for the union of all Ukrainians with the Holy See. Amen.

(Excerpted from pages 126-127 of the Ukrainian Rite prayerbook, My Divine Friend by Rev. Michael Schudlo, CSSR. Published 1959 Imprimi Potest: Vladimir Malanchuk, CSSR. Vice-Provincial No. 596, May 25, 1958. Nihil Obstat: Basil Makuch, STD, PhD. Censor Episcopalis. Imprimatur: Constantine Archbishop Metropolitan Philadelphia, August 1, 1958 No. 767/52M.)

Link to Holy Unia Blog...here