www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life The Christian East & West What is ROCOR's positioin regarding Moscow Patriarch's lies ?

Dear Orthodox-Catholic,

We have been following the events in Ukraine and I do not remember the Ukrainian Orthodox Metropolitian - Moscow Patriarchate participating in any 'panahydas' for the victims of the Ukrainian genocide of 1932 - 1933, also known as the 'Holodomor' as your correctly state. Could you please provide evidence for this statement.

Many of my Ukrainian friends do not understand why the ROCOR is allowed to function freely in Ukraine when it continues to participate in the conspiracy to silence historical facts surrounding the 'Holodmor'. The ROC in Russia, the Ukrainian Orthodox Metropolitan of Kiev (Moscow Patriarch), and the ROCOR continue to participate in the conspiracy. Many of my friends believe that either the ROCOR should begin acting like a true Christian Church and publicly acknowledge the Ukrainian Genocide of 1932 - 1933 or start accepting the blame for it's participation in the cover-up. Many of my friends believe that the ROCOR here in America is also responsible for the cover-up since it sides with the ROC on this issue.

My Ukrainian friends would like to show the ROCOR their autographed copies of the book titled 'The Harvest of Despair' which provides an excellent historical perspective to the Ukrainian genocide - 'Holodomor' - of 1932 - 1933.

If the USA ROCOR continues to conspire with the ROC then they should be exposed as co-collaborators and denied visas to visit Ukraine where they will continue their campaign of deception.

I.F.

Vzhe Pora !

Dear Jean Francois,

Well, I read about the panakhydas on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church website (Moscow Patriarchate).

If I misread it, then I apologise.

In fact, when I met President Yuschenko here in Toronto three years ago, he told me that the official silence on the Holodomor was deafening.

There was no movement in the West, he said, to raise money to fund a Holodomor museum - he blamed both the then Ukrainian government and also Ukrainians in the West for not doing more to have such a centre in Kyiv.

However, in some Ukrainian studies centres, there have been scholars, funded by our people, who have gone on public record as saying that the deaths of the 7-10 million Ukrainians under Stalin were not "necessarily" a deliberate "Holodomor" - it could have been a "crop failure."

When I read this, some years back, I was horrified.

Horrified that our Ukrainian community supports institutions where there are scholars, this one wasn't Ukrainian, who act against our interests.

I remember a very strong Marxist Ukrainian scholar who was touted by our community as a great whatever - he was an avowed Marxist dedicated to the historical materialist perspective and what good could anyone have expected from him? Are our Ukrainian leaders here so, shall we say, "innocent" of their own history in this regard? Do we need to have such "scholars" at our institutions to prove . . . what to anyone?

ROCOR isn't going to be "pro-Ukrainian" or "pro-Ukrainian Catholic" by any stretch of the imagination.

But it is well acquainted with Stalinist terror.

The Ukrainian Metropolitan Ilarion Ohienko said in his books that the Russian Church suffered more than any other under Soviet communism.

It is now up to President Yuschenko and his government to correct the wrongs with respect to proper awareness of the Holodomor in Ukraine itself.

When our people on both sides of the Atlantic can manage to do that (please, no more building funds for more useless Ukrainian institutions here!), then we will have gone a long way in this regard.

Our own inaction on this score is our greatest enemy here.

Alex