www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News Church of the Tithe

Dear Friends,

FYI, the first stone Church of Kyivan Rus' was the Church of the Tithe:

http://www.pravoslavie.ru/cgi-bin/news.cgi?item=2r040920155558

Work began on it in 989 AD after the Baptism of Kyivan Rus' by St Volodymyr the Great.

It was built on the site of the martyrdom of Sts. Theodore and John the Varangians.

They were Christians in the army of the then still pagan Volodymyr (Vladimir, Valdemar).

For refusing to honour the gods in thanksgiving for a military victory, the two were summarily killed for the Name of Christ.

Later, St Volodymyr had his great Church in honour of the Most Holy Mother of God built on this site and placed in it the miraculous icon of Our Lady that is now in the Cathedral Church at Vitebsk.

It was nicknamed "Church of the Tithe" as Volodymyr ordered his nobles to donate a tenth of all their wealth to the Church's construction and upkeep.

It was later destroyed by the Mongols or Tatars.

The site, as depicted above, will be preserved as an archeological site by order of President Kuchma of Ukraine.

They are planning to have a museum built on that site later.

My own view is that it is a shame that once the archeological work is done, a similar cathedral could not be built on the site with the original miraculous icon enshrined there once again.

For purposes of the construction, a tenth of all the wealth of the president and the government leaders could be extracted . . .

Alex

I don't know if a new Temple ought to be built on the exaxt same site, maybe next to the museum (of course dedicated to Ukraine's glorious Christian Kyivan past. It seems as though there might be space enough for both structures. And a tithe of government officials would ensure that the church would have sufficient funds to be completed in an expediant manner.

In Christ,
Adam

Dear Adam,

Why don't you know?

Alex

Can't read a word of it, but very interesting. Thanks!

Dear Pani Rose,

Why can't you read a word of it?

Alex

I can't read it either. That Northern Ukrainian dialect is pretty strange, don't you think.

hal

Dear Hal,

Don't be "a rushin'" to dismiss it!

Alex

Dear Alex:

I'm not. Just laughing at myself a little bit.

Parusing the English version of the web site, however, I found several articles about talks between the MP and the ROCOR.

We Ukes should take note and start talks between the UGCC, the KP and the UAOC all the sooner.

Yours,

hal

Dear Hal,

And which language should WE conduct that discussion in?

I understand from the "pravoslavie.ru" site that President Kuchma has said that Russian is not a "foreign language" for Ukrainians.

You better brush up on your Tolstoy, Big Guy!

God bless,

Alex

Pane Doktor:

I'm not sure how to take your last post, but I sense it is laced with a touch of ridicule.

Do you think I'm living a pipe-dream? Maybe I am, but isn't that what they told Patriarch Joseph when he stockpiled religious books in the basement of the UCU in Rome.

If I may borrow from Daniel Burnham: "Make no small plans."

As for the language, I'm all for preserving the Ukrainian language. Language is indeed one of the things that defines a culture. It would be a shame if only a handful of scholars could read Skovoroda, Franko and all the others in the original.

However, hypothetically, what if Ukrainian became like Gaelic? Would we be any less Ukrainian than the Irish are Irish? I dunno.

As for Kuchma, part of me wants to mention that he will be out of power soon enough. That aside, what was the context in which he spoke?

Was he saying that the Russian language is "native" to Ukrainian lands, i.e. it developed and was adopted there as the vernacular without political pressures?

Or was he indeed referring to the political realities that have supplanted Ukrainian with Russian just like English supplanted Gaelic in Ireland?

hal

Dear Hal,

He was speaking to a poll that showed that many citizens of Ukraine feel that Russian should be an official second language.

I was joking, not ridiculing, on that score.

I think our churches are already doing very well in Ukraine.

What unites them right now is that they don't seem to have a home where they are understood - except in each other's company.

And that is a good thing . . .

When IS Martha Stewart going to the Big House? Do you know?

Alex

Hmm.... seems there was a change of plans. I remember hearing earlier in the year that the government was considering rebuilding the church, not just turning the place into a 'dig' and museum.

Oυτις ημιν φιλει ου φροντιδα | Nemo Nos Diliget Non Curamus

Dear Kobzar,

You raise an important point!

This site is also very sacred as the site of the martyrdom of the early Saints of Rus' and also as the site of the shrine of the miraculous Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos.

The Zverynetsky Monastery in Kyiv is also subject to ongoing archaeological digs.

But the Church has enshrined the Saints it has found within it and it is under the care of the Monastery of St Jonah of Kyiv with services held etc.

Greetings with the Feast of the Nativity of our dear, sweet Mother, the Most Holy Theotokos!!

Alex

С праздником!

Oυτις ημιν φιλει ου φροντιδα | Nemo Nos Diliget Non Curamus

Here is the article in Ukrainian: Пре&a...;#1088;кви [risu.org.ua]

Oυτις ημιν φιλει ου φροντιδα | Nemo Nos Diliget Non Curamus