www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News Carptho-Ukraine: Conflict between Orthodoxy and Greek Catholicism

Question: are the Greek-Catholics buiding a church with the Roman Catholics or just some type of administrative complex ?

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Carptho-Ukraine: Conflict between Orthodoxy and Greek Catholicism

MOSCOW (Alexei Makarkin for RIA Novosti) - Relations between the Orthodox and Greek Catholic churches are rapidly worsening in Ukraine's Carpathian regions.

Dmitry Sidor, dean of the Orthodox Cathedral of the Exaltation of the Cross, has accused Greek Catholics - who retain Orthodox ordinances despite being subordinated to the Vatican - of unprecedented expansion in the traditionally Orthodox town of Uzhgorod, the diocesan capital. Orthodox believers are especially outraged at the impending construction of a Roman and Greek Catholic cathedral complex in the vicinity of the Orthodox one, saying it could spark interfaith confrontation in the town.

The conflict between the Orthodox believers and Greek Catholics (also known as the Uniates) in Ukraine dates back centuries. In 1946, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic church was outlawed by Stalin and went underground, to be legalized when Perestroika began. At the time, church resources in Western Ukraine were re-divided, with some switching back to Greek Catholicism voluntarily and some following grave conflicts and even violence. Only Carpathian regions remained untouched, and the Orthodox Church retained its dominance. Now this is under threat. In 2004, there were 10,310 Ukrainian Orthodox and 3,328 Greek Catholic congregations registered in Ukraine.

Normally, the Orthodox Church reacts to expansion with pickets and other acts of protest to the authorities. However, in this case, such measures would not be impressive enough for the European consciousness (Ukraine is a member of the Council of Europe) since the heart of the matter is only the construction of new churches, rather than the ejection of the congregation due to interfaith antagonism.

As far as contemporary secularist and relativist Europe is concerned, references to the historical background or the verity of faith look very archaic and out of touch with today's law and liberal principles of free competition among goods, ideologies and even faiths. Thus, Orthodox believers have opted for an unorthodox approach, by announcing they would erect a church of their own in downtown Uzhgorod, right in front of the Greek Catholic cathedral - tit-for-tat, while still observing democratic norms. Should the city authorities deny the Orthodox believers their right to build a church, they will be open to criticism for discriminating against one faith in favour of another.

The new church will be consecrated after St. Alexei Kabalyuk, a Carpathian icon. Kabalyuk was born into a Greek Catholic family but converted to Orthodoxy as a young man. He became a clergyman and played a major role in reviving orthodoxy in Transcarpathia in the early 20th century, and his missionary activities were persecuted by the Austrian-Hungarian authorities, who suspected Orthodox believers of pro-Russian sympathies. On the eve of WWI, Kabalyuk was sentenced to jail, and following his release was one of the leaders of the Carpathian Orthodox until his death in 1947. Naturally, he is an Orthodox hero, canonized in 2001, and an irreconcilable and successful - and hence dangerous - opponent for the Greek Catholics.

Naturally, interfaith confrontation is undesirable and has fatal consequences for the souls of the believers, who, instead of praying and fasting, get involved in violent conflicts often used by various political forces for their own ends. Most Ukrainian Greek Catholics voted for Viktor Yushchenko during the recent presidential election, while Orthodox believers preferred Viktor Yanukovich. However, when conflict goes too far, the forced yet peaceful response of local Orthodox believers looks quite reasonable and justified.

Andrei Makarkin is deputy director of the Center for Political Technologies.

"Dmitry Sidor, dean of the Orthodox Cathedral of the Exaltation of the Cross, has accused Greek Catholics - who retain Orthodox ordinances despite being subordinated to the Vatican - of unprecedented expansion in the traditionally Orthodox town of Uzhgorod, the diocesan capital."

Ah yes, Uzhorod that bastion of Orthodoxy where the Union of Uzhorod took place in 1646, residence of the Greek Catholic Bishop since 1780, and location of the Greek Catholic Seminary.

The Orthodox didn't reconstitute an Eparchy there until 1921. That is not to say that there weren't Orthodox there but to desscribe Greek Catholic Uzhorod as "traditionally Orthodox" is a stretch.

Fr. Deacon Lance

Dear Father Deacon Lance,

Unless, of course, you factor in the "Orthodoxy" imposed in 1946.

At that time, everyone was Orthodox . . .

How dare the Uniates parachute in from North America to reestablish Greek-Catholicism among an unwilling population!

Alex

To repeat my question: "does anyone know if the Greco and Latin Catholics are building a church OR an administrative complex together (or both) ?"

I.F.

I think you meant Atheism, not Orthodoxy, Alex. :-)

In Christ,
Deacon Nikolai

According to two Russian articles:
Сою&a...;#1088;оде [interfax-religion.ru]
Пра&a...;#1085;сии [interfax-religion.ru]
one reads of a joint Roman/Greco Catholic 'complex' but also a mention of 'churches'.

The Ukrainian translation on RISU:
Сою&a...;#1088;оді [risu.org.ua]
makes no reference to churches, just a "joint complex". OTOH the English translation:
Orthodox Union Protests Construction of Greek Catholic Church in Uzhhorod [risu.org.ua]
does mention a church.

Sadly, no clear answer. I also tried looking for a web site for the eparchy, but no luck. Perhaps this joint complex will include two separate churches. We'll just have to keep checking news reports...

Σώσον, Κύριε, καί διαφύλαξον η�άς από τών Βασιλιάνικων τάξεων!

Here's their website, but no news that I can see:

http://www.mgce.uz.ua/

Dave

According to this RISU article, it appears that they will be sharing a single church. Sounds like the fast road to Latinization.

I.F.

Nuncio Discusses Property Return with Transcarpathia Deputy Governor
30.06.2005, [23:52] // Church-state relations //

During his visit to southwestern Ukraine�s Transcarpathia region, Archbishop Ivan Jurkovic, apostolic nuncio to Ukraine, discussed the return of church property with Oleh Havashi, first deputy head of the Transcarpathia regional administration. carpathia.gov.ua posted the news on 21 June 2005.

Havashi stressed that the return of property to churches is difficult because many buildings are occupied by state institutions that belong to the ministries and state departments rather than the region. The regional administration, according to Havashi, has already requested that they look for new premises so that the buildings can be returned to religious communities.

In response, Archbishop Jurkovic emphasized the importance of taking turns in using church buildings. He also added that if religious conflicts cannot be solved, new land plots need to be allocated to communities in order to build churches. Finally, he thanked the new administration for openness and dialogue.

Archbishop Jurkovic consecrated a cornerstone for the Greek Catholic Church of the Mother of God and Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Family in Uzhhorod. The two churches will share the same building.

Thanks, Dave.

Σώσον, Κύριε, καί διαφύλαξον η�άς από τών Βασιλιάνικων τάξεων!

Huh? How do you hear that?

Thanks for the link Dave. My Rusyn is a bit rusty, so I asked my Ukrainian friends to translate it into English for me. There is no mention on this website of the new temple being a joint Greco and Roman Catholic church. The only mention of this is in the RISU news articles.

My Ukrainian friends had no idea that the financial situation in Zakarpattia was soo bad that the Greco and Roman Catholics had to build a church together. Some of them think that the UGCC "should just pass the hat around again here in North America" and help with the construction of their own church. A couple of hundred thousand bucks still goes a long way in Zakarpattia. They felt it was "vzhe pora !" Anybody have ideas about this ?

I.F.

I think that the site is in Ukrainian, not Rusyn. Also, they don't seem to do much updating in terms of news, photos, etc.

This is a very sad story. As an Orthodox Christian living in the "New World" of America, it seems that the Orthodox in the "Old World" (especially Russia and Ukraine) do nothing but complain about the existance of Catholic parishes in "their" countries. The Orthodox are the majority in Russia, and they complain about Roman Catholics erecting dioceses. The Orthodox are the majority in Uzhorod, and they complain when the Catholics build a complex in the same area as their cathedral (and I say that with all due respect to Fr. Sidor's work towards maintaining the Rusyn identity in that area). Sometimes I wonder exactly what they want. All Catholics in those areas to just disappear? Become Orthodox (by force if needed)? Hide under rocks? Call themselves Polish?

Dave

I STILL fail to see why Catholics, of any variety, are viewed as such are threat when there any numerous varieties of Protestants and Protestant-type cults that are viciously prostelytizing in Russia, Ukraine, and other parts of Eastern Europe. Focusing on Catholics seems to be a good distraction for these denominations to make inroads in these areas.

There is a Pentecostal church near me that has an active mission in Russia and sends much $$$, literature, and other supplies over there. One of the members maintains the pool at my condo. He has a 3 barred Cross hanging from the rear view mirror of his truck. When I asked him about it, thinking he was Orthodox, I got the whole story of his "church" and their mission. The crosses were sent from Russia as thank you gifts and are also distributed as part of the religious community's evangelization effort in Russia.

And Moscow is worried about Catholics???

Been thinking more about this, and I guess that I've come up with the fact that it's easier to fight the enemy that you know rather than the one that you don't know.

Notwithstanding some of the drama being exibited by the Orthodox bishop in Zakarpattia, there appears to be some sincerety in his statements.

If you look next door in Slovakia, the Ruthenians have been completely assimmilated by the Slovaks and their eparchy is no longer Ruthenian but Slovak. There has been a near complete Slovakization and Latinization of the Greek Catholics of Slovakia. Yet for whatever reason, the Greek Catholic eparchy of Mukachevo (Zakarpattia) has installed a Slovak national Latin rite Catholic (turned bi-ritual) as their bishop.

Now the Ruthenian Greek Catholics of Zakarpattia Ukraine have announced that they are building a church with the Roman Catholics. This is being clearly seen by the Orthodox as a further step to now Latinize and perhaps Slovakize the Zakarpattia region of Ukraine. It's only human nature on the part of the Orthodox to react this way, there has been no initiative on the part of the Greek Catholic Ruthenians to find common ground with their Orthodox brothers and sisters. Instead, the Greek-Catholics are seen as being assimmilated by the Latins.

IMHO, the Greek-Catholics in Zakarpattia are moving further from Orthodoxy. They should have built their own smaller church.

Can someone answer my question: "Why won't the UGCC just build it's own church (they have the money here in America for that) and let the Latins build their own ?" Building a commmon administrative complex is one thing, but the same church is a fast road to complete Latinization.

I.F.