www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News Difficulties for Orthodox in the Western Ukraine

05 October 2007, 17:00
Lvov's Orthodox communities forced to worship in huts, industrial buildings, and private
apartments - weekly

Moscow, October 5, Interfax - Lvov's Orthodox communities are forced to worship in huts,
industrial buildings, and private apartments as they are not allowed to build normal
churches.

For instance, a suburb Orthodox community constructed a little church for only forty
worshippers out of plywood production waist, Argumenty i Fakty weekly reports.
According to the believers, a bigger Orthodox church `would be immediately burned or
undone by the schismatic-led gangs.'

Former kinescope factory's one-floor building harbors another Orthodox place of worship
called `the guerilla church' by the local people. The factory has sold the building to a local
businesswoman, so the church is actually her property.

`If you ask people in Kosovo whether they are persecuted, they would probably say that
they are not persecuted nor allowed to live normally. Our situation is same,' Archbishop
Augustine of Lvov and Galicia told the daily.

St. George's church is the only normal Orthodox church in Lvov. However it is too small for
its large congregation so many people have to worship outdoors listening to the singing
and prayers through the amplification system.



Alexandr

Well at least this time Archbishop Augustine is not trying to blame the Greek-Catholics. As to the other Orthodox judicatories, his difficulties with them are not of our making.

The economy of Ukraine, as is no secret, is in some trouble, which may well mean that Archbishop Augustine's congregations find it difficult to raise the funds to purchase land and build a church. As it happens, the Moscow Patriarchate has some parishes in the USA and Canada where the faithful are of Galician origin, so perhaps Archbishop Augustine might try appealing to them for material assistance.

If a group from America were to be seen to take an ongoing interest in a specific parish in Galicia, with frequent visits and so on, that could serve to discourage those who might be tempted to resort to improper means to express their displeasure at the presence of a Moscow Patriarchate church in their midst.

Meanwhile, I'd be inclined to suggest that Archbishop Augustine compile a dossier of specific, witnessed instances of attacks on his parishes and/or church edifices, including as much evidence as possible (dates, places, photographs, affidavits, etc.). Such a dossier could be submitted to such places as the Jubilee Campaign, ecumenical bodies, and so on. In compiling such a dossier, one must take care to avoid slander and libel, and appeals to emotionalism - facts, presented drily, are much more convincing.

Fr. Serge

Not sure what is meant by "normal" but St. George is really the only Orthodox church in Lvov?

FYI.

The locals spell it Lviv. Russians claim it and spell it "Lvov". Poles claim it, and spell it "Lwow" (with a slash thru the "L"-pronouncing it something like "woof"). The Austrians referred to it as Lemberg when it was part of that empire. What is called "Galicia" by Poles and Russians is referred to as "Halychyna" by Western Ukrainians. Since Ukraine is now a sovereiegn nation, the least we can do is to refer to it's regions and cities by the names which are officially accorded to them.

Dn. Robert

How the worm has turned. Just a few years ago, when Western Ukraine was part of the USSR, it was the Greek Catholics who were forced to worship in private homes, or out in the woods. The Moscow Patriarchate is still seen by many to have been part of the whole Soviet scheme of things. It is going to take some time to heal that wound. A neighbor of mine is an OCA seminarian. He went to Zakarpatia this summer with the local parish deacon, who goes over there every year to distribute goods to the poor. Even amongst Moscow Patriarchal Orthodox in the region, there is lingering anti-Russian sentiment (associating "things Russian" with bad memories from the USSR days). The seminarian tells a story of being in a taxi cab with a couple of local MP clergymen and laity. The cab driver began to speak Great Russian. They shut him right out of the conversation, after answering in modern Ukrainian.

Dn. Robert

Let's refer to the city as Leopolis - the Latin name! That way we don't favour anyone.

I don't know the Latin name for Galicia though...

The schismatic-led gangs react against the "Russian influence" the Orthodox church would bring?

I have only read surveys which included the history of Ukraine from 1920-1950, does this history have an influence on the attitudes in Western Ukraine?

Terry

Alternatively, one could use versions of the same name which are popular in other countries - "Louisville" comes to mind!

More seriously, "Galicia" is a very old name and well worth preserving, since it recalls the early presence of the Celts in that district. One can easily use "Halychyna" in Ukrainian and "Galicia" in English, since etymologically both are the same word.

Fr. Serge

My next trip, I plan on spending some time in Lvov, and see exactly what is happening for myself. Stay tuned for an on-the-scene report coming your way soon!

Alexandr

The fact is that the Orthodox have all the churches that were Greek-Catholic before 1939, except for St. George's Cathedral and the Transfiguration Church. Greek-Catholics (the majority in the city) were given former Roman Catholic churches after 1990. The total number of Orthodox churches in the city centre is around 5 (versus around 2 Roman Catholic and probably 10 Greek Catholic).

The problem is that the Orthodox are so divided that there are at least three Orthodox bishops in that city who are not in communion with each other. While Archbishop Avgustyn (Augustine) is a good Christian bishop in that he leads prison ministry, is a military chaplain, and is involved both in the life of his cathedral parish and in the life of his Church as a whole (UOC-MP), he can easily lose credibility by openly yelling at the choir or parishioners during services and by making ridiculous claims that the Lviv synod conducted in 1946 by the committee led by Fr. Gabriel Kostelnyk was canonical and legitimate.

If you ask UOC-KP Metropolitan Andrei (Horak) or UAOC Archbishop Peter (Petrus), both of Lviv, they will tell you that they have the same problems as the Greek-Catholics and the Roman Catholics.

Thus, the problem is really only between the UOC-MP and the other Orthodox. If you have any doubts about this, just look at what is going on at the Orthodox-Catholic dialogue over Estonia.

Metropolitans Andrei (UOC-KP) and Peter (UAOC) are not Orthodox, but rather schismatics.

Alexandr

What is preventing the KP and UAOC from coming together?

Perhaps a modicum of caution is appropriate. The divisions within Orthodoxy in Ukraine are certainly painful, and must eventually be resolved. We have recently had the joy of witnessing a reconciliation between the Moscow Patriarchate and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia; twenty years ago that seemed impossible. Who knows what the future holds for Orthodoxy in Ukraine? The present situation cannot continue indefintely, and an intransigent insistence that Moscow, and Moscow alone, holds the key is not particularly helpful.

I don't claim to have the answer. I do assert that patience, trust in God, and an eirenic approach are apt to accomplish more than anathemas and condemnations.

Another example: there was a vicious, terrible split in the diaspora of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Patriarch Pavle, with the active help of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, succeeded in reaching a healing (which involved a judcious use of economia) - and pointed out during the reconciliation Divine Liturgy that there is only one Victor: the Lord Jesus Christ, Who descended even to Hell to find His brothers, and there is only one who is vanquished, the ancient enemy of mankind who set Cain against his brother Abel.

Fr. Serge

Please do give us your impressions of Lviv. My pastor is going there in early November, after an initial stop in Kyiv. He visited the same cities, along with Uzhorod/Mukachevo about five years ago (having relatives in both Halychyna and Zakarpatia). One thing that impressed him about Lviv was that the only noise one would hear on Sunday mornings was the shuffling of the feet of those on their way to Church!

In Christ,
Dn. Robert

In the late Soviet period, while the Churches were certainly filled, there was also another audible noise: the sound of radios tuned to the Vatican to enable people to listen to the Divine Liturgy.

Fr. Serge