www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News Our Liturgy Jan. 23rd in Kholm Cathedral!

Ukrainian Greek-Catholics celebrated on Friday
January 23rd 2004 Divine Liturgy in their former
cathedral in Kholm (Xol'm, Chelm):

http://www.dziennikwschodni.pl/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040123/CHELM/40122009

The article's in Polish, but a great picture of
the cathedral - at Present Roman Catholic Basilica
Minor - happily not.

deacon Peter

Postscriptum: My pastor was main celebrant and I
performed deacon's duties. Unfortunately, a picture with us was published in paper version only.

Slava Isusus Khrystu !

Pryvitaju vas otetz Petre do tzojo vebsaijtu.

In what year did the Kholm eparchy of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church accept the Union of 1596 with Rome ?

did the bishop accept it before before his official declaration ?

From what regions of present day Poland, Ukraine, or Slovakia do the parishoners come from ? (example: Kholmshyna, Lemkyvshyna, Halychyna, Priashivshyna, etc...)

Does the church you have shown have a byzantine decor inside ?

Are there any chances the church will be returned to the Greek Catholics, or is this another situation similar to that of Peremysl ?

I'm glad to see that the church is affirming itself on traditional Greek Catholic soil. When our youth groups were guests of the Vatican in 1988 (for the cellebration the Millinnium of Christianity in Ukraine-Rus) the Holy Father John-Paul II paid special attention to our pilgrims from Poland. This was the very first time they had travelled outside of the 'iron curtain'. The youth group choir from Poland was encouraged by the Pope to remain true to it's Greek Catholic faith.

Are young people returning to the Eastern rite church or has there been no change ?

If memory serves me correctly, the Eparchy of Kholm accepted the Union of Brest in 1596. In 1875 it was forcibly aggregated to the state Church of Imperial Russia. After World War I rather more than 30 parishes returned to Greek-Catholicism, only to meet with a fresh persecution after World War II. At present one functioning parish remains of the Eparchy of Kholm: Saint Nicetas the Martyr, Kostomloty.
Congratulations to Father Stefan and Father Peter. Now when do we get the Cathedral back on a permanent basis?
Incognitus

I think that the whole return of church property thing is like a big chess game. You give us one of ours, and we give you one of yours. Of course with the massive forced population exchanges after WW2 between these countries, there may not be a need (or justification) any longer for the return of churches. This is sad but true - for all peoples / churches. Some, or perhaps even most, of the churches will remain in the hands of their current 'owners'. However, this is a good start for the Khelm Eparchy of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

Slava naviky! Vitaju Vas!

ALL Bishops of Kyivan Metropolitanate had signed
"Articles" and letter to the Pope (June 1595).
Only two of them had withradwn their signatures:
Michael of Peremyshl and Gedeon of Lviv.
Bishop Dionysius of Kholm remained in Union
with Rome. The eparchy was only temporary regained
by the Orthodox after Zborivs'ka uhoda (1650), but
after battle of Berestechko (during which the Uniate Bishop of Kholm Jacob Susha was present in King's camp with miracolous Icon of Theotokos) it
returned to the Uniate Church.
Of course, it's unaccurate to name Church of 1595/6 "Greek-Catholic".

Which parishioners do you mean? Did I write about
any Greek-Catholic parish in Kholm?

Of course not. It has been Roman Catholic since
1919 - with a short break in 1940-44, when the Orthodox Archbishop of Kholm and Podlachia Hilarion (Ivan Ohiyenko) had his cathedral there.

Situation in Peremyshl is COMPLETELY different.
There has been always a strong
community there,
liturgical life without break since 1957, Basilians and sisters of three Orders (six religious houses!) and so on.
In Kholm our Church was destroyed in 1875. Attempts to restore her after 1915 (end of Russian
Tsarist power on that territory)
met resistance from both
Polish authorities and Latin hierarchy.
Only in 1915-1918, perhaps, a Greek-Catholic
chaplain of Austrian troops celebrated in St.
Nicholas church.

I am glad too. BTW, it was my own idea to
celebrate Divine Liturgy in Kholm Cathedral at
130th
anniversary of death of Pratulin Martyrs.
It was probably the first Greek-Catholic Liturgy
in that church since 1875 - one or a few Liturgies
in Russian Synodal Rite excluded.


Not true. Such groups travelled to the West even
earlier (since 1983 I suppose) and some individuals, undoutbtly, went there even before that.

It's a complex issue. It depends on a given parish, i.e. pastor himself, his ability to attract people and so on. We in Lublin have a
brilliant pastor and our parish is vibrant. We plan also to try to restore our liturgical life in
Kholm. But generally one must realize that
identity of our
Church (UGCC) should be based on 1) the fact that
UGCC is a Church of Christ, not a secular organization, 2) Ukrainian (Kyivan) version of
Byzantine Rite rather than Ukrainian ethnicity.
If the Church is Ukrainian ethnic club, she has
no chance to maintain Polonised Ukrainians or
attract non-Ukrainians (mainly Poles, of course,
but often with Ukrainian ancestry, especially
in Kholmschyna and Podlachia).

deacon Peter

Your memory serves you absolutely correctly.

Those parishes didn't return to the "pristine"
Greek-Catholicism, but accepted so-called neo-Union, i.e. Russian Synodal Rite Catholicism
under jurisdiction of Latin Bishops.
They were persecuted (and mostly liquidated)
mainly DURING WW2. Only a handful remained to the
end of war.

...with a website at:

http://www.kostomloty.prv.pl

Of course, parish of Kostomloty remains under
Latin jurisdiction and retains Synodal Rite.

Quote

Congratulations to Father Stefan and Father Peter. Now when do we get the Cathedral back on a permanent basis?

Thanks for the congratulations. We're really
glad indeed that our idea succeeded. We hope
to make such a celebration an annual event in
the Cathedral, but there are no chance to regain
the church. We think about restoring our liturgical life in Kholm but on another basis.

deacon Peter

Deacon Peter,

How very well put!

I say we take up a collection and bring Deacon Peter over here to explain these facts to those who would maintain our churches as hide-bound centers of ethnic identity.

Many years,

Neil

Well, you understand the issue properly. Many
churches won't return to their pristine
owners, and this is equally true for Poland, Ukraine, Byelorussia and so on. Our Church in
Ukraine uses hundreds of former RC churches,
the Orthodox use former ours...
Regarding eparchy of Kholm: in 19th century all
Greek-Catholics of Polish Kingdom (so-called "Congress Kingdom") and Free City of Cracow belonged to it. According to the present-day status, it would do five parishes (Lublin,
Warsaw, Cracow, Lodz plus Kostomloty) with a few
hundred of active parishioners...

deacon Peter

Deacon Peter,

That would be under the Ordinariate for Faithful of the Oriental Rites - which includes all Eastern Catholics in Poland, except the Ukrainians, correct?

Many years,

Neil

Well, I'd visit America with pleasure.

Let us be frank: I am Ukrainian, speak Ukrainian
quite fluently and so on. I am not against the
Ukrainian character of the Church, but it's obvious that it shouldn't be obstacle for anyone
to feel in a church like in God's house.
For instance, we in Lublin have services and
sermons in Ukrainian, but we don't exclude non-Ukrainians who come to our Liturgy, Nativity and
Easter meetings and other activities.

And one should also remember that one can be
non-Ukrainian and good member of the UGCC at the
same time. Let's read Metropolitan Andrew Sheptyts'kyi's pastoral letter to Greek-Catholic
Poles of May 16th 1904!

Most important excerpts are here:

http://www.mateusz.pl/goscie/grekat/szept.html

deacon Peter

Correct. However, the faithful are of Ukrainian
ethnicity, but the parish is of Synodal Rite
(the same Rite from which Martyrs of Pratulin
defended their church in 1874!).

deacon Peter

Dear Neil,

I must agree that in some ways our churches are 'ethinic clubs' which are in many parts of North America tightly bound to our other nationilistic organizations. Given the complete distruction at the end of WW2 of the Greek Catholic and Orthodox Churces in Ukraine, there was a necessity for creating these 'ethnic clubs".

At the end of the war our churches were forcefully absorbed by the Russian Orthodox Church (ie: at gunpoint), most of our bishops murdered, thousands of priests and nuns send to concentration camps, and hundreds of thousands of people deported to Siberia for long periods of forced labour, many never returning home. My familly members fall into each of the mentioned groups.

At the end of the WW2 there were also several hundred thousand young people who made it to the west via the DP camps of Germany. Many came to the west not because they were seeking a better economic life but rather because they sought to build a platform on which Ukraine could re-establish herself as a country, free of the Russian Communist's Godless ideals.

These men and women built a strong Ukrainian identiy in exile so that when the time came, we had exactly the scholarly, economic, political, and financial resources needed to re-establish a Ukrainian nation in which our Greek Catholic and Orthodox Churches could survive.

There was much success in our hard work over the last generations, including: establishment of chairs of Ukrainian studies in many universities (ex: Harvard, University of Toronto, etc...), banks with a total of billions of dollars in assets, corporations, youth groups, summer camps, museums, and as I mentioned in another post about 10,000 organizations in which any member could find a place to "call home".

Did we succeed ?

We have a country, but still a lot of work ahead of us. For example, by reading Archimandrite's Gregory's post last Friday concerning the canonicity of Patriarch Filaret of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, I realized that there are still many here in the West who do not understand what power and negative influence the Soviet Russian Communist (turned Republic 'businessmen-mafiosa') establishment has on the newly established Ukrainian nation.

Fortunately, at senior government, intellectual, and scholarly level here in the west, the tide has turned for the better for Ukraine. There are many positive examples at the individual level also.

Our North American churches, cultural, financial, scholarly, and other institutions were established and funded with the hard work of generations of Ukrainians, with an ultimate goal of re-establishment of all the above in an idependant Ukraine. They will continue with this being their primary goal.

Is this heretical ? I do not think so.

When I read your comments concerning our church as being an 'ethnic club' I sence negativity. Perhaps you should first study the history of Ukraine, including, the parts relating to genocide by the Russian communists in 1932-1933, the complete destruction our churches and institutions of higher learning by the agents of Moscow. Millions and millions of people in the past century alone have died trying to establish a Christian democratic society. Once you have read even the basics, you will rapidly understand that our 'ethinic clubs' are not heretical, but quite Christian. Let me give you an example:

My father and his brother both suffered during the war. My father took three NAZI bullets to his left leg and my uncle was deported to Dachau. Both survived the war and emigrated to Canada, but for different reasons. My uncle wanted a better economic life with not a care in the world about the people he left behind in the hell of Russian Communism - Satan's 20th century evil on earth . He married a German and attended a RC church a couple times a year with his wife. He didn't care one iota to be part of an ethnic club, and was happy to be part of a universal 'Canadian' church.

My father wanted to return to Ukraine at the end of the war, but was councilled not to because being a young man his chances of survival would be very slim (immediate deportation to Siberia or 10 years forced conscription in the Soviet army with a high probability of having to commit fratricide, or etc...). Also, he had been told that they needed young people in the west to build a government, church, (etc..) in exile - and so they did. They dedicated themselves to re-establishing all that the Communists destroyed. They gave their lives to re-establish their churches, educational, cultural organizations.

So, I must know ask you this question Neil:

When my father and his brother come to meet their maker, and the conversation goes something like this, who will be judged as a heretic ?

GOD:

My son Nykola, (my uncle) what did you do to help your brothers and sisters when the godless communists destroyed all that was sacred and important to them ?

Brother Nykola:

Nothing. I enjoyed the good life here in North America, and I attended a non-heretical church (not ethinic club) a couple times a year. I turned my back on my familly and country in need, but hey - I was not heretical !


Brother Hritzko (yup,I'm named after my father):

I spent my life trying to re-established a true Christian church, culture, and identity for my people so that they could lift their heads and affirm themeslves as worthy children of God. I gave up the chance of starting a business and becoming wealthy and istead gave every last bit of myself to help my friends and familly in Ukraine raise themselves from the yoke or Russian Communism. I gave my life for that others could eventually live better in a true church.

Neil, you certainly know much more about theology than me, but do you really think God will judge the two of these men as follows;

Nykola - Christian
Hritzko - Heretical

IMHO - You are far more of a Christian when you can think about helping others before yourself. I pray that God has mercy on both of them (my uncle passed away 10 years ago) because both were / are two of the nicest people I have ever met on this earth.

Further the Rusyn question must also be asked: why do you think that that the vast majority of Ruthenians (Rusyns) comming from Eastern Europe are joining the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Churches when they arrive here and not the Ruthenian or Slovak ones ? The answer is simple: to these newly arrived immigrants a disassociation from ones Slavic ethnicity and countries in light of the dire situation of our churches in Eastern Europe is.... well let's just say not right.

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church contrary to what you may think, is open to all. But perhaps you should take a different approach. Ask not what your UGCC church can do for Americans such as yourself who have had easy lives, but what you can do for the UGCC to better the lives of those in dire need of assistance and true revangelization abroad.


Just a thought.

Dear Father Deacon Peter,

I think many Ukrainians would respond to your comment about Ukrainian ethnicity that not only is our Church "Latinized" but also "Polonized" and needs some cultural reawakening too.

I wouldn't say that, but I know Ukrainians who would.

I wouldn't even THINK about saying that, no, never, you have to believe me . . .

Alex

The Poles do make pretty good Vodka you know.
Lauro

hmmmmmmmm do you happen to mean the Russian Orthodox Church??