Dear Miller,
Canonized for nationalistic reasons?
You mean like the Roman Catholic Saint Raphael Kalinowski? Or a large number of others?
Let's not go there, O.K.?
St Peter Mohyla, for your information, was the Archimandrite of the Kyivan Caves Lavra, the Metropolitan of Kyiv and all Rus', someone who gave so much of his own great personal fortune to the cause of the Church, who gave up an aristocratic throne of his own to enter the Church, who brought the level of education and spirituality of the clergy up to snuff, who defended the Orthodox Church etc. etc. etc.
Miracles were attributed to him since his death and he was venerated in the Kyiv Caves Lavra as a saint for a few hundred years - with his canonization put off due to wars and, oh yes, the Soviet Russian revolution thingy . . .
As was that of St Arsenius Matsievich of Rostov.
The Ukrainians and Belarusyans especially have great national pride in St Peter Mohyla - after all, he gave so much to the Church of Kyiv despite the fact that he was a Moldavian . . .
Westerners seem to swallow this myth about the church and nationalism in the East.
There was no one more nationalistic than Pope John Paul II and the numbers of Polish saints he made - GOOD FOR HIM, I say!
As for that "nationalist" Orthodox Saint Simeon of Polotsk - he wrote the acathist to the Holy Name of Jesus.
And he probably borrowed the theme from the WEst . . . a nationalist AND a Latinizer, will it ever end?
Slava Ukrayini!
Alex
