Fr. Mykola Kvych, naval chaplain in Sevastopol, blesses Easter baskets in 2013. Credit: UGCC Information Department.
Posted on 03/19/2014 3:22:43 PM PDT by NYer
.- As the Russian president signed a bill to annex Crimea Tuesday, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in the peninsula has been experiencing what a Church official calls “total persecution.”
“At this moment all Ukrainian Greek Catholic life in Crimea is paralyzed,” Fr. Volodymyr Zhdan, chancellor of the Stryi eparchy in western Ukraine, told CNA March 18.
From 2006 to 2010, Fr. Zhdan served as chancellor of the Odesa-Krym exarchate, which encompassed both the mainland port city of Odesa and the Crimean peninsula.
Since late February the peninsula has seen the emergence of pro-Russian troops, who have taken control of its airports, parliament, and telecommunication centers.
Referring to the kidnapping of three Ukrainian Greek Catholic priests in Crimea by pro-Russian forces over the weekend, Fr. Zhdan stressed that one such case could be called a mistake, but that “multiple kidnappings are not an accident.”
On March 15 Fr. Mykola Kvych, a naval chaplain stationed in Sevastopol, was detained immediately after celebrating a “parastas,” a memorial prayer service for the dead. The following day Fr. Bohdan Kosteskiy of Yevpatoria and Fr. Ihor Gabryliv of Yalta were also reported missing.
Later that night all three were said to be alive and safe, with Fr. Kvych confirming that he had escaped to the mainland of Ukraine with the help of parishioners.
Fr. Kvych told the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church’s information department that he was held and questioned for eight hours by representatives of the Crimean self-defense force and Russian intelligence officers.
According to Fr. Kvych, they accused him of “provocations” and of supplying the Ukrainian navy with weapons. Fr. Kvych maintained that he helped organize the delivery of food to a blockaded naval base, and that he gave two bulletproof vests to journalists.
Upon seeing a Ukrainian flag at his home and portraits of Roman Shukhevych and Stepan Bandera – Ukrainian nationalists who fought against both the Nazis and the Soviets in the 1940s and 50s -- inside, Fr. Kvych’s captors accused him of being in the “SS Army,” a reference to Nazi Germany.
Followers of Bandera are colloquially called “Banderites,” a label that has been heavily circulated by Russian authorities and media in recent months and whose reported presence in Ukraine, many analysts say, has been used to justify Russian intervention in the country.
Fr. Kvych has been charged with “extremism,” which in the Russian Federation can carry a sentence of up to 15 years in prison.
Fr. Kvych does not know how the trial will be conducted, since the national status of Crimea is in dispute.
A referendum was held in the territory March 16 regarding union with Russia. Crimean authorities claim that 97 percent of voters favor seceding from Ukraine and joining Russia, and March 18 Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Crimean leaders signed a treaty declaring the territory absorbed by Russia.
Western nations and the government in Kyiv have condemned both the referendum and the annexation.
In addition to the arrests in Crimea, several other problems at Ukrainian Greek Catholic Churches throughout the country have been reported in recent days.
According to the Religious Information Service of Ukraine, an important 130-foot electrical cable was stolen from a small chapel in the Kherson region north of Crimea over the weekend. On March 15 a parish in Kolomyya was vandalized and another in Dora was burned to the ground, reportedly from arson. Both damaged parishes are in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, which borders Romania in the west of Ukraine.
In Crimea, clergy have received threatening phone calls and messages. At the home of one apprehended priest, a note was left that read this should be “a lesson to all Vatican agents.”
“This is not new,” Bishop Vasyl Ivasyuk, who served as Exarch of Odesa-Krym from 2003 to 2014, told CNA.
“During Soviet times, we were always accused of being ‘agents’ of the Vatican,” Bishop Ivasyuk continued. “Of course not all people in Crimea think we are spies, but there is a very active pro-Russian group there that does.”
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was heavily persecuted during the Soviet era; it was considered illegal, and operated completely underground until 1989.
“The Church emerged from the underground 25 years ago, having been the largest illegal church in the world for 45 years prior,” Bishop Boris Gudziak, Eparch of Paris, explained to CNA last month.
“The UGCC was the biggest social body of opposition to the Soviet ideology and totalitarian system. It was completely illegal, but in the catacombs, it was spiritually free because it was not collaborating.”
Bishop Ivasyuk confirmed that such freedom is important in Crimea, where the relationship between the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the local government has always been complicated.
“Many Crimeans respect the UGCC for not taking part in elections, for staying out of politics,” he said. “Our priests do not run for political office and this has granted them a kind of moral authority.”
Of the five priests normally serving Ukrainian Greek Catholics in the peninsula, two reportedly remain.
When asked their motivation for staying, Bishop Ivasyuk explained that they want to be with the people as long as possible.
“Life is the most important thing, so we shouldn’t go looking for the mouth of the lion … but we’ll stay with the people wherever they are.”
On March 18 the Department of Religious and Ethnic Affairs in Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture issued a statement condemning the persecution of clergy in Crimea.
“Recently, in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea cases of persecution of the clerics of various denominations have been documented. There has been an unprecedented violation of rights in the field of freedom of conscience and religion,” the statement read.
“We demand there be a stop to the practice of terror and for rights and liberties to be respected.”
With the signing of the Russia-Crimea treaty, it is unclear what will happen to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in the region. It is estimated there are roughly 5,000 Ukrainian Greek Catholics on the peninsula.
“What we saw this weekend was a disturbing signal of a future political direction,” Fr. Zhdan concluded.
ROFL!!!
No, not in regards to the persecution of the Ukrainian Catholic Church. I'm persuaded that it's real enough, and I am far from being a [Roman] Catholic apologist.
That said, the picture of the Ukrainian nationalist Bandera probably should have not been displayed, even within the guy's home.
Remember how in the book "On Wings of Eagles" the EDS employees being smuggled out of Iran had an Iranian traveling with them who would change out pictures on the dashboard of the car of whatever muslim cleric was most popular in whichever area they were in?
That was to mollify the armed "checkpoint" local militias.
We're seeing a similar sort of low order mentality in Ukraine and the Crimea, which could do with applying some of the same subtlety. It can work -- until it doesn't, as Jews who know history could tell us...
As it is written,
Not exactly. The Orthodox local Churches are heirs of long-since established patriarchates, that have complex hierarchies inside of them. So in Ukraine there is a local Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate and also Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate, and finally Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. Moscow Patriarchate has a strained relations with the first and it is likely to seek nourishment from the Patriarch of Constantinople.
The orthodox tradition is indeed that the local Church supports the local political power, unless it is under anathema. So it would be normal for Kievan Orthodox (MP) to support and pray for the government in Kiev and for the Ukrainian military even though their mother Church is Moscow supports and prays for Putin's government and RF army.
It is true that the bishops of the Orthodox Church do not wish to be considered a part of the Catholic Church for administrative reasons, and they often seek theological differences to justify the disunion. As the example of multiple Uniate Churches in Ukraine and elsewhere shows, there is no problem whatsoever for an Orthodox flock to join the Catholic Church and keep the entirety of their faith as it was before. The divisions are a product of the Orthodox lack of desire for unity.
Yes, — what I am saying is that the pro-Putin sentiment is, or was, common among conservatives of all confessions. Hopefully, at least the Catholics would know better after this crisis.
The problem is that nobody believes them that makes neither Catholic nor Orthodox.
In Serbia, there are very few of them , mostly Romanians . They do not have their own church , because neither Catholic nor Orthodox want to help them.
Now they are just in my city managed to get unused old Lutheran church .
Uniates , that is, the Greek Catholics , are very very isolated . Catholics do not consider Catholics and Orthodox Christians consider them as “ traitors “ . For example , neither Catholics nor Orthodox do not want and do not enter into marriage with them . Between them , Orthodox and Catholics regularly enter into marriage , and it is quite a regular occurrence . In addition, the problem is that Catholics - at least in Serbia - mostly Hungarians , who by the rule can not stand Romanians and Serbs on the other side who are supposed to be brothers in faith with Romanians - can not stand them because they Uniates .
Priemr that I know personally that the Uniate priest had problems needed to translate documents from Romanian into Serbian . When word spread that he Greco-Catholic , no one wanted to translate , he had to go to another city for a translation . The church was renovated , the problem is that iakos to find the money - I can not to find a contractor . Catholics and Orthodox Christians simply ignore them .
That is the most illogical thing I have read today.
Yes Putin has lied to me. So has the current administration. What is your point?
Putin could tell me nothing but the truth and that would not make him less a communist. Apparently you know nothing of the KGB and the brutal repressive ways that are the hall mark of the Soviet Union (formerly known as Russia). Apparently you are unaware of the current crack down on dissidents and Christians within Putin’s country. Apparently you are unaware of the intrigue that Putin is engaged in in South and Central America.
Either you are willfully ignorant or you are too busy listening to Alex Jones to have a clear understanding of what is happening
Yes to that post? “”There is some hard core Putin worship going on by some Catholics here though, and the reasons are a little scary.
Post 7 mentions the sentiment from some Catholics, a wish for regaining a state church.””
See the link in post 78 where the Catholics are mocking and attacking a minister from a conservative denomination, about Putin.
Our media is afraid to investigate our administration. Why? Because their sources are afraid of this administration. Why are they afraid? Because their communications are being monitored.
Our tax collectors were just caught targeting groups and individuals they continued to do so after the news had come out. The EPA is being used as a political weapon.
Our department of Justice is the epitome of injustice.
Is it as bad as Russia, probably not but our political class has their feet firmly on the accelerator, so hang on.
Never has their been a more corrupt administration, a more dishonest “American” president. Are they worried about being brought to justice? Nope.
What intrigue was involved in Libya? Was there a CIA annex in the Benghazi compound? Was it’s purpose to run guns to the Islamist radicals that were fighting in Syria?
Are Christians in the USA being harassed by our military on orders from on high? Are Christians being shamed into not speaking if they believe certain behavior is wrong?
Even if people aren’t being physically harmed or attacked by our administration, they are none the less under attack.
Just for a reality check.... this is NOT as bad as the Soviet Union (formerly known as Russia). The fact that you cannot see that speaks to a level of delusion that is dangerous.
Do things need to be changed in the US? Yes is the simple answer. And it is up to each one of us in a sober and logical manner to work our hardest to make that happen.
Hyperbole about the current state of affairs does not help
When the “S” hits the fan, seems Christians get the brunt of it. These Orthodox/Catholic wars are very sad and they point at cultural Christianity when it should be devout Christianity.
Not to be confused with 
.
I don't see any link. Yes, Russian Federation has a preference for Russian Orthodox Church written into law; I know a Baptist minister who had a difficulty preaching in RF. I can imagine that Putin might be admired for that by both Orthodox and Catholics, and certainly for his conservatism. Hopefully people will now see RF for what it is: an oppressive, anti-national (especially anti-Russian) dictatorship that equipped itself with a servile and corrupt church. Their conservatism is party simply the legacy of the USSR, -- which was conservative in a totalitarian sense, and partly a pose that they strike in the West.
Sorry, it was post 68.
You seem to get the point anyway, that desiring a state church, preferring Monarchy, and other things that America dreaded from mid 1800s immigration, is even here among us on this forum.
You made a good post.
Putin can rightly be faulted for many things, but it is a courageous stand he takes drawing a line in the sand on sodomy, in the face of Western pressure......
Reportedly, Russia (Putin) is restoring the former glory of the long gone Orthodox Catholic Church to the exclusion of all protestant efforts to establish there...
That's what started it? All these are true statements, notwithstanding the fact that RF can be all these things and yet be a dictatorial aggressor state and an enemy of the USA.
I am a monarchist and a nationalist. You can find monarchists among both Orthodox and Catholics (but you will have to look long). I don't know a single American monarchist though who does not understand that America rightly revolted against a distant British king as soon as America became a nation. That America did not have a suitable monarch is a historical fact; for a republic the USA did very well, at least prior to Roosevelt. Monarchy is a natural condition of a nation but it has to be developed organically; when you don't have it you don't have it.
Of course you missed the added spice of the many posts the moderator removed.
You are a monarchist, wow.
I have learned some unpleasant things here about Catholics.
Nonetheless, I hope that those Catholics will stop supporting Russia’s expansionism, for whatever reason, anytime we can win catholic Americans over to a conservative view, it is good.
Yes, absolutely.
By the way, nothing is as repulsive to a monarchist as a dictator.
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