NEW SPLIT AMONG UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX

KIEV, Nov 26, 02 (CWNews.com) -- Ukraine, which until recently had three groups claiming to represent the country's Orthodox population, now has a fourth.

A former deacon of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate (UOCK), who emigrated several years ago to the US, has returned to Ukraine to proclaim his role as "Metropolitan Moyisey of Kiev." The latest man to lay claim to the mantle of leadership among the Orthodox people of Ukraine says that he leads the Rightful Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox National Church. Until his sudden return to Ukraine, that body existed only as a small group in the US.

During a press conference in Kiev, Patriarch Moyisey said that his group is the only true Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The other bodies, he charged, are subject to "foreign influences." He further claimed that the Rightful Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox National Church was recognized in 1924 by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. And Moysiey said that the current Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew II, had appointed him as Metropolitan.

Those claims appear suspect on two counts. First, the leader of an autocephalous Orthodox Church would ordinarily be chosen by the hierarchy of that body, not by the Patriarch of Constantinople. Second, Patriarch Bartholomew II-- who has already brokered a tentative accord to unify two of the existing rival Orthodox groups in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and the Kiev Patriarchate-- would seem unlikely to sponsor another contender in an already crowded field.

Moyisey, in fact, claims that his mission is to achieve the unity of all Ukrainian Orthodox Christians- and indeed to bring Eastern-rite Ukrainian Catholics into the fold as well. So far the only unity his presence has sparked is that of the leaders of the three existing Ukrainian Orthodox bodies, who have shown an unusual harmony in their agreement that Moyisey's group is not canonical and should not be allowed legal registration in Ukraine. ! In the midst of the furor around Moyisey's claims, 234 members of the Ukrainian parliament, representing all parliamentary parties and factions, have set up a group called "A Single Orthodox Church for Ukraine." The members advocate the unification of the three Orthodox bodies currently operating in the country, and express the hope that once politicians have agreed on Church unity, the clergy will follow suit.

The parliamentarians' effort has an immediate logic, since the divisions among the Orthodox groups are primarily political and legal rather than doctrinal. But the prospects for any quick steps toward unity are bleak. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (in effect a survival of Soviet times), refuses to acknowledge either the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate (which broke away in 1992) or the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (established during the 1918-21 window of Ukrainian independence, and re-established shortly after Ukraine achieved independence in 1991).

The Moscow Patriarchate considers the other two groups schismatic, and maintains that the only way to unity is to reunite under Moscow. But the other groups are unwilling to submit to the Russian Orthodox Church, pointing to the Orthodox tradition of independence for national groups.

However, things may be changing. According to Les Tanyuk, a leader of the parliamentary initiative, the Moscow Patriarchate bishops in Ukraine are becoming "increasingly supportive" of a distinctly Ukrainian spirituality. Tanyuk says that the Moscow Patriarchate bishops have abandoned their policy of "politicizing and Russifying" the life of the Orthodox believers in Ukraine. But even Tanyuk see the possibility of a unified national Church in Ukraine as remote: "perhaps in 15 years time."

What about Ukranian Catholics?
The Soviet Union acted decisively to liquidate the Ukrainian Catholic Church. In April 1945, all its bishops were arrested, and the following year they were sentenced to long terms of forced labor. In March 1946, a "synod" was held at Lviv which officially dissolved the union and integrated the Ukrainian Catholic Church into the Russian Orthodox Church. Those who resisted were arrested, including over 1,400 priests and 800 nuns. Metropolitan Joseph Slipyj, the head of the church, was sent to prison in Siberia. He was released in 1963 and exiled to Rome. In the same year he was given the title Major Archbishop of Lviv of the Ukrainians. He was made a cardinal in 1965 and died in 1984.
Ukrainian Catholics also have a significant presence in Poland. When the Soviet Union "annexed" most of Galicia during World War II, about 1,300,000 Ukrainians remained in Poland. In 1946, the new Polish communist authorities deported most of these Ukrainians to the Soviet Union and suppressed the Ukrainian Catholic Church. Approximately 145,000 Ukrainian Catholics dispersed around the country were able to worship openly only in the Latin rite. Only in 1957 were pastoral centers opened to serve them.
In 1989 Pope John Paul II appointed a Ukrainian bishop as auxiliary to the Polish Primate. Bishop Ivan Martyniak was appointed bishop of Przemysl of the Byzantine-Ukrainian rite on January 16, 1991, thus providing Byzantine Catholics in Poland with their first diocesan bishop since the war. In the general reshaping of Polish ecclesiastical structures that took place in 1992, Przemysl was made a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Warsaw and removed from the metropolitan province of Lviv to which it had belonged since 1818. It was later made immediately subject to the Holy See. In 1996, Pope John Paul II elevated the Przemysl diocese to the rank of metropolitan see, and changed its name to Przemysl-Warsaw. At the same time, he created a new Ukrainian Catholic diocese of Wroclaw-Gdansk, making it a suffragan of the new metropolitan see of Przemysl-Warsaw. There are now about 85,000 Ukrainian Catholics in Poland.
There is a large diaspora of Ukrainian Catholics. In the United States there are four dioceses and 209 parishes for 121,000 members. The Metropolitan is Archbishop Stephen Sulyk of Philadelphia of the Ukrainians (827 North Franklin Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19123). In Canada there are five dioceses and 395 parishes with 174,000 faithful. The Metropolitan is Archbishop Michael Bzdel of Winnipeg of the Ukrainians (233 Scotia Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba R2V 1V7). The eight parishes serving an estimated 38,000 Ukrainian Catholics in Australia have been placed under the pastoral care of Most Rev. Peter Stasiuk, Bishop of Sts. Peter and Paul of Melbourne (35 Canning Street, North Melbourne, Victoria 3051). There is an Apostolic Exarchate for Ukrainian Catholics in Great Britain, headed by Bishop Michael Kuchmiak (22 Binney Street, London W1Y 1YN), with 14 parishes and about 17,000 members.
In the diaspora there are major Ukrainian seminaries in Washington, DC; Stamford, Connecticut; Ottawa, Canada; and Curitiba, Brazil. In addition, the Pontifical Ukrainian College of St. Josaphat has existed in Rome since 1897.
WEB SITE: http://www.ugcc.org.ua/ukr/
_______________________________________________________________________
And now you know the rest of the story.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.