1985: A LOOK BACK: Ukrainian Churches (12/29/85)

1985: A LOOK BACK

Ukrainian Churches

1985 was the year that preparations for the commemoration of Ukraine's Christian Millennium officially got under way with the establishment on March 23 of the National Committee on the Millennium of Christianity in Ukraine.

The ad hoc group, which was created on the initiative of the hierarchs of the Ukrainian Catholic and Orthodox Churches, is chaired by Dr. Yuriy Starosolsky of Washington.

Though the committee encompasses all segments of the Ukrainian community, it was the subject of a boycott when representatives of the Ukrainian Liberation Front refused to attend one of its meetings simply because the meeting was being held at the headquarters of the Ukrainian National Association.

The committee met several times during the year to chart a course of activity leading up to 1988, the year of the Millennium.

Many community leaders feared that the millennium would be used by the Soviet government and the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church to further their own ends, giving the millennium an all-Russian character and denying the legitimacy of Ukrainian celebrations in the West. Sovietologist Dr. Bohdan R. Bociurkiw said that even though Pope John Paul II had placed himself firmly on the side of the Ukrainian bishops on this issue, his position was being actively challenged by those within the Vatican who would rather see the Roman Catholic Church side with the Moscow-sponsored celebration of the Millennium.

Both the Ukrainian Orthodox and Catholic Churches "have been viciously attacked by the Soviets an by the Moscow Patriarchate, which, after a period of persecution, has in a sense been rehabilitated by the Kremlin as an integrating institution that bears close relationship to the Russian national cause, to the imperial legacy and to the imperial aspirations of the Soviet system," Dr. Bociurkiw told an audience gathered to hear his lecture in Washington.

1985 was also the year the Ukrainian Catholic Church was accorded the honor of having its spiritual leader named a cardinal by Pope John Paul II. Major Archbishop Myroslav Ivan Lubachivsky was one of 28 men elevated to the College of Cardinals in an outdoor ceremony held in the Vatican on May 25. The hierarch thus became the fifth Ukrainian Catholic cardinal in history. Soon after his consecration, Cardinal Lubachivsky visited numerous Ukrainian Catholic communities in the United States and Canada.

The new cardinal also met with President Ronald Reagan on June 20. The two reportedly discussed the state of the Church in the diaspora as well as the continued persecution of believers in the soviet Union, where the Ukrainian Catholic Church has been outlawed since 1946. The prelate was accompanied to the White House meeting by Metropolitan Stephen Sulyk of the United States.

In 1985 Ukrainian Catholics marked the first anniversary of the death of Patriarch Josyf Slipyj though special services in Rome, as well as many memorials worldwide. Over 500 faithful gathered on September 7 at St. Sophia Sobor in Rome to eulogize the late primate and reaffirm their belief in his pastoral testament. The Rome memorial observances continued through September 10.

Two weeks later, Ukrainian Catholic bishops from around the world met at a two-week Synod to focus on the needs and concerns facing their Particular Church, among them, the approaching Millennium, the persecution of faithful living in Ukraine under Soviet domination, a new code of canon law for the Eastern churches, the beatification of Servant of God Andrey Sheptytsky, vocations to the religious life, and the election of new bishops. The bishops also had an audience with the pontiff, who spoke to them in Ukrainian, showing his vast knowledge of the concerns and needs of Ukrainian Catholics worldwide.

Two months later, the head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, Cardinal Lubachivsky made an impassioned plea for the granting of a patriarchate to his Church when he addressed the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops of the Catholic Church on the first day of its meetings, November 25.

Speaking during the general session that day, Cardinal Lubachivsky noted that the Ukrainian Catholic Church, as an Eastern Church with its own laws, wishes to preserve its distinct identity. The status of the patriarchate for the Church is in keeping with Eastern traditions, and it serves the spiritual needs of the Ukrainian Catholic Church's faithful now and in the future, he said. The prelate also spoke of the underground Ukrainian Catholic Church in Ukraine, where no clergy or laity are permitted to function in any religious capacity.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church in 1985 ordained a new bishop for its faithful in the United States. Archmandrite Antony Scharba was elevated to the episcopate by Metropolitan Mstyslav Skrypnyk in elaborate ceremonies at St. Andrew's Memorial Ukrainian Orthodox Church in South Bound Brook, N.J., on October 6. Bishop Antony thus became the newest member of the Sobor of Bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - and at age 38, probably the youngest.

Metropolitan Mstyslav, accompanied by Bishop Antony, was among the 18 religious leaders who met for more than an hour with President Reagan on November 8.

The churchmen and the president reportedly exchanged views on human rights and other issues Mr. Reagan planned to raise at the summit meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. The situation in Ukraine and the Baltic states was among the issues specifically mentioned at the luncheon meeting.