BOOK NOTE: The quest for Ukrainian autocephaly (12/27/98)

BOOK NOTE

The quest for Ukrainian autocephaly

EDMONTON - With the publication of "Between Kyiv and Constantinople" by the Rev. Dr. Andre Partykevich, the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) at the University of Alberta has inaugurated a new series titled "Church Studies Papers."

The series is published by the Church Studies Program at CIUS under the auspices of an editorial board that includes program Director and series Editor-in-Chief Dr. Serhii Plokhy, series Managing Editor Myroslav Yurkevich, CIUS Director Dr. Zenon E. Kohut, and Jacyk Center Director Dr. Frank E. Sysyn.

The Rev. Dr. Partykevich's book, the full title of which is "Between Kyiv and Constantinople: Oleksander Lototsky and the Quest for Ukrainian Autocephaly," examines a subject of particular importance for contemporary Ukrainian Orthodoxy: the autocephalous status of the Church and relations with the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Central to this theme is the life and activity of Oleksander Lototsky (1870-1939), an eminent civic and ecclesiastical figure in Ukraine and among the emigrate community in Poland.

Mr. Lototsky was an active participant in the Ukrainian movement in the Russian Empire who was instrumental in helping to lift the ban on the Ukrainian language in 1905. In 1917, under the influence of patriotic Ukrainian circles, he was appointed commissar of the Provisional Government for Bukovyna and Pokuttia. Mr. Lototsky became minister of religious affairs in the government of Hetman Pavlo Skoropadsky (1918) and was involved in the Directory's proclamation of Ukrainian Orthodox autocephaly in January 1919. In the same year, he was appointed ambassador of the Ukrainian National Republic to Istanbul, where he devoted considerable effort to representing the cause of Ukrainian Orthodox autocephaly before the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

As an emigrant in Warsaw, Mr. Lototsky studied problems of Ukrainian ecclesiastical law and published a fundamental two-volume work, "Autocephaly," substantiating the right of Ukrainian Orthodoxy to independent development.

"Between Kyiv and Constantinople," the first work on Mr. Lototsky to appear in English, presents a detailed account of the history of Ukrainian contacts with Constantinople, a history largely forgotten, but now more important than ever before.

The publication of the Rev. Dr. Partykevich's book was made possible by a generous donation from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A. The book itself is dedicated to the memory of Patriarch Mstyslav (Skrypnyk) on the 100th anniversary of his birth.

As indicated in the acknowledgments, the suggestion of a work on Mr. Lototsky was made to the author by the late Prof. Bohdan Bociurkiw. It is highly appropriate that the Church Studies Program, established on the initiative of Prof. Bociurkiw, begin its new series with the publication of this particular work.

The Rev. Dr. Partykevich's study "Between Kyiv and Constantinople" may be ordered from the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 352 Athabasca Hall, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E8. The price of the paperback volume is $14.95. Please add $3 for postage and handling, or 10 percent of the total for orders over $30. In Canada, add 7 percent GST. Prices for customers outside Canada are in American dollars.

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