FACES AND PLACES: Of friends and foes (07/08/01)

FACES AND PLACES

by Myron B. Kuropas

Of friends and foes

Let's begin with a pop quiz to refresh your memory.

1. Pope John Paul II, the leader of the largest Christian Church in the world, a man who helped bring down the evil Soviet empire, travels to Ukraine on a mission during which he:

a. emphasizes Christian humility, love, forgiveness, reconciliation, mutual understanding and unity; through a papal spokesman, he explains that his primary purpose is to pay tribute "to a Church which suffered in an indescribable way for years";

b. beatifies 28 martyrs for the faith, most of whom died horrible deaths at the hands of barbaric Bolsheviks; at the same time, he mentions Christians of other denominations who suffered for their faith, and concludes that "their joint martyrdom is a pressing call to reconciliation and unity";

c. celebrates the divine liturgy and speaks to the Ukrainian people exclusively in the Ukrainian language, recognizing in the process their existence as a separate nation; the pope's Ukrainian fluency is superior to that of many members of the Ukrainian Parliament, some of whom speak no Ukrainian;

d. urges Ukrainian youth to remain in Ukraine to help build a just society, emphasizing that Ukraine "is an integral and natural part of European society";

e. all of the above.

2. As a loyal supporter of Patriarch Aleksei II and the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine, you:

a. protest the pope's visit with signs, many in Russian, reading "Orthodoxy or Death" and "Defend Orthodoxy from the Pope, Forerunner of the Anti-Christ";

b. declare that Ukrainian Catholics "stole" Orthodox Churches, ignoring the fact that these same churches were Catholic churches prior to 1946; you allege that even today Russian Orthodox priests are "hounded and beaten," and Orthodox believers are "harassed, even killed";

c. dramatically block entrances to Kyiv's Monastery of the Caves and other Christian holy sites in order to prevent "desecration of sacred Orthodox ground" by the pope - this even though none of the sites were on the pope's itinerary;

d. suggest that the pope's secret mission is to somehow force faithful Orthodox into the Catholic fold against their will;

e. all of the above.

3. As an "objective" member of the press corps, you:

a. report that the papal visit to Ukraine is "controversial," "stormy," "disappointing" and "contentious," alluding to the "holy war" between Catholics and Orthodox in Ukraine; you hardly mention the fact that although the Russian Patriarch controls most of the Orthodox churches in Ukraine, there are also two truly Ukrainian Orthodox groups whose leaders welcomed the pope's visit;

b. dramatically emphasize the pope's and Rabbi Yaakov Bleich's visit to Babyn Yar, where some 200,000 Jews and "others" (Ukrainians are rarely, if ever mentioned) were killed by the Nazis, while practically ignoring the pope's visit to Bykivnia where up to 300,000 Ukrainian victims of Stalin were murdered and secretly buried;

c. obliquely suggest, especially if you are a correspondent for The New York Times, that Cardinal Lubomyr Husar's apology for "certain sons and daughters of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church (who) consciously and voluntarily did evil things to their neighbors, both to their own people and to others" was really about Ukrainian Catholics joining the "infamous Galicia Division of the Nazi SS" as well the "mass murder of Jews";

d. suggest, as did Patrick Cockburn in an article in the British newspaper The Independent, that "The pope's embrace of the Greek-Catholics ... will cause controversy because of the Church's role in the second world war," specifically the actions of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky "who was accused by Russia of supporting the German occupation and a locally recruited SS division, the Galicia" (the article was titled "Pope upsets Ukraine by beatifying priests with Nazi links");

e. all of the above.

If the pope's visit did nothing else, it clearly identified Ukraine's friends and foes. If you answered "all of the above" for the three questions, you should have a pretty good idea of who they are.

One of Ukraine's best friends is Pope John Paul II, who speaks better Ukrainian than President Kuchma, certainly better than Aleksei II, who doesn't speak Ukrainian at all and, like President Kuchma's wife, has no intention of learning it. The pontiff's visit provided positive coverage of Ukraine at a time when Ukraine needs it most. "Land of Ukraine, drenched with the blood of martyrs, thank you for the example of fidelity to the Gospel which you have given to Christians the world over," the pontiff said during his visit. What greater endorsement can any nation get?

Although we are gaining friends in the Western media, far too many correspondents and media mavens are foes, some because they are too lazy to conduct research, a few because of malevolence and a few who will side with Russia no matter what.

As always, however, Ukraine's most destructive enemies are the agents of Russian imperialism and their cohorts, Ukrainian Communists and Russian Orthodox leaders who want to return the Ukrainian people to Moscow's bosom. In their eyes Ukraine has always been an integral part of Mother Russia and has no business being free and independent.

We know that President Vladimir Putin is working hard to bring Ukraine back. So is Ukrainian Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko who bitterly accused unspecified forces (read the West) of exploiting the pontiff's visit to drive Ukraine and Russia apart. And so is that benevolent "Christian," decorated former KGB agent Patriarch Aleksei II and his rabid followers in Ukraine. During the papal visit to Ukraine the patriarch was in Belarus, conferring with President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, condemning the Union of 1596, and urging a new Slavic Orthodox unity of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. Should we be surprised?

The pope's visit was a learning experience for all Ukrainians, here and abroad. Hopefully, it was also an eye-opener for those members of the Roman curia who still labor under the delusion that meaningful dialogue with the likes of Patriarch Aleksei II is possible.

Myron Kuropas' e-mail address is: mbkuropas@compuserve.com.

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