LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (08/11/02)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

An explanation regarding UOC

Dear Editor:

In the letter to the editor titled "Religious matters: some observations" Oksana Bakum discusses a wide variety of religious subjects (June 30) most of which do not require any comments. But her attempt to equate a quoted letter by one member of the Metropolitan Council (MC) of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A. (UOC-U.S.A.) as the expression of the policy of that Church is not based on the facts and it should be corrected.

Being a member of the Metropolitan Council and an active participant in the discussions on the policy of the UOC-U.S.A. toward the Orthodox Churches in Ukraine, I can present the facts as follows.

After the death of Patriarch Mstyslav, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Ukraine split into two Churches: the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP) headed by Patriarch Filaret and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) headed by Patriarch Dymitrij. The UOC-U.S.A. at the beginning did not want to take sides in hope that these two Churches would soon unite. But time passed and the Churches in Ukraine, instead of uniting, have further drifted apart.

Some members of the Metropolitan Council were pressing for a revision of the UOC-U.S.A. policy toward the churches in Ukraine and, instead of being neutral to both Churches, proposed giving full support to the UOC of the Kyiv Patriarchate.

Letters by individual members expressing their own views were circulated among all members of the Metropolitan Council before a scheduled session of that body. The quotation given by Ms. Bakum was part of a letter by one council member who participated in that discussion. The author of that letter stated the reality that the Orthodox world consider the Church of Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan), the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate the only canonical church in Ukraine at that time. This was never intended to be understood as the personal opinion of that council member, but merely as a statement of fact within the realm of world Orthodoxy. This opinion was never adopted as the policy of the UOC-U.S.A. by its Church Sobors, Sobors of Bishops or the Metropolitan Council.

At the next session of the Metropolitan Council that took place on January 16, 1998, in South Bound Brook, N.J., none of the circulating letters were considered. Instead the discussion was centered on the introduced motion which read as follows:

"The Metropolitan Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A. after serious discussion about the present Church and religious situation in Ukraine, believes that during this critical time of striving for one Church the best way to resolve this is for all local Churches of Ukraine to unite under one Patriarchate of Kyiv and all Rus'-Ukraine. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A. hereby declares its support to a Patriarchate of Kyiv and all Rus'-Ukraine in all her endeavors to confirm herself as the traditional, historic center of Ukrainian Orthodoxy."

After a heated discussion, the above motion was accepted unanimously. Voting in favor of this motion also was the author of the letter quoted by Ms. Bakum.

Patriarch Filaret was duly informed about this change of policy of the UOC-U.S.A. giving full support to the Church of Kyiv Patriarchate. Unfortunately the Holy Synod of the UOC on May 29, 1998, decided to accept parishes which were in the jurisdiction of the UOC-U.S.A. into the jurisdiction of the Kyiv Patriarchate. This decision created friction between these two Ukrainian Orthodox Churches which exists to this day.

As to the Orthodox Church headed by the Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan) the UOC-U.S.A. considers that Church since its creation in Kharkiv in 1992 and to this day to be an exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine. That opinion is also shared by Ecumenical Patriarch and all Orthodox Churches not controlled by the Moscow Patriarchate.

Michael Heretz
Rutherford, N.J.

Why no response from Galicia vets?

Dear Editor:

As a longtime subscriber to your newspaper, I would like to express my appreciation for your thorough and professional publishing and editing of the best Ukrainian newspaper in North America. This is a fact and not a compliment.

This letter is in regard to my previous letter, defending the Ukrainian Galicia Division.

I was surprised and quite disappointed that my letter was the only letter to the editor on this matter. Don't the former members of our division realize that the fight with words is a continuation of our fight with guns against the enemies of free independent Ukraine? The slanderous statement of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles - which read in part, "those who volunteered to fight on the side of Germany and Hitler are the moral equivalent of Bin Laden and the terrorist cells of Al Qaeda" - is not only insulting to the members of our division but is a dangerous insinuation that the members of our division who live now in the United States and Canada are dangerous enemies of these two countries, which are most friendly toward Ukraine.

This "new" campaign against our division is only part of a much greater conspiracy-like attempt to discredit before the American and Canadian societies, and especially their media (newspapers, TV and radio), of everything Ukrainian and thus to facilitate the reconquering of newly independent Ukraine by its eternal enemy: the new "democratic" Russia, and its predecessors, the Soviet Union, tsarist Russia and Muscovy.

Thus, it is very puzzling to me that members of our division, who so valiantly fought the Soviet Red Army with guns, risking and very often sacrificing their young lives to protect the freedom of Ukraine, fell so silent now that the battle continues with words. Is it a case of being tired of the fight? Or is it (I hope not) the famous Ukrainian proverb: "Moya khata z krayu-ya nikoho ne znayu" (i.e. this does not concern me directly).

Whatever the reasons for the silence, it not only will encourage our enemies to continue their slanderous campaign against all Ukrainians before the U.S. and Canadian societies but also will lead to sorry affairs like the continuous, unjustified attacks on 81-year-old John Demjanjuk, attempts at expulsion from Canada of Wasyl Odynsky, etc. Remember: "United we stand, divided we fall," or our own Ukrainian saying: "Yakscho ne my - to khto? Yakshcho ne teper - to koly?" (If not us, then who? If not now, then when?)

Since this letter is being typed by my wife who is all for brevity in letters to the editor (she says "nobody is going to read long letters") I will conclude on this point.

Eugene L. Kuz, M.D.
Savage, Minn.

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