EDITORIAL: Nyet to Patriarchate? (03/07/04)

EDITORIAL

Nyet to Patriarchate?

Last week we ourselves read the news in disbelief. Reportedly, the Vatican is unlikely to recognize a Patriarchate for the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church (UGCC) due to pressure from the Russian Orthodox Church and its supporters, most prominent among them the patriarch of Constantinople.

Was this betrayal by the Holy See? Was it a reaction to threats, virtual blackmail, made by the Russian Orthodox Church against Roman Catholics in Russia? Was there some behind-the-scenes deal between Rome on one side and Moscow and Constantinople on the other? Was it all of the above?

Could it be that a martyr Church that survived Soviet attempts to destroy it, all the while remaining true to Rome, is now subject to the whims of the Russian Orthodox Church - the very same Church that for decades was an instrument of Soviet policy directed against the UGCC and the Ukrainian nation as a whole? And how is it that Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople and leaders of other Orthodox Churches can feel that it is their right to offer advice on the status of a Church that is not affiliated with them?

Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, primate of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, commented to the Catholic News Service that he has "absolutely no doubt the holy father would like to establish the Patriarchate, but he also wants to keep the dialogue with the Orthodox open."

At the same time, however, Cardinal Husar, pointed to the ROC's demand that the Roman Catholic Church should "gradually reduce the presence" of the UGCC - a nice euphemism for bringing its existence to an end. Moscow's politics, it is abundantly clear, basically have not changed. Not even the fact that Ukraine is an independent state, that the Ukrainian Catholic Church now has its own territorial base, is enough to stop Moscow's meddling.

So are Ukrainian Catholics to be sacrificed for the sake of dialogue? What is to be done?

As Bishop Basil Losten of the Stamford Eparchy of the Ukrainian Catholic Church wrote in his letter to Patriarch Bartholomew, "The question of a Patriarchate for the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church is a matter between the Synod of Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Bishops and Pope John Paul II, and concerns no other Church."

The Rev. Robert Taft of the Pontifical Oriental Institute, a veteran of East/West Church dialogue and a specialist in Eastern Churches, said of the Patriarchate issue: "The argument is that when an Eastern Church reaches a certain consistency, unity, size, consolidation and so forth, it's a normal step. ... Frankly, my advice to the Ukrainians has always been to ... [j]ust declare the Patriarchate and get on with it. Do it, of course, only if you've got the bishops unanimously behind it." In fact, it should be noted that the UGCC Synod of Bishops unequivocally declared its support for a Patriarchate in 2002.

Cardinal Husar sounded a hopeful note in a statement issued this week on behalf of the Kyiv-Halych Metropolitanate of the UGCC: "The talks in Moscow by no means negate the main line of development of the Patriarchate following from the decisions of the Synod of Bishops of our Church. We chose this path long ago and it reflects the clear will of the people of God of our Church." Furthermore, he added, the new furor may actually lead to renewed study of the issue that may ultimately lead to the Patriarchate's recognition: "The public attention attracted by the mentioned visit may give impetus to a more thorough study of the arguments of the UGCC."

Thus, what we know at this point is the following: The Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church is sure of its identity and certain of its goal. The pontiff has not yet spoken on the issue of the Patriarchate since the Moscow meetings. And Moscow's "nyet" is not the final determinant.

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