February 3, 2017

Reflections on a trip to Lithuania

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Dr. Christine Hoshowsky with her Ukrainian cross at the “Hill of Crosses” in Lithuania.

This past summer I traveled to Lithuania for the first time. It was a tour that crisscrossed the country and immersed me in the Lithuanian culture. Lithuania, which helps tether Ukraine to the West, is a beautiful country made more so by the lovely gardens that Lithuanians, a friendly and generous people, cultivate throughout their land.

Situated along the Baltic Sea, Lithuania is bounded by Latvia and Estonia, independent sister nations on the east, and Kaliningrad, a ward of Russia, on the west buttressed by Poland while Belarus hugs the southern tier. Archeological excavations, castles, manor houses, universities, museums, synagogues, mosques, churches – Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Russian Orthodox – now being restored, attest to a vibrant culture there throughout the ages.

History also reveals a harsh reality, as we discovered when we visited the former KGB headquarters in Vilnius, a building that prior to that housed Nazis. The experience was chilling. Historian Timothy Snyder, in his well-known book “Bloodlands,” documents the deaths, genocides and despair churned up in Eastern Europe during the Hitler-Stalin era. He adds clarity to explanation. And yet, buildings such as these, drenched in evil, deserve no recognition. An epitaph, ”never again” would do.

As a warm summer evening unfolded, we attended a Children’s Open Air Song and Folk Festival. Lithuanian children selected from all regions of the country and some from foreign nations, the U.S. included, sang and danced to our delight in their colorful ethnic-regional costumes, illuminating the legends and stories of their cultural heritage. These are children of hope.

My friend Birute talked about the “Hill of Crosses” in Pakruoijis, which endured the treachery of Soviet occupation. Each time the authorities tore down the crosses, the next day they reappeared. This “resurrection of the crosses” symbolized the will of Lithuanians to live free.

Today, Lithuania is a member of the European Union, NATO and the United Nations. The president of Lithuania, Dalia Grybauskaite, who was first elected in 2009 and was re-elected to a second term of office in 2014, was raised and educated in Lithuania during the Soviet period. Before being elected president of Lithuania, she worked as a European commissioner for financial programming and the budget. President Grybauskaite endeavors to work within the European system to keep Lithuania a productive, progressive and sovereign country, home to a proud, resourceful and intelligent people.

We were nearing the “Hill of Crosses,” and the clouds looked ominous. As we got off the bus, it started to rain. I searched for a place to anchor my inlaid Ukrainian cross, but there was little room and the ground was rock hard. Yet, I was determined. I found a spot and plunged the cross into the earth. It stood. I turned and ran for shelter.

My inlaid, wooden, handheld, cross was crafted in Ukraine. I had bought it at St. Josaphat Ukrainian Catholic Church in Rochester, N.Y., and had it blessed at St. Mary Protectress Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in nearby Irondequoit. My gesture in bringing and leaving my cross in Lithuania was a way of paying tribute to the centuries-old friendship between Lithuanians and Ukrainians.

Having seen and prayed at the “Hill of Crosses,” I know that the Ukrainian cross is not alone. It stands sentinel with the multitude in service to mankind and God in excelsior.

Christine Hoshowsky, Ph.D., lives in Rochester, N.Y., where she is an active member of the Ukrainian community and president of the Rochester Ukrainian Group.

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