POPE'S PLANNED VISIT TO UKRAINE

[TuchajBay]

Friday, Jun. 22, 2001. Page 4

Pope's Ukraine Visit Riles Believers

By Patrick Lannin
Reuters


Politicians and churchmen expressed their anger Thursday at Pope John Paul's impending visit to Ukraine, birthplace of Eastern Christianity and a state with close historical and cultural ties with Russia.

While politicians fumed at the prospect of a visit that will bring the 81-year-old pontiff close to the Orthodox Church's heartland, a poll showed many Russians were indifferent to the pope's trip and would not mind if he came to Russia itself.

"Why is the pope breaking these eternal laws and international etiquette, unpardonably visiting an Orthodox country, knowing full well that Patriarch Alexy II is unhappy," nationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky railed about the trip, which starts Saturday.

Zhirinovsky, speaking to reporters in the State Duma, said Orthodox believers in many former Soviet states were united with Ukrainian Orthodox parishioners in opposing the visit.

In Kiev, several thousand Orthodox believers marched through the city Thursday in the biggest of a series of protests against the pope's visit. About 3,000 priests, nuns and worshippers from Orthodox parishes across Ukraine walked in a peaceful demonstration in the city center, praying and singing.

"We are here to show that we exist and to protest against the pope's visit to Ukraine, which will humiliate our religious and national consciousness," said Valentyn Lukyanik, an organizer of the protest.

The marchers, mostly elderly women, carried icons and banners reading "No to The Pope's Visit to Ukraine," "Orthodoxy or Death" and "Defend Orthodoxy From the Pope, Forerunner of the Antichrist."

"The pope plans to stage a show and pray at stadiums to blind the Ukrainian people. During his visit we will pray to be saved from the Catholic evil," said Lukyanik.

The pope has visited other former Soviet countries ≈ the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, and Georgia. But close historical, cultural and ethnic ties between Ukraine and Russia make this visit particularly sensitive. Russians call Kiev the mother of Russian cities, revering it as the birthplace of Eastern Slav Christianity and the place where the first great Russian empire, Kievan Rus, was founded.

Russian Orthodox Church leader Alexy II opposes the visit because of what he sees as the Catholic destruction of Orthodox places of worship in western Ukraine, where Eastern Rite Catholicism is strong. Alexy also criticizes Catholic attempts to convert Orthodox believers, and the Russian church has kept up a barrage of criticism of the visit.

"The Ukrainian people are firm in their traditional faith and do not seem to need an outside agency to act as a catalyst for their spiritual revival," Interfax quoted Orthodox Church spokesman Father Vsevolod Chaplin as saying.

In contrast with the anger of the Orthodox leadership and some politicians, ordinary Russians seem relaxed about the papal visit to Ukraine.

A survey of 1,500 people by the Public Opinion group showed that 35 percent were in favor of the pope's visit and 50 percent did not care either way.

Some 48 percent of those questioned said they even favored a papal visit to Russia, while 41 percent had no opinion.

The Duma, powerless to prevent the pope from visiting Kiev, on Thursday turned on Estonia, where the Orthodox Church has split into two factions ≈ those owing allegiance to the Orthodox hierarchy in Constantinople, and those faithful to Moscow.

The Duma adopted a declaration expressing concern about what it called discrimination against the pro-Moscow Orthodox Church in Estonia because the authorities have refused to register it.


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[TuchajBay]

From the pope's visit in Lviv,
Pope Celebrates Mass in Lviv, Ukraine
By Andrzej Stylinski
Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, June 26, 2001; 8:05 a.m. EDT
LVIV, Ukraine √√ Pope John Paul II led a crowded outdoor Mass in western Ukraine on Tuesday, picking a region long contested by Poles and Ukrainians, Catholics and Orthodox, Communists and nationalists as the place to make a plea for a spirit of forgiveness in Eastern Europe.
"Let us feel ourselves gently nudged to recognize the infidelities to the Gospel of not a few Christians of both Polish and Ukrainian origin living in these parts. It is time to leave behind the sorrowful past," the pope said in his homily, most of which was delivered in Polish.

"May pardon, given and received, spread like a healing balm in every heart. May the purification of historical memories lead everyone to work for the triumph of what unites over what divides, in order to build a future of mutual respect, fraternal cooperation and true solidarity."

In addition to the religious and ethnic fissures that run through Eastern Europe, the pope appeared to be addressing the issue of people affiliated with the atheist, Communist regime of Soviet-era Ukraine.
Unlike Poland and other East European countries, neither Ukraine, Russia nor any other former Soviet republic outside the Baltics has prosecuted former high-ranking Communist officials for alleged crimes against the nation. Nor have they exposed former KGB informers, including in the churches.
An estimated 600,000 flag-waving, chanting people turned out to hear the pope deliver his message at Lviv's Hippodrome, his first Mass in western Ukraine.
The ecstatic welcome as the pope crisscrossed the sun-dappled field in his popemobile was in stark contrast to the cool reception and thin crowds that greeted him in the capital Kiev, where Orthodox believers predominate. His own mood seemed markedly brighter when he reached Lviv late Monday, met at each stop along his way from the airport by tens of thousands of people.
Lviv is Ukraine's stronghold of Catholicism, and many inhabitants who suffered for their faith in Soviet times today are enjoying a religious renaissance √ exemplified by the first papal visit to Ukraine, which has been independent for 10 years.
"It's such a great event, he makes us so happy, this is something that happens once in a century, no, once in a thousand years!," said Julia Hlovatska, 19, who had arrived at the Hippodrome Mass site at 2 a.m. after riding a train from the western town of Khmelnytskyi.
"He comes to support the faith of the Ukrainian people," she said.
The papal trip pays tribute to the historical suffering of Ukraine's Catholics, the majority of them so-called Greek Catholics who practice Orthodox ritual but bear allegiance to the pope. Greek Catholic believers faced persecution under both Russian imperial and Soviet rule.
John Paul was to beatify two Latin Rite Catholic clergymen on Tuesday and more than two dozen Greek Catholics on Wednesday.
The five-day papal visit, including the stay in westward-looking Lviv, reflected the Ukrainian leadership's desire to be embraced by the west. President Leonid Kuchma invited John Paul to Ukraine in spite of the vehement opposition of the majority Orthodox Church.
Security at the Hippodrome was tight. The primate of Poland, Cardinal Josef Glemp, and the president of the Italian Bishops' Conference, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, had to remove their pectoral crosses to pass through the metal detectors.
Tens of thousands of pilgrims from the pope's native Poland, Ukraine's western neighbor, poured into Lviv for the pope's visit. About two-thirds of the banners held aloft at Tuesday's Mass were red-and-white Polish flags, and the relics of a Polish saint, John of Dukla, were brought from Poland and placed on the papal altar.
"It's so close to Poland that we just could not miss it," said Krzysztof Wojtalewicz, a 39-year-old lawyer from Warsaw.
Pilgrims have also come from further afield. A private meeting with the pope was arranged for Zhao Bin, a 25-year-old woman from Jinan Province in China who suffered severe burns over her body when her boyfriend doused her with gasoline and set her on fire. The trip was arranged by Hope For Tomorrow, the same Buffalo, N.Y.-based foundation that provided her free plastic surgery.
"It's an honor to be blessed by the pope," she said through an interpreter.
John Paul wants to heal the schism that has divided Christianity between the Catholic and Orthodox churches since 1054, and aides say he still nurtures the hope of visiting Russia someday.
But Russian church leaders point to bitter disputes over church property between Orthodox and Greek Catholics, which have sometimes spilled over into physical confrontations.
Viktor Malukhin, a spokesman for Russia's Orthodox Patriarchate in Moscow, said Monday that the church's refusal to meet with the pope was justified.
"Only one circumstance could have caused this position to change.... If the pope had condemned the violence toward Orthodox believers, if he had repented for the blood that has been spilled over the past 10 years in western Ukraine," Malukhin said.

[Irena]

Pope in Lviv was a wonderful event. Such an atmosphere!!! People cried: "We love Pope!!! Ukraine love Pope!!!!!" And Pope after his speech said
without any paper: "Pope love you". People burst with admiration!!!!!!!!
It was raining and Pope looked at sky and said in Polish a little poet:
"Sun, sun look out..." And oh, miracle.... The Sun appeared from behind the
clouds!!!!
After Pope sang a little Polish sing to thank all people. It was
something!!!
I'm neither Catholic nor sentimental person but tears were in my eyes... I was
feelling inexplicable energy through television. And what were there!!!!
Pope told very much about friendship between Poles and Ukrainians..

[TuchajBay]

From: NIKIFORY Jun-27 7:54 am
To: Jaga (Poland & East Europe Host) (JAGAHOST


It is true that Kiev's morning reception of the Pope in the streets was much 'cooler' than in Lvov. But correspondents also emphasise that in the evening of that same day they were more people and they were joyful - as if they were "no longer afraid" after the morning mass.
Tuesday's Latin mass in Lvov was attended by the estimated 300,000 (our correspondents say). The mass was celebrated in Polish but the Pope gave some parts of his sermon also in Ukrainian. Two key issues were courage in living the Good news, and the Polish-Ukrainian reconciliation in the christian spirit that forgives the past wrongdoings on BOTH sides.

The evening meeting with the young people was initially a bit stiff (the young were mainly listening), but it soon evolved into the enthusiasm and joy that we know from other Pope's meetings with youth. There was an informal dialogue, the young people shouted back to the Pope, and the Pope evan sang two songs - one was an old Polish song that askes the rain to stop falling (it poured heavily at times!), and the other one was about the sunset (towards the end of the meeting). The Pope joked, the young people were enthusiastic. They were given the message of living their faith in the difficult time of change. He also urged them to stay in Ukraine instead of emigrating elsewhere.

At the youth meeting two professors, one from the Lvov university and the other from the Polish Lublin university were handed a prize from the Pope - the prize rewarded their efforts towards Polish-Ukrainian reconciliation.

This morning's Byzantine-rite mass was expected to be attended by about a million pilgrims. President Kuchma also arrived.

From the interviews that our correspondents do in the streets, it looks like the Ukrainians are extremely uplifted, mainly because they've never heard before such warm words about their own country, words which remind them of the grand traditions, words that are full of admiration as well as encouragement to be proud to be Ukrainian.




From: Jaga (Poland & East Europe Host) (JAGAHOST) Jun-27 4:48 pm
To: NIKIFORY unread


I am happy for a pope that he had such a warm welcome. He was speaking Polish and some Ukrainian. It is also a recognition for Ukraine as a country. I remember in the past wondering whether Ukraine might be an independent country. I remember had some doubts about it after thinking that Ukraine never was really independent but it is finally!
In the USA they were showing pope's mass in Lviv reporting that he had much warmer welcome in spite of the fact that the hierarchy of the Orthodox Church ignores him.

I guess, orthodox hierarchy needs some reforms like Sobor Vatican II to finally start talking in more reconciliatory way.

[TuchajBay]

From: NIKIFORY 6:46 am
To: Jaga (Poland & East Europe Host) (JAGAHOST)

Some media rae simplifying the picture of the Orthodox Church protest against the papal visit, they just say "Orthodox Church".
But as for me, this visit has explained a lot about the Orthodox Church in the Ukraine. I am very careful now about which Orthodox Church I am talking about. There are three major Orthodox Churches:

1) of the Moscow Patriarchate (dependant on the Moscow's church and patriarch)
2) of the Kiev Patriarchate (the one which broke from the Moscow's Patriarchate church after the Ukraine gained independence)
3) autokefalic church (dependant directly to the Constantinopol Patriarchate, so exactly like the Orthodox Church in Poland)

The Church that protested against the visit and accused the Pope of proselytism is the one of the Moscow Patriarchate. The other two Orthodox Churches welcomed the vist and attended the meeting of the Pope with the representatives of all the regigions in the Ukraine. The only absentee was the Ukrainian leader of the Church under the Moscow Patriarchate. So the other two churches seem pretty open to a dialogue with the Catholic Church, but the Moscow's P. is more than reluctant.

Therefore I think that some media are doing harm to the other two Orthodox Churches because they do not make this distinction and just say "Orthodox Church protests". It is true, that the Moscow's P. Church is the largest in the Ukraine, even bigger than in Russia! The Moscow's P. Church is furious because it considers the other two Orthodox Churches illegal, like unwanted sects. Paradoxically, two days before the Pope's visit the other two churches have declared that they will work towards a union! This certainly proves to me that the two churches are more open to the idea of Christian unity than the Moscow's P.

By the way, the Pope spoke a lot in Ukrainian (all his speaches were in Ukr. with just fragments in Polish; only at the Latin mass in Lvov it was vice versa). Ukrainian commentators said they hadn't heard such beautiful, literary Ukr. language for years!

[JetSet]

You should also add to the info about the Moscow Orthodox church that it was the only legal religion under stalin until the collapse. In many many respects it mirrors the role that the church played prior and up to revolutionary france, where politics was the first order of the day.

So in essence that is why the Russian Orthodoxy thinks that the other two are illegal sects.

And the pope's visit in Ukraine was fairly impressive.