Mental Calisthenics with Uncle Ilko

The Summer of Our Discontent

By Oksana Bashuk Hepburn

 “This is outrageous,” fusses Uncle Ilko over the phone.

There have been no mental callisthenics - code for dealing with significant Ukrainian issues, Canadian or in Ukraine - over summer.  I recognize his need to talk.

“Are you okay, Uncle Ilku?”

“Okay?  How can I be when yahoos are running the world?  Things are happening in Ukraine that belong in the 19th Century.  That unholy Moscow Patriarch.  He is calling a jihad on Ukraine’s own Orthodox Church.  And the government is assisting; attending Christianity celebration events in Crimea with that Putin, no less, and creating obstacles for the Kyiv Patriarch led faithful to participate in their own commemorations in Kyiv.”

“I’ve read about these summer events but frankly, it’s too complicated to comprehend.”

“That’s because you’re a Catholic and tend to practise the old ‘turn the other cheek’ routine.  But is does concern you - all of us. 

“Consider this.  Russia has officially declared the ‘one Russia world goal. It’s official policy!  It starts with the Russian Orthodox Church moving into Ukraine, Belarus and other Slavic territories, and then the jugular: Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, the seat of the global Christian Eastern Orthodox Church.  Get rid of him and install the Patriarch of Moscow, Kirill – the Kremlin’s boy.  And bingo! Global Orthodoxy belongs to Moscow!”

He may be right given the penury of Constantinople and political shenanigans in Turkey and Greece.  But what is Moscow’s motive?  Uncle is reading my mind.

“Recall Stalin.  He firmly believed that ‘religion was the opium of the people’ and liquidated churches and their leadership.  Yet, the people supported his cry to fight against Germany.   You know how he did it?  ‘Fight for the Motherland and the Orthodox Faith’, that was the rallying cry.  Now it’s the same cry: Russian Orthodoxy and one Russia world!  Look, it’s not even Stalin’s or Medvedev’s invention.  ‘Orthodoxy, nationalism and autocracy’ - the modus operandi of Russia was invented by Czar Nicholas I.  Now, the call is out once again starting with a global Orthodoxy run by Moscow.”

“Surely not autocracy.  Canada’s Orthodox won’t buy it, Vujku Iklu.”

“Oh my child, you are so innocent.  The propaganda machine has been going strong here.  Russian Orthodox congregations are being asked to submit to Kirill.  Many, if not most, have gone over.  Those with long memories of its KGB past were told ‘Yes, yes but that’s yesterday’s history and if you’re still concerned, don’t take communion.’  And that’s supposed to mean you’re not supporting the Patriarch? Just God? Nuts! How will not taking communion eliminate the Kremlin’s control?  Abracadabra, bread and circuses.  The latest being the premier global tour of the remains of Prince Volodymyr the Great, hosted by Moscow’s Russian - not Ukrainian - Orthodox churches.  And if you can’t see the political hanky-panky for the masses behind this charade, then ‘Bob’s your uncle’.”

Uncle Ilko has good reason for concern.  Besides the pressure on 15 million Ukrainian Orthodox Church adherents of the Kyiv Patriarchate to “unite” with Moscow, there is pressure on the Pope to make concessions regarding the Ukrainian Catholic Church, a feisty defender of religion and other human rights - assembly, speech, language - in Ukraine.

“Uncle Ilku, I’m worried about the erosion of free media.  There has been a questionable death of an editor from Kharkiv and a shooting at one in Poltava.”

 “That’s the way to stop opposition; control the press.  It breaks my heart that Ukraine is moving towards Moscow’s fascism.  And that Zabilyj fellow - the WWII museum director who was arrested and his computer confiscated?  What are your friends doing about this?”

“The journalists had a round table on the very subject.”

“Good, but make sure they’re not just preaching to the converted.  They must join forces with the likes of the PEN Club and Reporters Without Boarders.  Get the story about the confiscation of files and computers and trumped up charges.  But there’s something else that’s bothering me.”

“What’s that, Vujku?”

“It’s that Minister of Education Tabachnik.  He is changing the schooling of kids from 12 to 11 years.  Why you might ask?  His reason is budget constraints but it smacks of class discrimination: we who have the power and money will educate our children; you poor scoundrels live in ignorance.  What good is education to you helpless fools anyway?  I applaud the bravery of the deputy minister who resigned in protest.  But more opposition is needed.”

“Vujku, there were demonstrations when President Yanukovych spoke at the UN.  But what do about cut backs in education? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if English speaking states could support an English language blitz for Ukrainian kids?”

“Yes!  Link up!  Get Canadian institutions on side for work in Ukraine.  Our diaspora organizations are not up to such huge tasks, but the time has come.  We can be a mouth piece for getting support and calling attention to injustices.  But you know what I fear?”

“What’s that Uncle Ilko?”

“Inertia. Thee enemy of action.  It is so easy to do nothing.”

“Or keep doing the old things in the old ways when new thinking and approaches are needed.”

“Now you’re talking, kiddo.”

Oksana Bashuk Hepburn is a former policy adviser with the Government of Canada.