Brotherhoods in the Ukrainian Church Tradition

On February 15, 2007, there will be a lecture at 7 p.m. at the KUMF Gallery at 2118A Bloor St. W. by Dr. Frank Sysyn, a PhD in History and Director of the Peter Jacyk Centre for Ukrainian Historical Research.  The topic of his lecture is Brotherhoods in the Ukrainian Church Tradition.

Two recent articles published in The New Pathway on January 18, 12th-Century Church in Ukraine is at Risk by Olenka Z. Pevny and On Language Matters Within Our Church, by Askold Lozynskyj, underline why the topic of Prof. Sysyn’s upcoming lecture is relevant to Ukrainians in North America today.

Since the Middle Ages, Christian Brotherhoods existed throughout Ukraine, as well as in most European countries. Their membership generally consisted of educated gentry who were concerned about their societies. They were active in local education, publishing, the arts –and religion.  The Ukrainian Eastern Rite Church was a Soborna Church. This meant that leadership within the Church came from not only the clergy, but was shared by the laity.  Brotherhoods provided the laity with direction.

In her article, Olenka Z. Pevny outlines how the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow-Patriarchate (UOC-MP) is allegedly planning to destroy the icons and frescoes of a historic monument, the Church of St. Cyril in Kyiv. The Church is a religious and cultural treasure not only of Kyivan Rus, but of Middle Byzantine art. Perhaps, if Brotherhoods were active, such an organization could safeguard such gems of Ukrainian historical and spiritual art.

The article by Askold Lozynskyj, President of the World Congress of Ukrainians, brings to light how some Ukrainians in Canada and the United States are often naively ignorant of the current manipulations in Church politics in Ukraine. We, in Canada, could pretend that this is merely a problem for Ukrainians in Ukraine to sort out. However, when the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Consistory in Canada travels to Kyiv to meet Metropolitan Volodymyr Sabadan of the UOC-MP on undisclosed business, and the secretary of the Church’s Primate-Metropolitan in Canada informs Askold Lozynskyj that his Church officials have, since 1993, been meeting, among other branches of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine, representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate to discuss church matters, clearly this touches us in Canada.

I have been dismayed by the direction our Church’s leadership has been taking in their dealings with the anti-Ukrainian UOC-MP, and, speaking to other laity within the UOCC,  I have learned that others feel the same. A vigorous and active Brotherhood movement within the UOCC could play a role by offering direction.

The late Reverend Dr. Bohdan Lypskyj, the parish priest at St Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church in Toronto, often lectured his parishioners on the importance of an educated and informed laity.  Now, more than ever, it is urgent for Ukrainians of all denominations to take an active role within their Churches.  ­–Halya Wawryshyn