Perspectives on Orthodoxy

By Halya Wawryshyn

I grew up in the community at St. Volodymyr Cathedral in Toronto and, for many years, took my Orthodoxy for granted. In university, I began to read about Orthodoxy, Catholicism and the eastern rite of our Ukrainian Church.

Later, as life became busier, I stopped following church politics. I sometimes read in Ukrainian newspapers about the various divisions in the Orthodox Church in Ukraine but did not pay much attention to the issue.

My lethargic reaction changed dramatically seven years ago when I was in Ukraine. There, I met Ukrainians who pointed out the poor state of churches and property of the Kyiv Patriarchate compared with those of the Moscow Patriarchate. I was informed that the most insidious russifier in Ukraine was the Orthodox Church, which called itself The Orthodox Church of Ukraine-Moscow Patriarchate.

As it does not call itself a Russian Church, many people unschooled in church politics unwittingly support it, unaware of its dedication to wiping out the Ukrainian language and culture. The most devastating realization came to me when both in Kyiv and Chernivtsi I was asked why the Ukrainian Orthodox church in Canada supports the Muscovite Orthodox Church and not the Orthodox Church of Kyiv Patriarchate, where Ukrainian is used and not Russian.

I had heard that our Ukrainian Orthodox bishops in Canada had accepted Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople as their head so that our Church could be considered canonical. I now realized that their decision led to an astounding result. We in Canada, of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, were supporting the russified Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which is contemptuous of all things Ukrainian. They were now our “canonical brothers in Christ.” The beleaguered and impoverished Kyiv Church is not canonical in the eyes of Constantinople. Therefore, to us canonical Canadians, they do not exist. In formal relations, our Canadian Ukrainian Orthodox clergy can only be in communion with the Moscow Patriarchate.

On returning to Canada, I tried to explain this to some of my Orthodox friends, but many insisted that I must be mistaken.

However, others in the community were taking action. Irena Waschuk, past president of the Ukrainian National Federation’s (UNF) Ukrainian Women’s Organization organized a committee to help the Kyiv Patriarchate. Recently, they invited Bishop Mefodiy Sribniak from Sumy to Canada to acquaint us with the realities of church life in Ukraine.

Bishop Mefodiy holds the title of Episcop of Sumy and Ochtyrsk. He gave a public address, on June 23 at the UNF Hall in Toronto, in which he described the life of the Kyiv-Patriarchate Orthodox clergy and outlined the difficulties they face.

Under the Soviets in the 1920s, the Kyiv Church was liquidated, and all property, historical churches and memorials were given to the Moscow Patriarchate, which is now unwilling to return any property. The situation is especially bad in central and eastern Ukraine. Kyiv Patriarchate clergy and faithful are sometimes openly threatened with violence, as they were when they refused to support Yanukovych in the presidential election.

Bishop Mefodiy stated that he is nevertheless encouraged that many young and better-educated people who are conscious of their Ukrainian identity are joining the Kyiv Church. His clergy are very young, most are under 28. The bishop worries, however, that his Church can only pay them minimal wages; they can barely feed themselves and their families.

There are over 650 Moscow Patriarchate parishes and only 70 Kyiv Patriarchate ones. Often, Divine Liturgies must be celebrated in rented quarters or houses as Kyiv Patriarchate faithful are kept out of churches.

Bishop Mefodiy reminded us that the entire Moscow Patriarchate was under the influence of the KGB in Soviet times. Today, the same influences are at work, especially in eastern Ukraine.

In the June 30 issue of The New Pathway, an excellent article by Larissa Hrynda described the June 23^rd address of Bishop Mefodiy. However, the article assumed that since independence, the Ukrainian diaspora has seen it as their duty to help rebuild the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Ukraine. We should have thought that this had been the case and that our faithful would clearly see the differences between the two branches of the Orthodox Churches in Ukraine. Unfortunately, this has not always been so.

Some Ukrainian Canadian Orthodox clergy and laity still assert that as we are canonical we must remain in communion with the Moscow Patriarchate, not the Kyiv Patriarchate.

Most Ukrainian Canadians get lost in the intricacies of canonical law and church politics. However, they understand when they are informed that the Moscow Patriarchate is thwarting Ukrainian church life, threatening Kyiv Patriarchate priests with violence and not allowing them to celebrate the Divine Liturgy in Ukrainian churches, some dating from the time of Khmelnytsky.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Canada, led by visionary pioneers and headed by Reverends Sametz, Sawchuk and Stratychuk, was a beacon of Ukrainian cultural and religious leadership for the early settlers. It knew how to withstand the Latinization of the Catholic Church, inroads of Protestant sects and the Russian missions sent out by Czar Nicholas to bring in the Orthodox faithful. They had no questions as to their cultural, national or religious identity.

Perhaps it is time for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Canada to re-examine who their real brothers and sisters in Ukraine are, and to develop sufficient intellectual strength and leadership to withstand the vagaries of semantics in deciding their Orthodox loyalties both in North America and Ukraine. The upcoming synod in Winnipeg this weekend offers an excellent chance to examine this issue and to make some decisions.