print this pageAddress of UOC (MP) on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Lviv Sobor of 1946
Address
of the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
to the flock and the Ukrainian people on the occasion of the 60 th anniversary of the return
of the Greek Catholics to the bosom of the Orthodox Church
Sixty years ago, in the first week of Lent (8-10 March 1946) a sobor [“assembly”— editor] of clergy and laity of Ukrainian Catholics of the Eastern rite (UGCC) [Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church— editor] was held. It passed a decree about nullifying the resolutions of the Union of Brest Sobor of 1596, withdrawal from the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church, return to the Orthodox faith of their forefathers, and joining the Universal Eastern Orthodox Church. The more time passes after the Lviv Sobor of 1946, the more significant its epoch-making decrees prove to be. A high assessment of the decrees of the sobor follows from analysis of the ideology, methods, ways, and consequences of the introduction of the union [of 1596].
Our negative attitude today to the phenomenon of the union is based on the undeniable historic fact of its introduction in the Ukrainian land already 600 years after the Baptism of our nation. Thanks to the efforts of St. Prince Volodymyr, equal to the apostles, Slavs who had been in the darkness of paganism were enlightened with the light of the Gospel and joined the Orthodox Church, which has the undistorted fullness of understanding of the Truth. For nearly 600 years, by the work of God's Grace the people of Rus, in the bosom of the Orthodox Church, raised a whole assembly of holy saints. They gave beauty to the whole Christian world with golden-domed Kyiv, historically called the second Jerusalem, with its shrine that is ever-filled with selfless Christian devotion, namely, the Kyivan Monastery of the Caves, which is the third crown domain of the Holy Mother of God. This is a visible manifestation of the full value of the salvific way along which our Church leads its children to the Kingdom of Heave. The Orthodox Church of the Rus had the fullness of Truth and Grace. The Lord multiplied those who were being saved through it as at the time of the Apostles. Therefore, there was no ecclesiological need for a union with anyone.
Historically, from the 14 th century the western region of Ukraine was subjected to especially strong ideological pressure by representatives of the Roman Catholic Church, whose cherished, centuries-long dream was to convert the Rus to the Latin rite. That desire was determined by two factors. The first: to extend the hegemony of the Catholic Church, which was in its political flourishing in Europe at that time. The second: those actions were caused by the medieval belief that salvation is only possible within the Roman Catholic Church under the headship of the Pope. The Catholics of that time in the person of the Roman Popes absolutely despised the Eastern Orthodox (“schismatic”) faith and considered the Church of the Rus, and the Ukrainian Christian nation in particular, an object of mission, which object had not yet been touched by the word of the Gospel. In our day the late Pope John Paul II asked pardon from Christian nations of the world, particularly the Ukrainian nation, for the bad behavior of his Church at that time, recognizing thereby accordingly that the fact of the forced introduction of the union in the western Ukrainian lands was a mistake.
The Union of Brest was signed in 1596. The sealing of that union, which was ill-fated for the future of Ukraine , was not an expression of the will of the Orthodox people. It was signed only by part of the self-serving so-called “hierarchs,” supported by part of the Ukrainian aristocracy who sought to equalize their rights and privileges with those of the Polish nobility in the Polish kingdom.
The sealing of that union had no ecclesiological purpose at all, but primarily a political one: the unification of the population living on the territory of the Polish Commonwealth. Of course, the union was viewed as an interim stage before complete latinization and polonization of Halychyna [far western Ukraine—editor]. The transformation of Ukrainians into Poles with the help of faith and language was effected “by fire and sword,” which is eloquently described by numerous facts in documentary chronicles and in immortal works of our classics. The forced introduction of the union and repressions against the Orthodox Church of the 17 th century became one of the causes of the national-liberation movement.
The consequences of the artificial introduction of the union were catastrophic for the Orthodox Church. The Orthodox faith was rooted out virtually over the whole territory where the Uniates were able to consolidate their grip thanks to the power of the king. With the help of that power, they also seized possession of all the property of the Orthodox Church: church buildings, monasteries, icons, church premises and lands, church furnishings, that is, everything that was offered by the Orthodox people to God from their works for nearly 600 years from the time of the baptism. People who remained faithful to Holy Orthodoxy had to face insults, extortion, deprivation of civic and often human rights, and cruel persecutions.
The introduction of the union and its gradual latinization led to the suppression and polonization of Ukrainian culture, depriving our people of their unique originality. In the second half of the 19 th century, this provoked the resistance and struggle of the Uniates themselves against the foreign Latin religious culture. The Greek Catholic magazine “Word of God” (p.143) of 1881 says: “a famous soul-seizer, the Roman Catholic priest Lyts of Yaniv, forgot that he is not in a land of infidels here but in a land of Christians… he spread propaganda that it is as if salvation is possible only in the Latin rite… In that way, Roman Catholic priests have tormented our unfortunate Rus for six centuries now… What else can we think but that the whole of our union with Rome is based on lies and Pharisaism and not on truth and love.”
Disillusionment with the union was also stimulated by the slighting attitude of the Roman Catholic hierarchy to the Uniate clergy, who were never granted equal rights with the Latin clergy, despite the signing of the document. This was very painful for them. At the same time, the interest in their own history became stronger. That history could be traced back to Orthodoxy. As a result of such search and struggle, individual Uniate parishes in Transcarpathia, the Lemkiv area, and in the Ukrainian diaspora in the USA and Canada returned to the bosom of the Orthodox Church in the 19 th and beginning of the 20 th centuries.
Social factors have always played an important role in the history of the Church, from the moment of its birth. The Church of Christ is an institution which is not of this world, but it carries out its saving mission in this very world. A Christian sees the work of God's Providence , which turns even negative phenomena and processes to positive and good consequences.
In the first half of the 20 th century the movement of Greek Catholics towards a return to the faith of their fathers grew stronger. At the same time, the political situation in Europe was radically changing, its map being “remade.” In 1939, after a nearly 600-year interruption, the Ukrainian lands were reunited. No one can say that the coming of the Soviet regime brought happiness and freedom to the western lands of Ukraine . However, is it not good that Ukraine became a single whole at last? No one praises the totalitarian Soviet repressive regime, from which nearly every Ukrainian family suffered. However, no person of common sense will deny that it was fortunate for Ukraine that it was freed from the slavish yoke of Nazi Germany by the hands of the Soviet liberating forces.
It is not worthwhile to touch upon the political circumstances under which the mentioned processes of 60 years ago took place. So much has been spoken and written about them. Let us leave them to God's judgment. But also let us see in them the action of the all-good Providence of God.
It is understood that the Soviet regime made efforts to implement its policy in Halychyna. To do that, it used the old and sincere desire of the majority of Uniates to reunite with Orthodoxy. In general, the Soviet regime saw Greek Catholicism as its ideological enemy, since its leaders supported fascism. Therefore, the Uniate bishops were arrested and it was recommended that the clergy join the Orthodox Church. We are not even going to argue about the legitimacy of such methods. Only the Jesuits in their time said: “Finis sanctificat media” (“The ends justify the means”).
Nevertheless, in 1946, under the leadership of Protopresbyter Havryil Kostelnyk, the most well-known figure and leader of the movement for the revival of Orthodoxy of the beginning of the 20 th century, a sobor of UGCC clergy was held, at which the decree of the union Sobor of Brest of 1596 on joining Rome was nullified and a decree was passed to return to the bosom of the Orthodox Church. Of the Uniate clergy, 997 joined the Orthodox Church and 273 refused. The number of those willing to join Orthodoxy made up 78 % of the total number of Greek Catholic clergy. Two hundred and sixteen delegate-priests had the right to vote and 19 lay guests participated in the sobor.
After the reunion with Orthodoxy, UGCC property was transferred by the state to the use of the Rus[sian] Orthodox Church. One should note that the Orthodox Church received for its use the material valuables which were previously taken away from them by Uniates by force with the military support of the Polish Crown. The transferred property included church buildings built by the Orthodox before the introduction of the union and lands which were in the possession of the Orthodox Church before the event of 1596.
Today, attempts are made to blacken the actions of the Lviv Sobor of 1946, which is made out to be an action of the destruction of the Greek Catholic Church in Halychyna undertaken by the atheistic regime with the assistance of the Orthodox. The Uniates are presented as innocent victims and the Orthodox as collaborators and instruments of the godless regime. A situation is artificially created in which the Orthodox are put in the position of people who have to justify themselves for crimes they did not commit. Is this not an outrage to the Mother-Church, whose crimson is soaked in the blood of its children, millions of martyrs and confessors for Christ! The Siberian camps were filled not by the Greek Catholic Church in the bloody 20s and 30s, its children were not dying of starvation in the millions in 1933. They did not promise to show on TV in the 80s its “last priest.” Therefore, does it have the moral right today to reproach the Church which admitted the Greek Catholics into its bosom, thereby rescuing them from total physical annihilation, which preserved its church buildings and property as far as possible, which made possible its full-fledged ecclesial life, and educated several generations of clergy in Orthodox schools?
In the beginning of the 1990s, the Uniates paid this back with base ingratitude, showing their true face. With the inactivity and, most often, encouragement of the local authorities in Halychyna, Orthodox eparchies were raided. Services were interrupted and church buildings were seized by force. Greek Catholic clergy with their feet kicked out the royal doors of our iconostases, ruined altar cloths where parts of holy relics of the martyrs for faith in Christ rested, scattered and trampled down Holy Gifts [the Eucharist—editor] which rested on the altars of our churches. Whether such means of “the restoration of historic justice” can be morally justified is for the Lord God to judge.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church by no means justifies the historic circumstances under which the Lviv Sobor of 1946 was held, or the methods of the totalitarian Soviet past. But, as in the past, it anathematizes today, on the Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, the lawless actions which took place in Brest in 1596, and proclaims everlasting memory for the defenders of Orthodoxy and asks their prayers before the Throne of God for the confirmation of Orthodoxy in our long-suffering homeland.
Kyiv, 9 March 2006
ource: official server of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church [-Moscow Patriarchate]
Translated by RISU
