In Ukraine, what is old is new

Sandro Magister has something new at his www.chiesa website on Ukraine.  As readers may be aware, Russia has been supporting separatists in eastern Ukraine.  It has already annexed the Crimea.

The crux of Magister's article:

The fact that Bergoglio has a soft spot for Russia had already been seen with the outbreak of war in Syria, when he called for a day of prayer and fasting to oppose the armed intervention of the United States and France against the regime of Damascus, and Vladimir Putin publicly praised him.

Then there is the influence of the ecumenical factor: of the 200 million Orthodox Christians in the world, 150 million belong to the patriarchate of Moscow and “of all Rus’,” and it is therefore with Moscow above all that the pope wants to cultivate good relations.

[...]

Today the almost five million Ukrainian Catholics know very well that they are the true obstacle to the encounter between the pope of Rome and the patriarch of Moscow. But they will not agree to be sacrificed on the altar of this ecumenical dream.

Go read the rest at the link above for more background on the Roman response to events.

Baghdad Massacre

Rorate Caeli has the full text by Father Raymond J. de Souza. Or if you prefer, Father Z is it as well with his own interspersed commentary.

It's a race against time and we're probably going to lose the Middle East before we reach the finish line.

Eventually though, Globalization is going to neuter the Muslim countries as it has the West with its tools of abortion and contraception to the point where their own populations will start falling. Iran with its huge population of young people born since the Revolution of 1979 who have collectively chosen to not procreate is the prime example of this demographic trend (check out the graph at the right).

The battlefield now truly is Europe where the question is if the European states (for example, Germany and Merkel's recent statement that multiculturalism has failed) will be able to rouse themselves soon enough to hold off the tide or if the Muslims will take control of a decayed secular Europe just in time for their own implosion.

The Middle Eastern Synod's Finale

This blog post at Hot Air quotes a Melkite Greek bishop from Lebanon, Cyril Salim Bustros:

The Holy Scriptures cannot be used to justify the return of Jews to Israel and the displacement of the Palestinians, to justify the occupation by Israel of Palestinian lands… We Christians cannot speak of the ‘promised land’ as an exclusive right for a privileged Jewish people. This promise was nullified by Christ. There is no longer a chosen people – all men and women of all countries have become the chosen people… Even if the head of the Israeli state is Jewish, the future is based on democracy… The Palestinian refugees will eventually come back and this problem will have to be solved.

The blogger, a protestant, then goes on to discuss the uproar over the quote and talk about about the Catholic Church's position. Go read it all. But this is an interesting paragraph where the blogger puts together some information on the Melkite Church:

Readers may remember that the Patriarch of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church was the individual issuing blessings for the “all-woman” flotilla planned throughout the summer to depart from Lebanon for a bout of anti-Israel blockade-busting. The Patriarch himself is located in Antioch, but there has been a very troubling trend of anti-Israel politicization in the recent appointments in Beirut and Galilee as well. Bustros’ selection for the metropolitan position in Beirut this year followed the selection in 2006 of Archbishop Elias Chacour for the diocesan seat in Galilee. As this French writer recounts (I apologize that this is only available in French), the 2006 choice amounted to a referendum within the Melkite Greek Catholic episcopate on the question of whether to promote clerics who take political stands against Israel, or to affirm that the church’s future lies with less politicized leaders who are more devoted to ministry, reconciliation, and service. The ultimate choice of Chacour produced a tireless campaigner for the active and urgent repudiation of Israel’s state policies by American and European churches.

Links are all from the original. In the very next paragraph, the blogger, Mr. Dyer, throws out this admonishment:

The Catholic Church’s high profile in much of the Middle East, and its organized connections with Middle Eastern Christians, give its policies a unique significance in defining the posture and role of Christianity there. The Church, of all entities, should be the first and most insistent in affirming that – at the very least – political opposition to Israel is not a condition of loving our neighbors as ourselves. No nation on earth is a principal in such a repellent contingency; singling out Israel in this regard is awful darn particular and obviously motivated by obsession.

The apostolic exhortation will most likely as the blogger hopes avoid any hostile statements toward Israel. The Williamson affair will ensure that (we hope). But it should always be remembered the... dislike the Secretariat of State has for Israel on the Palestinian issue. The Melkite hierarchy isn't alone in its thinking in Rome.

The Middle East

VIS has a post at its blog with the standard announcement of Special Assembly for the Middle East of the Synod of Bishops beginning on Sunday. It's mostly just who's going to be there and what areas will be represented along with bits of demographic data. The second-to-last paragraph:

"The aims of the Special Assembly for the Middle East are mainly of a pastoral nature" and can be divided into two main points: "reviving communion between the venerable 'sui iuris' Eastern Catholic Churches that they may offer an authentic, joyful and attractive witness of Christian life", and "strengthening Christian identity through the Word of God and the celebration of the Sacraments".

My bolding. I read awhile ago in a post I cannot find now a quote by a Middle Eastern bishop on how the sacraments could use modernizing. The poster and comments to the post voiced concerns at such language, concerns that hopefully will not be proven true.

Return to Ukraine

Last night on EWTN, I watched the last half of a program called Holy Roman Spies. The title sensationalized the subject-matter, as the 'spies' of the program were rather missionaries to the Soviet Union by way of Ukraine during World War II. They were all trained at the Collegium Russicum in Rome. The program also included accounts of the college's possible infiltration by the Soviet KGB, though most of the the interviewees from the college couldn't figure out why the Soviets would have been interested in such an institution. Right...

This morning, I was directed by an email to this article by Sandro Magister discussing the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and its relationship with the Orthodox of Russia. Long time readers will remember that when we last left the two sides, there was much hostility, not only between the Catholics and the Orthodox, but between various Orthodox factions fighting for legitimacy.

Magister's article today discusses the thawing of relations between Rome and the East and how this has affected things in Ukraine. The primary reason is that Benedict himself is German and not Polish, the ethnicity of John Paul II being one of the major wedge issues of the past due to the historic tension between Russia and Poland with Ukraine in the middle. One of the secondary reasons is that Benedict has dropped all efforts to establish the Ukrainian Greek Catholic patriarchate and has focused instead on cooperation with the Orthodox in evangelizing the larger segment of the Ukrainian population that is outside the Christian Church.

Though tensions in one sphere have eased, Magister points to another where the Greek Catholics have come under attack through pressure by the pro-Russian Ukrainian government through subtle oppression by the security services and lack of formal legal recognition or state monies, which instead go to the Orthodox Church.

To be continued.

Orthodox news

From Interfax Religion:

Ukrainian Uniats urge to join NATO now - daily

Moscow, February 14, Interfax - Ukrainian political processes are being intertwined with the nation’s church life deeper and deeper.

Some Greek Catholics urge to join the NATO as soon as possible even from the preaching pulpit, the Trud daily said on Wednesday.

The February meeting of Volhynian Regional Interior Department Board held earlier this week started with a supplication service. From now on all important police events in Western Ukraine will start with a church service, the daily added.

It was also decided to make the staff of Interior Department’s regional boards and district offices regularly participate in the cervices. ‘Only those may fight the crime who have God in their hearts,’ the Volhynian Interior Department Board head Ivan Proshkovsky.

Meanwhile police officers from Khmelnitsky Region had their personal guns blessed. The like spiritual empowerment in Galichina’ police has its specific feature: the officers are led to churches marching in formations.

The above story is really bizarre in the way it goes from NATO to church-police relations with absolutely no transition. It's like two different stories put together to give the article some length. But hey, whatever floats their boat at Interfax.

Vatican’s representative in Russia urges Catholics to respect Orthodox traditions

Moscow, February 14, Interfax - Representative of the Holy See in Russia, Archbishop Antonio Mennini, has pointed out that it is important for the Catholics to respect the Orthodox church tradition for a success of the ecumenical dialogue.

‘We will seek to show more gestures of sympathy and respect for the Russian Orthodox Church, putting distrust and prejudice away, as we work only for the sake of Jesus. We must try to understand with love, and understanding takes learning’, Archbishop Mennini writes in an address to the readers of Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism which have been republished in Russian.

[A whole lot of talk on the book]

The Catholic clergy are strongly recommended ‘to pay attention to the norms existing in Eastern Churches for their faithful and to avoid any, even seeming proselytism’ and ‘to show sincere respect for the liturgical tradition of other Churches and church communities, which are asked, in their turn, to show reciprocal respect for the Catholic tradition’.
[...]

Good ideas all around.

Finally, back to Ukraine: Ukrainian Orthodox demand air time for the canonical Church radio and TV

Moscow, February 13, Interfax - Ukrainian Orthodox believers fear Roman Catholic proselytism and urge authorities to give them some air time for broadcasting.

‘We demand that the canonical Orthodox Church, which has formed spirituality, morals, and civilization image of our nation for centuries, be suitably represented at Ukrainian state TV and radio in accordance with its authority and number of believers,’ the Fraternity of St. Alexander Nevsky’s appeal to the Ukrainian government, the text of which Interfax received on Tuesday, said.

The appeal of the representatives of Ukraine’s Orthodox community was an answer to the association agreement between the president of Ukraine’s national broadcasting Viktor Nabrusko and the director of programming at Vatican Radio Federico Lombardi.

The Catholics would have seven casts a week at the state radio, ‘while the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in fact has no air time at the national radio,’ the Fraternity’s representatives noted.

That is really weird. They have /no/ air time at all? Huh.

Anyway, the news round-up out of Ukraine and Russia is complete for another day.

Ask and ye shall receive

Yesterday I said I should do some research into the background behind Rome-Athens relations since I had forgotten or was not recalling anything I'd read in the past. Zenit provides with an interview with a Monsignor Salachas of the Greek Catholic Exarchy in Athens who explains.

Q: Some years ago, and not that many, a visit by the Orthodox archbishop of Athens to the Pope was quite improbable. What is changing?

Monsignor Salachas: Insofar as I know, Archbishop Christodoulos' intention to visit the Pope already ripened during the last years of John Paul II's pontificate, whose funeral he attended personally.

The starting point of a new era in relations between the Church of Rome and the Orthodox Church of Greece was precisely John Paul II's Jubilee pilgrimage to Greece in May 2001 "in the footsteps of St. Paul," and the signing of a Joint Declaration in Athens' Areopagus by Pope John Paul II and Archbishop Christodoulos, committing themselves to fraternal collaboration and a common testimony to safeguard the Christian identity of the European continent.

It was followed in March 2002 by the visit to the Holy See of a delegation of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, and in February 2003 by the visit of a delegation of the Holy See, headed by Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, to the Church of Greece, and the participation of representatives of the Holy See in several initiatives convoked by the Church of Greece at the international and ecumenical level.

Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Constantinople consolidated the decision already made months earlier by the archbishop to visit the Church of Rome and meet with her Bishop to reaffirm the commitment assumed with the declaration in Athens' Areopagus in 2001.

The monsignor's comments on the Eastern Catholic Churches are worth reading:

It is known that the Orthodox Churches' reservation is based on the fact that they don't see a theological foundation that justifies the existence of the Eastern Catholic Churches, while for the Catholic Church the fact of their full communion with the Apostolic See of Rome with the bonds of the profession of the faith, of the sacraments and of the ecclesiastical government, justifies their ecclesiasticism and canonicity.

On several occasions, Orthodox exponents, theologians and ecclesiastics have expressed their point of view for the solution of this problem, considering that Eastern Catholics should opt to return to the Orthodox Church, from which they stem, or incorporate themselves to the Latin Church, inasmuch as they are united to Rome.

Obviously, such a solution cannot find agreement on the part of the Catholic Church, for essentially doctrinal, ecclesiological and pastoral reasons.

I think that "Uniatism" implies fundamentally the more delicate and theologically more difficult question, that is, the primacy of the Roman Pontiff.

In a comment I read someplace yesterday, an Eastern Catholic was lamenting the current status of the Eastern Churches as sort of bastard children that were over time being viewed as unwanted and as obstacles to be overcome in the road to ecumenism. The jurisdictional issues that lie ahead should all the other prerequisites of full communion be fulfilled are quite huge in and of themselves.

What is this about?

Interfax: Ukrainian Greek Catholics’ attempt to seize an Orthodox church in Transcarpathia

Moscow, November 16, Interfax - The Ukrainian Greek Catholics attempted to seize an Orthodox church in the village of Zarechevo, Perechin district, Transcarpathia region.

The Orthodox village inhabitants could not enter their church for two weeks because the Uniates blocked it up.

The Orthodox church in Zarechevo has always been open, even under the Soviet power. The Greek Catholic comprise 2% of the local worshippers, yet the Transcarpathia administration resolved to build a church for them at the state’s expense. The Orthodox worshippers living in the village favored the decision, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church press service told Interfax.

The Uniates declined the offer and made an attempt to seize the Orthodox church by force.

Bishop Agapit of Uzhgorod and Mukachevo arrived in Zarechevo to encourage his flock. The police managed to stop Uniates’ provocations, and the Orthodox believers could enter the church and celebrate the divine service.

In checking out the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church's website, The Resolutions of The Patriarchal Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church make interesting reading.

The first resolution:

1) A sui juris Church;

2) Completely united with the successor of St. Peter- the Bishop of Rome;

3) Bearers of the Eastern Christian Byzantine tradition from the time of Volodymyr's Baptizing;

4) Taking into consideration our history, our geographic location, and our religious and ecclesiastical experience, we are called to assist in the full and mutual understanding of two Christian traditions- Byzantine and Latin.

The list of resolutions concludes with this [bolding is mine]:

These resolutions are effective as of October 14, 2006, on the Feast of theProtection of Our Most Holy Queen, the God-Bearer and Ever-Virgin Mary

+ Lubomyr

Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

Distancing

From this morning's release from VIS:

Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, Archbishop Major of Kyiv-Halyc, with the consent of the Synod of the Greek-Catholic Ukrainian Church and after having informed the Apostolic See, transferred Bishop Ihor Vozniak, C.SS.R., from Auxiliary Bishop of the Archeparchy of Lviv of the Ukrainians to residential Archbishop of the same see.

Rocco here discusses the ins and outs of what this little snippet may mean.

My thoughts
I am not qualified to disagree with Rocco's reading the fine print of the above excerpt, so I will take his word for it.

As far as the distancing, while it will give the Vatican 'technical', canonical cover, I doubt the Orthodox are really going to buy that. The Russian Patriarch will fume and rage and complain and all that. But since there is pretty much nothing he can do about it except spurn further attempts by the Holy See at reconciliation, the Catholic Church will just have to live with an extension of the status quo.

If Husar plays his cards right and acts in the new role with some humility and discretion, I wouldn't be surprised if some of those Orthodox factions started paying some attention to his calls for a single Ukrainian patriarchate.

In a larger sense, Benedict XVI has a possible strategy here to lure the Orthodox back from schism by pointing at the Ukrainian Greeks and saying, 'They operate with pretty much total autonomy'.

Not in it for a photo op

More words from Moscow; they are basically a reiteration of the standard line. The third paragraph is rather interesting in its directness.

Moscow, December 28, Interfax - The Moscow Patriarchate awaits Vatican’s concrete actions that would corroborate its intention to overcome current conflicts, in particular, proselytism practiced by the catholics in Russia and the CIS countries and the uniates’ expansion in Ukraine.

‘It is early yet to speak about any concrete rapprochement. We welcome the statement of the new Pope about the necessity to continue dialogue. We hope that this statement will be followed by actions’, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II said in an interview published by BBC Russian.

‘Why to meet (with the Pope - IF) in front of TV cameras? Just to show to the world that there are no problems between us? But we have problems, don’t we? Such meetings should be well prepared. The problems worrying the Russian Orthodox church and its flock should be solved for the meeting to take place’, the patriarch added.
[...]

Read the complete article Vatican’s move against proselytism and Greek Catholic expansion would ensure meeting with the Pope of Rome from Interfax.

The Patriarch of Moscow also laments the attempts to break off the Ukrainian Church from Moscow.

He also regretted the attempts of some Ukrainian politicians to interfere in church affairs. ‘Some politicians have been striving to establish a church independent from Moscow at all costs. It is cutting an open wound! There are many mixed marriages; we venerate many saints together!’ Alexy II noted.

This paragraph is interesting in that while the rest of the article seems to make the Greek Catholic Church the big bogeyman in Ukraine, the patriarch here acknowledges that his flock in that country battle not only the Catholics, but other Orthodox factions as well. He also ought to know full well why Ukrainian politicians aren't that keen on ties with Russia, given Russian attempts to interfere with internal politics, elections, etc.

Watch on Kiev

It's been awhile since we've heard from Cardinal Husar.

Kiev, December 19, Interfax - The head of the UGCC, Cardinal Lubomir Husar, has again spoken for establishing one Local Church in Ukraine.

‘The Churches have not been established by officials, but by Jesus Christ. We as Christians should unite, and it is our tragedy that we are still separated’, Cardinal Husar said at a press conference in Kiev on Monday.
[...]

Read the complete article Head of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, transfer of his residence to Kiev has helped considerably to Ukrainian Churches to come closer together from Interfax.

The quote above is the basic gist of the article. Husar merely expresses the same thought in several different permutations. The last few paragraphs describe the status of the cathedral-church that is being constructed in Kiev.

You'll all remember the last time Cardinal Husar spoke out on a coming together of the Ukrainian confessions. The article here provides a bit more detail in that Husar seems to not be looking for a unified church so much as everyone working together for the common Christian goal, Perhaps he sees such cooperation as the preliminary move toward securing a united patriarchate.

The meeting

(AGI) - Vatican City, Oct.18 - Benedict XVI wants to meet Moscow patriarch Alexis II: Moscow Catholic Archbishop mons. Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz said so to the reporters on the sidelines of the Synod. "Let's pray they will meet - he said - This event would allow to start a new page in the history of relationship between the two churches, the largest in the world".

Nothing new here at all. The Holy Father, both the previous one and the current one, wants to meet with the Patriarch of Moscow. Is it going to happen anytime soon? Doubtful.

Mons. Kondrusiewicz also mentioned the proposal of a common Synod with the Orthodox, suggested in May by card. Walter Kasper, president of the Vatican Council for Christian Unity, recently mentioned again by Leopolis archbishop, card. Lubomyr Husar. "THe proposal was met very well by the Orthodox authorities".

Who exactly are these 'Orthodox authorities' that have met this proposal with a positive response? The Russians? I doubt it. The Ukrainians themselves? Other parties? Anyone who really counts? We'll see if there is any follow-up to this.

"In Russia, the catholic church is expanding: there are now 220 official parish churches (6 in Moscow), another 300 communities are currently waiting to be officially enrolled by the authorities, 120 priests are working on it, 90 pct foreign, and there already 65 seminarists in St.Petersburgh. "Proselitism is not our policy - said the archbishop - we are not supporting the coversion of orthodox, but the people who want to turn to catholicism are to be respected. Despite these problems, everyone expects important steps towards unity: it's no longer time to throw stones, but to pick them up".n(AGI) -
181815 OTT 05

With statistics like this, all the optimism in the world is not going to placate the Russian Orthodox Church. Cardinal Kasper and the Archbishop of Moscow either have inside sources that tell them things that the Russians do not admit when they're talking in the press about Catholic infringement or the cardinal and the archbishop simply make these comments and hope for the best, as if talking will change attitudes.

Read the complete article The Pope wants to meet Alexis II from AGI.

Husar: Synod with Orthodox needed

During and after today's session of the Synod, Cardinal Husar of Kiev spoke out on the relationship between the 'two lungs' of the Church.

Husar then suggested that the pope call a new synod of the world's Catholic bishops to discuss the role of the Eastern rite church, saying there was a lack of understanding among other Catholics about its role.

He suggested Orthodox clerics be included in the meeting.

In an interview with The Associated Press after his speech, Husar noted that the late Pope John Paul II had frequently said the Catholic Church "breathes with two lungs" - a reference to the Eastern and Western halves of the church.

"At the moment we do not feel that the church is breathing with these two lungs," he told the AP.

Read the complete article Ukraine cardinal wants synod with Orthodox from The Mercury News.

A synod with a lot of Orthodox invited to attend would do what exactly? I'm surprised he doesn't just go all the way and make some noise for an ecumenical council with everyone, East and West, invited to attend.

There is an upcoming meeting of the group responsible for dialogue. I'm interested in seeing what they come up with as far as the issue of the primacy and other details. Husar seems really caught up in this whole ecumenism with the East, though he seems to not realize his very own position in Ukraine is a large part of the problem (or so it appears).

I'm wondering though... In the interests of moving things forward, is the Patriarch of Constaninople willing to do an end-run around the Russians? What are his representatives doing in Ukraine? We'll see.

Pursuing the plan?

Let's see, what did I miss over the weekend...

On the 8th was the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Synod of Bishops. Various bishops spoke. It was noted that both John Paul II and Benedict XVI had served as relator general. The Holy Father will no doubt live a long while, but does his position now give Scola the added leg up in the eventual conclave? We shall see.

Clemens August Cardinal von Galen was beatified (minus direct Papal participation).

In a letter to the Pontifical Lateran University, Benedict XVI commenorated the centennial anniversary of the birth of Hans Urs von Balthasar.

Pursuing the plan

The Synod continued today with its deliberations. From today's VIS email:

ELEVENTH GENERAL CONGREGATION

VATICAN CITY, OCT 10, 2005 (VIS) - This morning, in the presence of the Holy Father and of 244 Synod Fathers, the Eleventh General Congregation of the Eleventh Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops was held. The president delegate on duty was Cardinal Francis Arinze.

Following are excerpts from some of the speeches delivered this morning:

CARDINAL LUBOMYR HUSAR M.S.U., ARCHBISHOP OF LVIV OF THE UKRAINIANS, UKRAINE. "My premise is that there can be no doubt whatsoever that the Eucharist is the source and summit of the life and the mission of the Church. But this is also true for Oriental Churches! (Therefore) if the Liturgy is a 'regula fidei' ('lex orandi, lex credendi'); if the divine liturgy celebrated by Oriental Churches in communion with the See of Rome, and by Orthodox or Apostolic Churches, is identical; if there is mutual recognition of the apostolic succession of bishops and, consequently, of priests that celebrate the Eucharist, then my question is: what more is required for unity? Is there perhaps another 'fons' or another 'culmen' superior to the Eucharist? And if not, why isn't con-celebration permitted?"

As you'll all remember (since I can't find the link), Husar suggested a couple of weeks ago that there should be one Church in Ukraine under one patriarch, in communion with Rome. Are his words here a further step in floating the idea?

The coming conflagration

Ukraine is far away, but it is a popular topic of this journal. If you've read Papabile, you've probably seen his post on Cardinal Husar's comments on a unified patriarchate in Ukraine. That state is at the forefront of not ecumenism but direct confrontation between the Greek Catholics, two independent Orthodox patriarchates and the Russian Orthodox Church as represented by the Metropolitan of Kiev.

Today we have a piece by Daniil Spassky, who is quite sympathetic to the Russian Orthodox position. He writes on the increasing government interference in religious matters and the growing intrusion of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

Instead, the Fanar delegates have had intensive discussions on all this with the schismatics and state officials behind the back of Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev. So much so that a bishop from Constantinople even attended a council of the so-called Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church among the participants in which were anathemized Filaret Denisenko and Yuschenko’s adviser A.Sagan.

With regard to Constantinople, it is all clear: it cherishes the desire to enter the territory of Ukraine, to consolidate its grip on it and then to increase its presence disregarding the interests of the Ukrainian Church and its faithful. The matter is more complicated with regard to the state’s attitude. The present Ukrainian president nearly vowed in Maidan to prevent the state from interfering in church affairs, but now we see civil servants actively participating in the development and implementation of Constantinople’s project. It means that they either violate the will of the president thus setting him up or have his approval. But hasn’t he broken his word then?

Read the complete article Constantinople and Ukraine: church representations as a new turn in the church crisis from Interfax.

Husar is not a patriarch, but they refer to him that way. Alexei II of Moscow is trying to save the bulk of his church's income and vocations. The other two Orthodox churches are just doing their thing (if I were them, I'd be doing some serious unificaiton talks). And the Patriarch of Constantinople's guys are showing up and stirring the pot for some as-yet-unknown reason.

I'll take a moment and simply note on an academic, not-very-serious note that relativism needs to be fought in Western Europe if for no other reason than it is just so boring compared to places like Ukraine.

It is done

World Youth Day wrapped up yesterday. Check out the other Vatican watchers for more info. They covered it much better than I.

The main topic covered here over the last few months also concluded yesterday, when the Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine moved its seat from Lviv to Kiev. Protesters protested and promised to keep protesting.

As we see again here, this move is pretty much exclusively opposed by the Orthodox of the Russian Church:

The service was attended by head of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church Lyubomyr Huzar, Greek-Catholic archbishops from all parts of Ukraine and abroad, and representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Church.

The other two Orthodox churches in Ukraine have no problem with it. We'll see if they are able to keep up the protests as promised. Husar, strengthened by the move, will be pushing for the elevation of the UGCC to patriarchate status here. Then the conflict really begins.

Not all Orthodox are upset

Blah, blab, usual story that we've seen for the half year or more, with added protests and police present to keep the peace. However...

The head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev patriarchate Filaret said that the decision on shifting Guzar’s residence to Kiev is the domestic affair of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church. The Russian Orthodox Church lashed out at the shifting of the residence of the Guzar’s church to Kiev.

The Orthodox Church is split in three in Ukraine. There's those loyal to Moscow, those who are loyal to an independent Kiev patriarch and those loyal to /another/ Kiev Patriarch. Notice that it's only the ones loyal to Moscow who are making a stink about this move.

Read the complete article Protests against shifting center of Greek-Catholic Church to Kiev from ITAR-TASS.

Tomorrow's the big day

Not much time to post much this morning. I have Confession in a couple hours. But as it is nearly Sunday the 21st, the media is picking up the impending move to Kiev.

It's afternoon in Ukraine and Sunday (liturgial Sunday) is but a few hours away.

From CWN: Ukrainian prelate defends controversial move to Kiev

But the Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Church insisted that the move "is not aimed against anybody, and is motivated by the real needs and development of the Byzantine Catholic Church." Cardinal Husar has explained that the Ukrainian Catholic Church-- which suffered brutal persecution during the Stalinist era, and has emerged with new vigor since the collapse of the Communist regime-- deserves representation in the country's cultural and political center.

From the BBC: Ukraine church move fuels rivalry

A Kiev-based group, calling itself the Union of Orthodox Citizens, has declared that it would "defend Kiev as the mother of Russian cities and New Jerusalem - which cannot exist without the Third Rome (Moscow)".

[...]

According to Vatican sources, Pope Benedict XVI shares the opinion of his predecessor, the late John Paul II, that in view of the persecution the Uniate Church has suffered, its ambitions are understandable - and will have to be addressed sooner or later.

However, the Vatican also prefers a cautious approach and does not like being "bounced" by the Uniate leadership.

There is, on the face of it, not much the Vatican can do about the planned move to Kiev on 21 August.

However, giving the Uniates a Patriarchate is another matter.

Orthodox protest

KIEV, August 17 (Itar-Tass) -- Dozens of people who support Ukraine’s Brotherhood party organised a protest in front of the residence of the papal nuncio (the Vatican’s envoy) in Kiev on Wednesday.

They protested against the planned transfer of the cathedra of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church from Lvov to Kiev.

The protesters demanded “to stop the expansion of Catholicism to Orthodox territories and give up plans to transfer the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholics to the Ukrainian capital, the historical centre of Slavic Orthodoxy”.

The Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) has decided to transfer the residence of the supreme archbishop from Lvov to Kiev on August 21.
[...]

Read the complete article Orthodox believers organise protest in front of Vatican embassy. from ITAR-TASS.

Aside from the protest outside the nuncio's residence, the article basically recounts the same details from the article in the previous entry.

Some data from ITAR-TASS:

There are presently over 27,500 religious communities in Ukraine. Over 10,000 of them are under the authority of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, just over 3,000 are controlled by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate, and more than 3,000 are under the UGCC.

Mark August 21 on your calendars when Husar is officially installed in Kiev and see if there is a general acclamation of 'Patriarch!'. Three patriarchs in one city ought to make things quite interesting...

Alexy II speaks out

Moscow, August 16, Interfax - Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia expressed his hope for Vatican’s wise and considered approach to the problem of transferring the chair of the Ukrainian Greek Catholics to Kiev.

‘These actions cannot be justified either from historical point of view, or by church rules and canons. Kievan chair from the very first years of its existence was an ecclesiastical capital of the Russian Orthodox Church, first as the centre of metropolia, and later as the major one among the Ukrainian dioceses’, - Alexy II said in his interview to the Moscow Patriarchate press service.
[...]

Read the complete article Alexy II calls the Roman Catholic Church to show wisdom in the problem of transferring the Uniate chair to Kiev from Interfax.

The Patriarch of Moscow laid down the preconditions for a meeting with the 'Pope of Rome':

...the policy of proselytism, the champion of which in Ukraine is the Greek Catholic Church, would be stopped.

The article then concludes with the story that during the years of the suppression of the Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine, the Orthodox assisted the Uniates and that the way Rome was repaying their kindness was just a slap in the face (or something to that effect).

The move form Lviv to Kiev is supposed to happen before the end of August. I read the comment somewhere that referencing canon law is pointless since the Orthodox and Rome do /not/ share a common code of canon law. So Alexy II doesn't get points there. The point that the Catholics should be more grateful for the help of the Orthodox also rings hollow, given the fact that the Orothodox pretty much had the monopoly on religion (such as it was under godless communism) in the USSR. From Wikipedia:

At the state organized 1948 sinod in Lviv (Lvov), some [Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church] clergy were coersed into proclaiming the annulement of the 1596 Union of Brest thereby breaking the canonical ties with Rome and transferring under the Moscow Patriarchy. This move's acceptance was mixed. With many crergy members and lay beleivers turning to ROC, some adamantly refused. While the UAOC [one of the splinter Orthodox groups in Ukraine] and UGCC church property in Ukraine was liquidated by the Soviet authorities or transferred to the [Russian Orthodox Church], many beleivers refused to accept liquidation of their churches and for nearly 40 years the UAOC and UGCC existed in Western Ukraine underground lead by the clergy members under the threat of prosecution by the Soviet state.

As Wikipedia points out in the article on the Greek Catholic Church, it is not the implanted creature of Rome that the Russian Orthodox Church makes it out to be:

Within Ukraine itself, the UGCC is a minority faith of the religious population, being a distant second to the majority Eastern Orthodox faith. However, since the Ukrainian Orthodox were split into at least three denominations around the onset of independence in the 1990s, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church denomination thereby accidentally became the second largest religious organization in Ukraine in terms of number of communities.