The Sower page 13, June 24, 2018

EXPLORING OUR MUSEUM AND LIBRARY Divine Liturgies Offered on Battlefields By Lubow Wolynetz, Curator The photographic collection in required that the Empire’s armies were Ukrainian field chaplains. our Museum and Library is quite have a certain number of active and Depending on the location of the extensive. It covers many subjects. reserve chaplains. In the mid of the battles or where the unit transport For example, we have photographs 19th century when the Austrian was stationed, Ukrainian priests of illustrating church, social, and government introduced mandatory nearby parishes, in addition to the political aspects of the Ukrainian service in the army for all young chaplains, helped the soldiers in Diaspora as well as of other major men of the Empire, many their spiritual needs, by hearing Ukrainian historical events. These Ukrainians also had to serve. confessions, offering Divine photographs serve as an excellent Ukrainian Greek-Catholic priests, Liturgies on the battlefields, in documentation of important who at that time were not only trenches, and in forests. The occurrences. Probably the largest spiritual, but also social and politi- priests especially tried to have cel- collection that we have deals with cal leaders for the Ukrainians in ebrations during the major holi- the and Western , requested that days, namely Easter and Christmas, the . the government also assign Greek- notwithstanding the danger and Among these we have group and Catholic priests as chaplains for dire situation of the moment. individual portraits of soldiers, the Ukrainian young men serving Metropolitan Andrei Sheptystky. marching men-at- arms (infantry, in the Austrian Army. The govern- as soon as he was freed form cavalry), battle scenes in fields, in ment granted this request. Russian exile and back in Ukraine, trenches, in forests, in scenes of When World War I began, the had as his top priority travel to the moments of relaxation between Legion of Sich Riflemen was battlefields and offer Divine battles, etc. Of special interest are organized and began its defense of Liturgy for the Sich Riflemen army photographs depicting Divine the people and country against the units. Liturgies offered on battlefields. tsarist Russian army, and later We are including some of the Western Ukraine was part of against Red and White Russian photographs from our collection the Austro-Hungarian Empire. armies and the Polish army. With depicting Divine Liturgies offered ❑ Metropolitan A. Sheptystky visits Sich Riflemen, There was an official law which these Ukrainian army divisions on battlefields. Ukrainian Museum and Library of Stamford

A traditional Jordan Water Blessing on a river bank, A priest preaches at a Sich Riflemen camp, Ukrainian Museum and Library of Stamford Ukrainian Museum and Library of Stamford Book Review by Museum Director Msgr. John Terlecky

CHERNOBYL: THE HISTORY of a number of English-language that the Ukrainian name for this Through this book, I was ment, and the declaration of OF A NUCLEAR CATASTROPHE by books about various eras in city is Chornobyl on the first introduced to someone whose Ukraine’s independent sover- Serhii Plokhy. New York: Basic Ukrainian history. page of the book. I deeply felt name was unknown to me. It eignty. Books, 2018, $32. (ISBN 978-1- The professional reviews of the intensity of the meticulous, was a heroine of Ukraine in the A number of academicians 5416-1709-4) this book have been positively almost minute-by-minute log of person of a journalist and deputy have hailed this book as the stunning in their assessment of the events leading up to the of Ukraine’s parliament named definitive and genuine account this book released on or about moment of nuclear explosion Alla Yaroshynska of the of the Chernobyl crisis and its the thirty-second anniversary of and its immediate aftermath of Zhytomyr province. She waged a aftermath. The Chernobyl the nuclear disaster that took attempted rescues by the powers personal campaign, under much nuclear plant was finally closed place at the Chernobyl Nuclear of both the governments of the duress from her editors and cen- in the year 2000 and its reactors Reactor Zone on April 26, 1986. Ukrainian Soviet Socialist sorship by government leaders, contained within a huge sar- The book is divided into two Republic in and the to expose the Chernobyl tragedy cophagus. The nearby city of parts: a description of the catas- Supreme Command of the facing the people of Ukraine Prypiat is a ghost town. The trophe itself and the impetus of leadership in through successive winds of effects of the disaster upon the the catastrophe towards the col- Moscow. The aftermath of chaos radioactive poisoning. Her populace of Ukraine, Belarus lapse of the Soviet Union as well between the two governments is courage opened up a rare oppor- and other countries will take as the declared independence of clearly represented in contesting tunity to meet face-to-face with years to truly assess. Chornobyl, Ukraine on August 24, 1991. I decisions of how to rescue those Mikhail Gorbachev at the Ukraine is now rated the num- found the second half of the most threatened by the disas- Congress of People’s Deputies ber one attraction by book more thrilling in content ter’s effects versus the safe- in the spring of 1989 in Moscow. TripAdvisor for tourists visiting than the scientific nomenclature guarding of the very philosophi- From the dais of this gathering, the Kyiv region. associated with the catastrophe cal principles that gave Soviet the political silence of the con- How does the world assess itself. Communion its identity. I was sequences of the Chernobyl the political cover-up of this I offer some of the high- moved by the presentation of nuclear disaster came out of the nuclear disaster? Perhaps a This fabulous book was just lights of this thoroughly courage that began the transfor- closet to be forever judged and quote which appeared in Time published this past May by researched book that garnered mation of Ukraine from being a condemned. Her work was just magazine attributed to a citizen Serhii Plokhy, the noted histori- my attention. The author clearly puppet state to the voice of the the first step of what eventually of Poland says it best – “That the an and director of the Ukrainian in one sentence does away with people publicly expressed in var- became the focus of the Soviets said nothing and let our chil- Research Institute at Harvard the criticism of some in using ious rallies and protests between Ukrainian Writers’ Union, the dren suffer exposure to this cloud for University. This is just his latest the term “Chernobyl” by stating the years 1987-1991. formation of the Rukh move- days IS UNFORGIVABLE.” ❑

For more information about The Ukrainian Museum and Library of Stamford, please, visit www.ukrainianmuseumlibrary.org, call 203-324-0499 or 203-323-8866. The museum is open Wednesday through Friday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., or by appointment, and is located at: 161 Glenbrook Road, Stamford, CT 06902.