The Ukrainian Weekly 2001, No.18
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www.ukrweekly.com INSIDE:• The end of democracy in Ukraine? — page 2. • Helsinki Commission hearing on Ukraine at the crossroads — page 6. • “A Ukrainian Summer” — special 12-page insert. Published by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profit association Vol. LXIX HE KRAINIANNo. 18 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MAY 6, 2001 EEKLY$1/$2 in Ukraine YuschenkoT remainsUPope to beatify 27 martyrsW of Ukrainian Church as caretaker only by Roman Woronowycz degree of persecution the UGCC endured One such example is the Rev. Emilian Kyiv Press Bureau after it was banned in 1946, when local Kovch, who was martyred by the Nazis. officials of the Soviet regime used their by Roman Woronowycz Born in 1884 in Kosiv, western Ukraine, KYIV – Pope John Paul II will beatify lackeys in the Church to stage a special he was a priest in the border town of Kyiv Press Bureau 27 Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church sobor (church council) that liquidated the Peremyshl. The Gestapo arrested Father martyrs for the faith during his visit to KYIV – While aides of Viktor UGCC. Following the decision, all of the Emilian in 1943 for harboring Jews. On Ukraine in June, the UGCC announced Yuschenko were maintaining on May 3 UGCC’s bishops and thousands of clergy March 25, 1944, he was incinerated in on April 25. The beatification of the that the ousted head of government and and laity were arrested and imprisoned in the ovens of the Majdanek concentration eight bishops, 15 priests, three nuns and his Cabinet would stay on for another 60 concentration camp, Some never camp in Poland. one layman was expected after the holy days not as a temporary government but emerged from those camps. The Rev. Klymentii Sheptytsky, the pontiff recognized them as martyrs of the in its full capacity, that did not change “The suffering of the Ukrainian younger brother of Servant of God Church. That action moves them another the fact that the reformist prime minister Church in this century was perhaps at Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, gave step forward in the long process toward and his team would function only as a moments worse than that experienced by shelter to Jews during World War II. On sainthood. caretaker government with little authori- the young Church in the first centuries,” Jun 5, 1947, he was arrested by the Twenty-six of the officially recog- ty while a replacement is sought. said the Rev. Terekhovskyi. nized martyrs succumbed to persecution NKVD and sentenced to eight years of It also meant that intensive political The priest divided the new group of at the hands of the Soviet regime hard labor. He died May 1, 1951, in wheeling and dealing will have to take martyrs into three sets: those whose mur- between 1935 and 1973, while the Nazis Volodymyr Prison. Born in 1869, the place in the near future to find a candi- ders were premeditated and who endured murdered one at the Polish concentration Rev. Sheptytsky entered the Monastery date and a majority of lawmakers that extensive torture; those who died in con- camp in Majdanek. of St. Theodore the Studite in 1911 after will support that candidate if Ukraine is centration camps; and those who sur- The announcement by the pope came giving up his secular career. He was to avoid another major political crisis vived the camps but succumbed after- just seven weeks after the UGCC sub- ordained in 1915, served as hegumen at around the end of June. wards as a result of the hardships mitted reports on the 27 as candidates for the Univ Lavra, and in 1944 was elevated Two days after the Verkhovna Rada’s endured. beatification. The reports included infor- to archimandrite. April 26 vote of 263-69 that ousted the The biographies of the 27 candidates mation on each martyr’s life; documenta- The single layperson in the group, ninth Ukrainian government in 10 years for sainthood reveal the diverse types of tion of his or her death; and an analysis Volodymyr Pryima, was a 35-year-old – the first time ever by a parliamentary persons who were ready to sacrifice their of theological works, if such existed. The cantor and conductor of the church choir vote of no confidence – President Leonid lives for their faith, and the pain and tor- of the village of Stradch near Yavoriv. He Kuchma signed the decree that terminat- process for recognition of martyrdom for ture they accepted in refusing to bend to ed its mandate. the 27 was begun in 1997. the wishes of their persecutors. (Continued on page 16) While the president had expressed his The speed with which the pope displeasure with the outcome of the vote accepted the proposals suggests that he immediately after he was informed of it, has decided to make the beatification of it seemed more to be with the instability the 27 a central aspect of his visit to another change of government will bring Ukraine, according to the Catholic U.N. conference highlights Chornobyl Ukraine rather than with the fall of the Information Agency. Pope John Paul is first real reformist government. scheduled to spend four days in Ukraine “I cannot welcome this decision as the on June 23-27, with stops in Kyiv and head of state, but what has happened has Lviv. happened,” said Mr. Kuchma, who was The Rev. Roman Terekhovskyi, vice- in the Chornobyl-area town of Slavutych postulate of the UGCC, said on April 25 for 15th anniversary commemorations in Kyiv that the action by Pope John rather than in the Verkhovna Rada ses- Paul II would not be unusual. sion hall on the day of the vote. The “When the pope visits a country there president blamed the decision on a lack is a tradition that the program should of political dialogue and cooperation include a beatification or canonization,” between the government and the explained the Rev. Terekhovskyi. The vice-postulate said that the recog- (Continued on page 18) nition by the Holy See underscores the Credit union donates $500,000 to The Ukrainian Museum N.Y. Self Reliance grants to other groups total $330,000 NEW YORK – Celebrating the 50th community institutions and organizations Andrew Nynka anniversary of its founding with a gala as well as Ukrainian causes to mark 50 Ukraine’s Ambassador to the U.N. Valeriy Kuchinsky and Dr. Christine K. Durbak concert on April 29 at The Cooper Union years of service to the Ukrainian at a conference at the United Nations. Hall in Lower Manhattan, the Self American community. Reliance New York Federal Credit As well, the credit union shared its by Andrew Nynka Information Transfer (WIT), was a three- Union, presented a gift of $500,000 to largesse with its members, paying out day event from April 25 to 27. Co-spon- The Ukrainian Museum in New York additional dividends totaling $540,000 to NEW YORK – In a solemn commemo- sored by the governments of Ukraine and City. its depositors. ration marking the 15th anniversary of the Greece, it looked into the theme That donation was in addition to The half-million-dollar gift was pre- world’s worst nuclear disaster, the 10th “Economics of Health and the $130,000 of donations presented to 13 sented to The Ukrainian Museum’s repre- International Conference on Health and the Environment.” other organizations, $150,000 for educa- sentatives, Olha Hnateyko, president of Environment dedicated April 26 to re-evalu- Conference organizers devoted tional organizations in Ukraine to be dis- the board of trustees, and Maria Shust, ating the medical aftereffects and continu- Thursday, April 26, exactly 15 years after tributed through U.S. foundations, and museum director, by Myroslav Shmigel, ing illnesses that have plagued Ukraine, the initial catastrophe, to discussing health $50,000 to St. George School and chairman of the board of directors of Self Russia and Belarus due to the nuclear fall- and medical issues relating to the Academy in New York City. Reliance, and Bohdan Kekish, president out from Chornobyl. Chornobyl disaster. Dr. Christine K. Thus, Self Reliance New York dis- The conference, held at the United bursed a total of $830,000 in donations to (Continued on page 17) Nations and organized by World (Continued on page 5) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MAY 6, 2001 No. 18 ANALYSIS NEWSBRIEFSNEWSBRIEFS Yuschenko’s ouster not a blow to democracy Thousands celebrate May Day missal, but also on issues that “reflect by David R. Marples Labor Ukraine, the Greens, the Social our position on the need to change the Democratic Party (United), the National KYIV – More than 10,000 people par- power system.” He added that referen- On April 26, the 15th anniversary of Democratic Party and the Democratic ticipated in a Soviet-style May Day rally dum questions should also address issues the Chornobyl disaster, the Ukrainian Union. in Symferopol, Crimea, Interfax report- connected with ensuring, in practice, the Parliament dismissed Prime Minister Paradoxically, the combination of ed. Participants held placards reading: constitutional guarantees of free educa- Viktor Yuschenko. Western observers votes (however foolish and self-serving “Let Lenin’s Name and Achievements tion and health care, as well as establish- (the Associated Press, Reuters, The New the motives) is an indicator that democ- Live for Centuries”; “Sunny Crimea – ing “sensible” housing and utility pay- York Times) have hailed his departure as racy is alive in Ukraine. In no other post- Yes, Yes, Yes. NATO and Its Followers – ments. (RFE/RL Newsline) a blow to democracy in Ukraine, point- Soviet country, excluding the Baltic No, No, No”; and “Privatization Is Robbery of the People.” Some 5,000 ing out that Mr.