The Ukrainian Weekly 1996, No.10
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www.ukrweekly.com INSIDE:• Crimean Tatars recall Gen. Petro Grigorenko — page 2. • Panel discusses Ukrainian-Polish relations — page 3. • A primer on e-mail lists and newsgroups — page 8. Published by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profit association Vol. LXIV HE No.KRAINIAN 10 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MARCH 10, 1996 EEKLY$1.25/$2 in Ukraine Rift Tbetween ConstantinopleU and Moscow W may have grave repercussions in Ukraine Ukrainian PM: Western assistance by Marta Kolomayets away from Aleksey II, this would truly a mustby Marta for Kolomayets shutdown of Chornobyl Kyiv Press Bureau mark the end of the imperialist Moscow Kyiv Press Bureau Church. That, in turn, could cause a KYIV – The recent rift between the schism in relations between the KYIV – Although Ukrainian govern- Constantinople and Moscow patriar- Constantinople patriarch – who holds a ment officials remain committed to clos- chates could have serious repercussions first-among-equals status of the patri- ing down the Chornobyl nuclear plant as in Ukraine, according to Patriarch archs among the Orthodox world – and the 10th anniversary of that station’s Filaret, the head of the Ukrainian Moscow’s Alexey. nuclear accident draws near, they have Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate. This spring, if the sobor of the UAOC, reiterated conditions – primarily substan- The current conflict between the ecu- which has 1,500 parishes, decides to tial Western assistance – if they are to menical patriarch, Bartholomew, and the unite with Metropolitan Volodymyr, honor their pledge. Moscow patriarch, Aleksey II, caused by Patriarch Filaret would be left as the Prime Minister Yevhen Marchuk, who the former’s recognition of the Estonian leader of the richest, but also the small- visited the Chornobyl plant on March 1, Orthodox Church may indeed mark the est, of the Orthodox Churches, with suggested to reporters that Ukraine beginning of the end of the Russian about 1,500 parishes. would have to keep the nuclear power Orthodox Church’s “spiritual empire,” According to Mr. Yelensky, station on line unless the West came up added Patriarch Filaret. He told journal- Metropolitan Volodymyr has considered with money to shut down the plant, locat- ists at a Kyiv news conference on March autocephalous status for his Church, but ed 135 kilometers north of Kyiv. 5 that this feud between the Russian has not made any moves toward that end. “If the G-7 (the United States, Canada, Orthodox Church and the Patriarchate of Sources close to his Church administra- Britain, France, Japan, Italy and Constantinople could speed efforts to tion say he is stifled by some of his hier- Germany) continues to delay this issue... win recognition for his own Church. archs and brethren, and Moscow’s iron the time will come when we will no According to Interfax-Ukraine, Patriarch grip, which does not allow him to make longer be able to listen to anyone but will Filaret is ready to dispatch his hierarchs to many appearances outside the walls of act according to the laws of physics and Greece next week to further study the situa- the Monastery of the Caves. safety considerations,” said Mr. Marchuk tion. Then, Patriarch Filaret has said, he “The question is whether Metropolitan at a press conference in Slavutych, the will address a request to the ecumenical Volodymyr has it in him,” added Mr. town built after the tragedy to relocate patriarch exploring the issue of granting the Yelensky. evacuated Chornobyl employees. Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv On the other hand, Patriarch Filaret of After touring the plant, the Ukrainian Patriarchate autocephalous status. the UOC-KP has seized this opportunity government official said safety standards But this is unlikely to happen, said to underscore the “essence of the imperi- at the plant are so high that the station Victor Yelensky, editor of a monthly magazine called Luidyna i Svit (Man and (Continued on page 3) (Continued on page 4) Prime Minister Yevhen Marchuk the World), an expert on today’s reli- gious situation in Ukraine. “Back in October 1993, when Ukraine’s government officials went to Freedom survey registers little change in 1995 Istanbul to lobby for recognition of the JERSEY CITY, N.J. — While the Review, the journal that publishes the House defines a democracy as a “politi- Church by the ecumenical patriarch, he early 1990s saw an explosion of politi- annual freedom survey. cal system in which the people choose set conditions stating that if your cal freedom worldwide with the col- The freedom survey rates countries their authoritative leaders freely from Orthodox Churches unite, I will recog- lapse of the Iron Curtain, a 1996 annual based on political rights and civil liber- among competing groups and individu- nize you,” explained Mr. Yelensky. survey of freedom registered relatively ties using a seven-point scale. One to als who were not chosen by the govern- With three Ukrainian Orthodox little change in political rights and civil 2.5 represents the most free, 3-5 is part- ment.” Churches vying for territory and parishes liberties in the world’s 191 countries ly free, and 5.5- 7, the least free. Last year Moldova and the Kyrgyz in Ukraine since almost the time of from the previous year. In 1995, only one country, Mali, Republic became democracies, and the Ukraine’s declaration of independence in This year, the Comparative Survey joined the ranks of free countries with a Dominican Republic re-entered the 1991, it is hardly likely that they will ranks of the world’s democracies. unite any time soon. of Freedom designated 76 countries as score of 2.5. Eritrea (5), Ethiopia (4.5) free in 1995 (the same number as the and Tanzania (5) jumped from the not “This represents just over 61 percent “I don’t really see any chance of of the world’s 191 countries,” said Mr. Patriarch Filaret and Metropolitan previous year), 62 countries as partly free to the partly free category. Bolivia, free (61 in 1994), and 53 countries as which underwent six months of emer- Karatnycky. “From the perspective of a Volodymyr Sabodan of the Ukrainian decade ago, the gain is all the more Orthodox Church – Moscow Patriarchate not free (54 last year). Only 10 years gency presidential rule, lost its free ago, in 1986, Freedom House, the rank and dropped to partly free (3), and impressive. Ten years ago, less than 42 uniting into one Church,” noted Mr. percent of the world’s countries were Yelensky, implying that this is a power human rights organization that has sur- two countries, Cambodia (6) and veyed freedom throughout the world Lebanon (5.5), became not free. formal democracies.” struggle between two leaders. The organization’s president points since 1955, rated 56 countries to be According to the survey, in 1995, (Earlier, other religion experts in out, however, that democracy is not free, 56 to be partly free and 55 to be 19.5 percent of the world’s population Ukraine had pointed out that Patriarch synonymous with freedom. Of the not free. lived in free societies and have a broad Bartholomew is hesitant to recognize the world’s 117 democracies, 76 are free, Ukrainian Orthodox Church in order not Adrian Karatnycky, Freedom House range of political rights and civil liber- 40 are partly free and one — war-torn to offend Moscow Patriarch Aleksey II). president, sees the lack of change from ties; 41.5 percent lived in partly free Bosnia — is not free. The third Church, the Ukrainian 1995 to 1996 as a positive develop- societies in which there are some con- Autocephalous Orthodox Church, gained ment. “The good news is that many free straints on basic rights due to govern- Eastern and Central Europe more parishes after hierarchs split off societies are showing signs of increas- ment practice or insurgencies, political Of the countries of the former Soviet from Patriarch Filaret in October and ing durability, as years of democratic terrorism and rampant corruption; and Union and the Eastern Bloc, nine are joined Patriarch Dymytriy of the UAOC. rule and tolerance are creating a 39 percent lived in not free societies. free (representing 20 percent of the However, if Metropolitan Volodymyr, stronger infrastructure of civil society, Mr. Karatnycky notes that the num- region’s population), 13 are partly free whose jurisdiction encompasses more especially in the post-Communist coun- ber of formal democracies emerging on (63 percent of the region’s population), than 6,000 parishes – more than the tries of Central Europe and in Latin the world stage in 1995 continued to Russian Orthodox Church of the UOC- America,” he wrote in Freedom rise, bringing the total to 117. Freedom (Continued on page 3) MP has on the territory of Russia – broke 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MARCH 10, 1996 No. 10 ANALYSIS NEWSBRIEFSNEWSBRIEFS Russia’s elections and Ukraine Centrists form Popular-Democratic Party credits to publications. In addition to low- ering the tax burden on suppliers of print- by Volodymyr Zviglyanich ther a rational economic program nor an KYIV — Three centrist political organi- effective bureaucracy for its implementa- ing supplies and publishers, the decree CONCLUSION zations, meeting here on February 24, provides for decentralization of printing tion. The program could be superseded agreed to merge into a single political party, Russia’s prospects with a modified version of the Bolshevik operations throughout Ukraine, a move the Popular-Democratic Party of Ukraine, expected to bolster periodicals popular in principle “to take and divide” accompa- Ukrainian Radio and UNIAN reported. The The advent of “instinctive” rather than nied by claims of restoration of social the various regions of the country. charismatic leaders presents Russia with a new party — composed of the Party for the justice.