INSIDE: • President Obama proclamation on Captive Nations Week – page 3. • Photo Report: Soyuzivka Ukrainian Cultural Festival – page12-13. • Baseball team from Ukraine to compete in Michigan – page 21. THEPublished U by theKRAINIAN Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal Wnon-profit associationEEKLY Vol. LXXVIII No. 31 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, AUGUST 1, 2010 $1/$2 in Ukraine Russian patriarch’s visit to Ukraine sparks large demonstrations by Zenon Zawada More than 10,000 followers of the Kyiv Press Bureau Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate, led by Patriarch Filaret I, partic- KYIV – The Ukrainian government wel- ipated in a moleban and march through cen- comed the third visit of Russian Orthodox tral Kyiv on July 28 to commemorate the Church Patriarch Kirill I to Ukraine with christening of Kyiv Rus-Ukraine in 988. generous offerings, including Odesa’s largest While political demonstrators were cathedral, coupled with persecution and silenced and arrested throughout the week, arrests of dozens of critics. the Kyiv Patriarchate followers were The eight-day visit, which ended July 28, allowed to march from St. Volodymyr’s also included Dnipropetrovsk and Kyiv. Cathedral on Shevchenko Boulevard to the The Russian patriarch awarded Ukrainian monument to Prince Volodymyr overlooking President Viktor Yanukovych among the the Dnipro River. church’s highest honors, the St. Prince Yet the Church’s press service reported Vladimir Order. In turn, Patriarch Kirill that police prevented hundreds of its mem- accepted an honorary doctorate degree from bers, from both eastern and western regions Odesa National Legal Academy, owned by of Ukraine, from traveling to Kyiv to partici- Serhii Kivalov, known for his role in falsify- pate in the ceremonies. ing the 2004 vote. “They threatened to confiscate transport “Kirill is acting as a politician above all, licenses and create other ‘unpleasantries,’” not as a clergyman,” said Olexiy Haran, a the July 28 statement said. “We saw mass political science professor at the National refusals of transporters from fulfilling trips, University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy. “This which were secured in advance. Local gov- visit is occurring within the context of the ernment officials insistently ‘didn’t recom- ‘maloros’ model and the Russian-Ukrainian mend’ the clergy of the Kyiv Patriarchate relations being built by President from traveling to Kyiv on July 28.” Yanukovych.” Ever since coming to power in February, Besides drawing the support of millions the Yanukovych administration has Vladyslav Syniahovskyi of followers, the Moscow Patriarch’s visit repressed and persecuted ethnically con- Ukrainian Orthodox Church Patriarch Filaret I walks past St. Sophia Cathedral also inspired the largest demonstration of the scious Ukrainians as his main political oppo- in leading more than 10,000 faithful to march through central Kyiv on July 28 to opposition forces in a church ceremony that nents. The illegal restrictions applied commemorate the baptism of Kyiv-Rus Ukraine. was just as political as it was religious. towards the July 28 Kyiv Patriarchate cere- mony because the Orthodox Churches play a direct role in politics. Besides holding church icons and ban- Defying the odds, Drohobych church is completed ners, the marchers waved the flags of the For Ukraine! and Svoboda nationalist parties, by Zenon Zawada including banners such as “Kirill – KGB Kyiv Press Bureau Colonizer” and “Single Church, a Single People, a Strong Ukraine!” DROHOBYCH, Ukraine – Ukrainian They marched the same day that Patriarch Catholic churches have been sprouting Kirill led a divine liturgy at the Caves throughout the last decade in Drohobych, Monastery in Kyiv, among the holiest sites the second-largest city in the Lviv Oblast, in Orthodox Christianity, which is controlled reflecting the Church’s revival throughout by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow the Halychyna region. Patriarchate. The problem is that many don’t ever get The Ukrainian government went to great finished. Of the city’s 15 Ukrainian Catholic lengths to accommodate the visit of Patriarch churches, only eight are completed, many of Kirill, which critics said were outrageously which are the older churches in the city cen- excessive. ter, said Father Ivan Pankiv, a Lviv native The Kyiv City Council voted to rename now serving a Drohobych parish. Others the stretch of Ivan Mazepa Street along the can’t open their doors. Caves Monastery as Lavra Street (Caves To make matters worse, “the financial Street), 12 days before Patriarch Kirill crisis made it more long and harder to build arrived. churches,” said Yaroslav Mykhats, a While Kyiv City Administration Deputy Drohobych businessman. Chair Vitalii Zhuravskyi claimed this was Wanting to have a building to worship in, done at the request of the Moscow Patriarch, Father Pankiv and his parishioners turned to church officials denied it. their ancestors for answers. Rather than (The Ukrainian Hetman Ivan Mazepa was building with bricks or stone, which are rel- Zenon Zawada anathematized by Russian Czar Peter I and atively pricey nowadays, they decided to Father Ivan Pankiv (on steps) led the construction of the Church of the Blessed the Russian Orthodox Church after aligning build their church using wood from the fir Holy Martyrs Severian, Yakym and Vitaliy in Drohobych, the first wooden with King Karl XII of Sweden to fight trees of the Carpathian Mountains. church built in the Sambir-Drohobych Eparchy of the Ukrainian Catholic against the Muscovite forces at the Battle of As a result of their ingenuity, the Church Church since Ukraine’s re-established independence. Poltava in 1709.) of the Blessed Holy Martyrs Severian, Besides renaming streets, the Kyiv City Yakym and Vitaliy opened its doors to wor- and celebrate liturgy. Admittedly, it’s a modest building. Icons Council transferred ownership of the shippers on June 27, when the Eparch of More than 700 worshippers joined the hanging on the walls are temporary, while National Kyiv-Pechersk Historical-Cultural Sambir-Drohobych Bishop Yulian ceremony of the church’s opening, coming the church lacks an iconostas. The main Reserve, which includes the Caves Voronovskyi and his auxiliary, Bishop just two years after construction began on Yaroslav Pryriz, arrived to bless the church June 17, 2008. (Continued on page 8) (Continued on page 21) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, AUGUST 1, 2010 No. 31 ANALYSIS NEWSBRIEFS Ukrainian nationalism again Yanukovych receives ROC medal parties, so that they can win local elections and strengthen their power in the field.” KYIV – The head of the Russian (Ukrinform) under attack in Ukraine Orthodox Church (ROC), Patriarch Kirill, by Taras Kuzio refused to denounce the Zaporozhzhia on July 22 presented Ukrainian President Tigipko: foreign debt on increase Eurasia Daily Monitor Stalin monument, claiming this was an Viktor Yanukovych with the church’s Order of St. Prince Volodymyr, first degree. Mr. KYIV – Ukraine’s foreign debt will rise issue for local authorities. Party of Regions to 40 percent of GDP by the end of 2010, Belarus and Ukraine are the only two Deputy Vasyl Khary argued that if Bandera Yanukovych was awarded the decoration post-Communist countries where the ruling “for his attention to and strengthening of Vice Prime Minister Sergey Tigipko told monuments can be erected in western reporters on July 22. “Over the past two authorities see the nationalism of their Ukraine, then Stalin should be displayed in Orthodox Christianity in Ukraine, and to countrymen as something to be denounced mark his 60th birthday,” the press service of years we have increased total external debt Eastern Ukraine (http://gazeta.ua/index. relative to GDP from 12 percent to 36 per- and combated. Viktor Yanukovych is the php?id=337921). the president reported on Friday. Patriarch first of four Ukrainian presidents whose Kirill noted that this is the highest order of cent... By the end of the year it will reach However, the population of Halychyna 40 percent, and then we must start a reverse team regard Ukrainian nationalism as an supports Bandera monuments, which is not the Russian Orthodox Church, which is evil that they associate – as in Soviet times usually presented to Church patriarchs and trend,” he said. Mr. Tigipko explained that the case with Stalin in eastern Ukraine. A this year Ukraine has to return $200 million – with pro-Western opposition, Halychyna survey in May found that 57 percent of heads of states. (Ukrinform) and the Ukrainian diaspora. on loans obtained from the International Ukrainians oppose Stalin busts, ranging Klitschko seeks veto of election law Monetary Fund under the previous stand-by Vice Prime Minister Borys Kolesnikov, between 76 percent in western to 57 percent usually associated with the “pragmatic” arrangement. In addition, the budget will in eastern Ukraine (only 10 percent of KYIV – WBC heavyweight champion assign funds to pay the interest on the $2 business wing of the Party of Regions, Ukrainians support erecting Stalin busts). Vitali Klitschko, leader of the Ukrainian described his Orange opponents as “nation- billion loan that Ukraine received from the Moreover, 52 percent of the over-60 age Democratic Alliance for Reform (UDAR), Russian bank VTB in June. Mr. Tigipko alist bandits” (Ukrayinska Pravda, May 27). group oppose Stalin monuments (www. on behalf of his party, appealed to the presi- Such language is a throwback to Soviet-era also said that by the end of the year Ukraine uceps.com.ua). dent of Ukraine to veto the law on local expects to obtain $800 million from the views about nationalist partisans in western Opponents of the Stalin monument elections adopted by the Verkhovna Rada. Ukraine. World Bank and 610 million euros from the unfurled a banner with the words: The bill altering the existing electoral sys- European Union for financing the state Education Minister Dmytro Tabachnyk “Zaporizhia Against Stalin” at a soccer tem for local authorities was submitted by is the most hard-line proponent of the budget deficit for 2010.