Introduction

Myroslav Marynovych

AN ECUMENIST ANALYZES THE HISTORY AND PROSPECTS OF RELIGION IN UKRAINE

Searching for light
Each can guide the other by,
Sharing the search
With all who need the sun
Frances Forde Plude, “Thoreau Reflection” *

The informational horizon created in Ukraine by the mass media, unfortunately, cannot be called either objective or complete. The network of church presses, together with religious and analytical divisions of the secular mass media, are not sufficient and do not meet the urgent needs of either the church or society. Educational-evangelical work is done by means of the mass media, after a fashion, whereas theological and analytical fields are still poorly developed. This is mainly due to the insufficient religious and theological formation of Ukrainian journalists, as well as the considerable non-professionalism of the monitoring of religious processes in Ukraine .

Against this general background, the orientation of religious journalism, starting from the 1990s, has been considerably affected by the competition between the main churches of Ukraine . The mass media became the field for propaganda battles between rival groups and for settling historic scores. The negative effect of such publications later became so obvious that part of the church and the secular mass media became more careful and made efforts to avoid the subject of interchurch relations altogether. At the same time, there are still materials in circulation in Ukraine that are likely to be classified as at least ill disposed if not provocative. Despite the fact that passions regarding the churches have not calmed yet, an increasing number of Christians are beginning to realize that there can be no winners in these propaganda battles.

However, there is a long way to go from realizing the general harm of hostile publications to stopping the propaganda mill. There are very few examples of Ukrainian churches making steps to approach each other in the information sphere. These examples do not constitute a socially noticeable phenomenon. For instance, a meeting of laity of different confessions with editors of the religious and secular press of Lviv was in a way unique. The meeting was organized by the Institute of Religion and Society of the Lviv Theological Academy (now Ukrainian Catholic University ) on 5 October 1999 . It was a seminar called “Tolerance in the Religious Press,” where representatives of various churches jointly addressed newspaper editors and called upon them to present materials on the church situation in a more friendly way. However, in general, there is still not enough space in the Ukrainian information field to propagate ecumenism or at least all-national religious reconciliation.

As for the international press, even sporadic analyses thereof give grounds to assert that the agencies of the Moscow Patriarchate are the main source of information about the Slavic world for the international community. Until recently, it was the only information channel and, accordingly, the only version of religious history of the region. Of course, this version, as well as any other church's historic views, should be respected, especially as it is held by millions of believers. It does not follow from this, however, that this version is undeniably correct or should remain unchanged.

The Christian world's inertness, remaining oriented solely to information materials from Moscow , runs increasingly counter to the realities of modern Ukraine . Further ignoring these realities may lead to considerable distortion of the real picture of religious life in this country. In the 1990s, Greek Catholics desperately tried to deny the very existence of “religious war” in Western Ukraine (still confirming the presence of serious disputes between Orthodox and Greek Catholic communities.) The crying inadequacy of this definition eventually made the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus Alexis recently admit “the absence of open clashes between Orthodox and Uniates.” 1

There is another aspect that should be mentioned. One of the recognized rules of conflict management says: “another party's interpretation of events is as legitimate as our own.” 2It follows from this that the historiography of churches, not recognized by Moscow , is as equally legitimate as the historiography of the Moscow Patriarchate. Anyway, it will be very difficult to solve the problem of reconciliation (as the first step towards ecumenism) without recognizing this fact. Therefore, sooner or later the Western mass media will have to give up the convenient but oversimplified view of problems through the eyes of only one side.

Unfortunately, there is the other side of the same coin. We have to admit that Ukrainian sources of information are either absent (in foreign languages) or non-competitive in the world market of information. This is due not only to the material hardships faced by Ukrainian churches, but also to the lack of knowledge of the rules of that market and the principles of information presentation. Presumably, it will be possible to solve these problems gradually under the condition that interest is mutual. We have a good example of a mutual project of the previously mentioned Institute of Religion and Society (of the Ukrainian Catholic University ) and the American Bradley Foundation with regard to establishing an objective Religious Information Service of Ukraine (www.risu.org.ua). This information service is becoming increasingly recognized in Ukraine and abroad. We appreciate any attempt to understand the whole spectrum of different perspectives on the religious situation in Ukraine . In this context, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Dr Frances Forde Plude, Notre Dame College , USA , for her interest in the present study and for her personal donation to see it published.

The main goal of this paper is to present a Greek Catholic view on the interchurch relations in Ukraine as it is seen from a layman's perspective . Hopefully, the observation-like style of the paper will make the understanding of the situation easier (and that is always important in the case of Ukraine ). At the same time, however, I apologize for sacrificing certain academic criteria in order to achieve the desired clarity.

Let me give you also some comment on the place of the Moscow Patriarchate in the further analysis. References to the position of the Russian Orthodox Church will play an important role in my study simply because the main accusations against Greek Catholics come from that direction. It is not so strange that I consider most of the accusations unjust and biased, and it will be my task to show the same events or trends from a different perspective.

This task, however, is sometimes fraught with traps. Any researcher willing to go deeper into the logic of confrontation takes the risk of being captured by a dispute and presents his or her view in a more emotional way than necessary for the analysis. I apologize in advance for such moments if they are found in my study. I know that such fencing with arguments , by itself, has never solved a prolonged conflict because people talk about positions while motivated by interests . That is why the researcher has to tear himself or herself away, in time, from the captivity of refutations presenting his or her positive vision of how to get out of conflict. This is exactly what I intend to do. I am sure that the Russian Orthodox Church and Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church will be a test for one another. Sometimes, however, it looks like both sides, in different ways, have fallen into a psychological trap where Christ's voice from the Sermon on a Mount is barely resonating. To correct unjust argumentation for the sake of truth is only one part of the task. The other and more important task is to propose the way out of the traps of history. It is the readers themselves who will decide whether this author's attempt to do so is successful.