Jews  on  Euro-­‐Maidan  

•  Jews  had  formed  their  symbolic  “Jewish  Hundred”  on  Euro-­‐Maidan  

•  Some  rabbis  prayed  •  Three  Jews  were  killed  by  

governmental  snipers  

Jewish  PosiBon  The  main  rabbi  of  Kyiv  and  Ukraine  Jacob  dov   Bleich:   «The   main   danger   for  Ukrainian   Jews   flows   not   from   alleged  ‘Ukrainian   naBonalists’,   but   from   real  Russian  provocaBons».  

The   former   dissident,   the   Head   of   the  CommiPee  of  the  Ethnic  CommuniBes  of  Ukraine   Joseph   Zissels:   «In   Ukraine,  none  erupBon  of  anB-­‐SemiBsm  had  been  observed».  

Мuslims  on  Euro-­‐Maidan  

•  There  was  a  separate  Crimea-­‐Tatar  “kurin”  (team)  on  Euro-­‐Maidan.  

•  Muslim  mullahs  oVen  prayed  on  Maidan.    

Muslims  on  Euro-­‐Maidan  

•  The  Leader  of  Crimean  Tatars  Mustafa  Djemilev  and  the  Head  of  Medjlis  Refat  Chubarov  acBvely  talked  to  Maidan  

Feasts  on  Euro-­‐Maidan  

Funerals  on  Euro-­‐Maidan  

PosiBon  of  the  Ukrainian  Council  of  Churches  and  Rel.  OrganizaBons  AVer  

the  AnnexaBon  of  the  Crimea  

•  Statement  on  2.03.2014:  «We  call  the  Russian  Government  to  refuse  from  the  military  or  any  other  interference  into  the  internal  affairs  of  Ukraine  that  is  not  in  accordance  with  the  internaBonal  order  and  bi-­‐laPeral  agreements.  The  Russian  rulers  have  to  understand  their  responsibility  before  God  and  the  humanity  for  possible  consequences  of  the  military  conflict  on  the  Ukrainian  land  

Complicated  situaBon  of  the  Ukrainian  Orthodox  Church  of  the  

Moscow  Patriarchate  The  Church  found  herself  “between  two  fires”;  these  are  (1)  the  loyalty  to  her  spiritual  leader,  and  (2)  the  loyalty  to  her  faithful  The  lePer  of  Metropolitan  Onufriy  to  Patriarch  Cirill  on  2.03.2014:  «I  ask  you  to  raise  your  voice  on  behalf  of  territorial  integrity  of  the  Ukrainian  state”.  

Those  events  became  the  result  of  the  inner  poliBcal  crisis  He  appealed  to  the  Ukrainian  government  to  restrain  from  using  violence  No  single  word  criBcal  toward  aggression  of  Russia  in  Ukraine  

PosiBon  of  the  UOC  (MP)  Hierarchy  Appeal  of  Bishop  Filaret  of  Lviv  and  Halychyna  of  the  UOCh  of  MP  to  PuBn  on  3.03.2014:  “Such  acBons  are  the  direct  violaBon  of  all  principles  of  internaBonal  law,  rights  of  freedom,  human  and  ChrisBan  values…  We  see  the  total  craziness  in  what  is  going  on  [in  the  Crimea]”.  

Statement  by  Metropolitan  AugusBne,  the  main  Chaplain:  “As  a  ‘military’  Metropolitan,  I  bless  our  Army  to  defend  its  country…  It  was  not  we  who  invaded  Rostov-­‐na-­‐Donu  or  Smolensk  (Russian  ciBes)”  

PosiBons  of  Other  Churches  Patriarch  Filaret  of  the  UOC-­‐KP:  “During  his  speech  on  March  18,  PuBn  violated  three  God’s  commandments:  you  shall  not  steal,  you  shall  not  bear  false  witness  against  your  neighbor,  you  shall  not  covet  your  neighbor’s  house  (Ex.  20:15-­‐17)”    

Patriarch  Sviatoslav  of  the  UGCC  to  all  religious  leaders  of  the  world:  “We  call  upon  you  to  be  in  solidarity  with  us  in  this  difficult  Bme  when  the  Russian  troops,  in  violaBon  to  all  the  agreements,  invaded  into  the  sovereign  territory  of  Ukraine.  In  our  country,  there  is  no  linguisBc,  ethnic  or  religious  discriminaBon”.  

Statement  of  the  Ukrainian  Council    of  Churches  and  Rel.  OrganizaBons    

on  the  SituaBon  in  the  East  of  Ukraine  10.07.2014  

•  All  people  with  unauthorized  arms  have  to  lay  down  their  arms  and  stop  bloodshed  

•  Territorial  integrity  of  Ukraine  is  a  naBonal  value,  and  it  would  be  a  sin  to  violate  it  

•  The  Council  blame  any  religious  persecuBons  or  discriminaBon  in  Donetsk  and  Luhansk  regions  

•  We  call  to  mercy  and  prayer  

Let  us  summarize:  In  difficult  Bme  of  2013/14,  the  Ukrainian  Churches…  

•  Stood  for  truth  and  opposed  its  distorBon  commiPed  (1)  by  the  Yanokovych’s  regime  of  Ukraine  itself  and  (2)  by  the  PuBn’s  regime.  It’s  impossible  to  bring  peace  on  the  basis  of  lie.  

•  Supported  the  dignity  and  legiBmate  rights  of  people  and  opposed  using  violence  against  them  by  the  Ukrainian  government  

•  Transformed  Maidan  as  a  civic  protest  into  the  place  of  prayer.  •  Supported  the  territorial  integrity  of  Ukraine,  opposed  the  

aggression  of  the  RF  against  Ukraine,  and  approved  the  legiBmate  right  of  the  Ukrainian  army  to  defend  the  naBon  

•  Opposed  any  violence  or  discriminaBon  against  peaceful  people  on  the  territories  in  conflict      

Remembrance,  Repentance  and  Forgiveness  

•  We  cannot  imagine  the  Role  of  a  Church  without  Remembrance,  Repentance  and  Forgiveness  

•  Symbolism  of  the  Polish  and  Ukrainian  Military  Memorials  on  the  Lychakiv  Cemetery  in  Lviv:  Common  prayers  since  2002    

Remembrance,  Repentance  and  Forgiveness  

•  Clouds  created  by  poliBcians  “gone  with  the  wind”  by  common  prayers  led  by  Catholic  hierarchs  

Healing  Historical  Wounds    with  Germans  

•  Common  Ukrainian-­‐German  prayers  on  the  military  memorials  in  Potelychi,  Lviv  region  8  May  2005.  Organized  by  JusBce  and  Peace  Commissions  of  Germany  and  Ukraine.    

What  about  the  Healing  of  Historical  and  Present  Wounds  with  Russians?  

•  I  am  criBcal  toward  the  aggression  of  the  RF  against  Ukraine  •  I  am  shocked  by  the  hatred  of  Russians  toward  Ukrainians  and  for  their  support  

for  the  Russian  aggression.  •  I  cannot  understand  how  the  naBon  of  Tolstoy,  Dostoyevski  and  Chekhov  may  

degrade  to  such  a  miserable  state.  •  But  how  it  was  possible  that  the  naBon  of  Goete  and  Heine  degraded  to  the  

“brown  beast”  state?  •  How  it  was  possible  that  my  naBon  of  Taras  Shevchenko  and  Lesia  Ukrainka  

degraded  to  the  besBal  state  during  the  Volyn  massacre  of  1943?    •  And  what  is  the  way  out  of  this  devilish  state?  

What  Is  the  Way  Out?  •  The  example  of  the  German  naBon  is  paradigmaBc:  

denazificaBon,  repentance  and  forgiveness  •  Nobody  in  the  USSR  took  responsibility  for  the  fact  that  

there  were  two  “dancers”  in  the  bloody  “dance”  of  the  WWII:  Hitler’s  Germany  and  Stalin’s  USSR.  

•  The  robe  of  a  Winner  in  the  war  covered  the  atrociBes  of  GULAG  and  Holodomor,  invasion  in  Poland  and  Finland,  humiliaBon  on  German  civilians,  especially  women,  at  the  end  of  the  war.  

•  No  single  naBon  in  the  former  Soviet  Union  took  responsibility  for  that.  Non-­‐Russian  naBons  legiBmately  point  at  Russia  as  a  main  benefactor  of  the  Communist  empire.  But  Russians  also  legiBmately  say:  “We  were  not  alone.  And  many  naBons  were  carried  away  by  the  communist  idea”.    

What  Is  the  Way  Out?  •  We  all  in  the  Soviet  Union  were  “born  in  October”.  Yanukovych’s  

regime  had  its  roots  in  the  communist  past.  And  PuBn’s  regime  has  its  roots  there.    

•  KGB  was  not  criminalized  for  its  atrociBes  –  vice  versa,  it  is  a  ruling  force  in  modern  Russia.  

•  But  non-­‐repented  crimes  tend  to  repeat  themselves.  The  craziness  of  PuBn’s  policy  is  deeply  rooted  in  communism  as  well.    

•  God  didn’t  create  criminal  naBons  –  it  is  human  sinfulness  and  false  ideologies  who  are  responsible  for  devilish  transformaBons  of  the  naBons.  

•  So  decommunizaBon  of  the  former  communist  naBons  (Russians  to  be  menBoned  the  first)  is  sine  qua  non  for  bringing  peace  to  this  part  of  the  world.    

What  Is  Lacking?  •  But  it’s  not  enough  to  criminalize  the  communist  acBons.  

This  is  only  a  part  of  the  soluBon:  necessary,  but  not  exhausBve.    

•  The  Church  answers  this  quesBon  very  clearly:  what  is  lacking  is  repentance  and  forgiveness.  

•  It  is  only  a  vicBm  who  can  forgive.  A  perpetrator  cannot  do  that  in  principle.  

•  All  the  naBon  of  the  former  Soviet  Union  feel  themselves  as  vicBms.  And  they  are.  So  what  about  their  moral  responsibility  to  forgive?    

•  Be  realisBc:  I  cannot  expect  massive  forgiveness  of  Russians  in  hearts  of  Ukrainians  at  the  present  moment.  Why?  Because  we  don’t  see  the  Russian  repentance.  However,  I  have  a  dream…  

I  Have  a  Dream  •  There  will  come  one  glorious  day  when  representaBves  of  all  

the  former  communist  naBons  gather  together  to  sign  up  the  Act  of  ReconciliaBon.    

•  The  laPer  will  include:  •  recogniBon  of  one’s  own  guilt  –  everyone  according  to  the  level  of  that  guilt;  

•  condemnaBon  of  the  communist  ideology  as  a  plaxorm  that  jusBfied  those  criminal  acts;  

•  mutual  repentance,  asking  forgiveness  and  offering  it.    

•  That  will  be  the  soluBon  not  only  for  the  present  Russian-­‐Ukrainian  crisis.  It  will  be  the  moment  of  release  from  our  history  and  giving  it  to  the  hands  of  our  Lord.  

There  is  always  hope!      Thank  you  for  your  aPenBon