Who to unite with?

The death of former Greek-Catholic leader Lubomyr Husar became quite a remarkable event in the religious life of Ukraine. In the first line, it was interesting to watch representatives of schismatic groups – UOC KP and UAOC – respond to the loss of Ukrainian Uniates. The spectacle appeared to be fairly engaging, as anticipated.

Why not the Pope, or once more about the position of Greek-Catholics in the Latin world

Condolences due to the death of Guzar were expressed by the whole political elite towards the UGCC, which is small wonder, since nearly 95% of the politicians are Greek-Catholic. Apart from them, representatives of culture and arts were singing odes by the coffin of the deceased. Even odious UOC Metropolitan Alexander (Drabinko) came to bend his head being not at all outraged by the fact that at the same time Uniates were grabbing a UOC temple in Kolomyia.



But how did the Vatican react to this event? Considering the seriousness of the UGCC's positions in the Roman Catholic Uniate reserve, it would be natural to expect in Lviv the UGCC head, the Pope of Rome Francis. However, from the Catholic capital, only short condolences were heard. No letter, no video message, no personal phone call to the UGCC head Svyatoslav Shevchuk ... Banal condolences, which the Vatican publishes by the thousands. Given the specifics of the work of the administration of the "holy throne", it is possible that Father Francis had nothing to do with this situation at all.

At the funeral of Husar there was a representative from the head of the RCC – a Jesuit of Slovak origin Archbishop Cyril, who is "looking" over all the world's unions ever concluded with the Vatican. Naturally, Claudio Gugerotti, the papal nuncio for Ukraine, took part in the funeral procession.

In short, the Vatican did not give homage to the "righteous man of the world" and "kobzar of independent Ukraine” Lubomyr Husar with special honors. It seems that this fact was noticed by the Ukrainian Uniates themselves, which, most likely, as always, they closed their eyes on. And this, to be admitted, testifies to many things.

First of all, the Pope’s ignor and the "blessed wave" testify to the neglect of the Ukrainian Greek Catholics and Uniatism in general. And these are not loud statements made without justification. After all, in a very short period of his ministry, Francis had already taken part in the funeral. However, for the former head of Ukrainian Uniates the pontiff for usome reason did not find time.

For example, on January 17, 2017, Francis took part in the funeral of the little-known Swiss Cardinal Gilberto Agustoni, who was retired. In addition, in 2016, the head of the RCC expressed a serious intention to attend the funeral of the former Israeli President – Jewish Shimon Peres. However, the last visit was canceled due to the pontiff's trip to Baku.

What prevented the Pope from coming for an hour and a half to Lvov in order to run a funeral service for the representative of the Greek Catholic line, which is so valuable to the Vatican? Maybe, despite all the successes in promoting the union, Husar was not so important for Francis? Or, not having arrived in Ukraine, Francis wanted to demonstrate his attitude towards the union in general? Given the recent aggravation of relations between the RCC and the UGCC, these assumptions cannot be ruled out.

What schismatics did there

As for the appearance of Ukrainian schismatics at the burial service of Guzar, it was more than enchanting. Filaret, having taken his entourage with him, without a shadow of embarrassment, came to the Patriarchal Cathedral of the UGCC in honor of the Resurrection of Christ and began to serve a requiem. Just think about it! De jure Orthodox hierarch who claims to be recognized by the Local Churches of the world and be granted a place in a general church diptych, comes to the Greek Catholic church and commemorates a virtually heterodox Christian. Moreover, all this takes place in the co-serving of the UGCC representatives.



It’s even hard to imagine how many canonical rules and regulations were violated by Filaret and Co. at that moment. At the same time, Filaret himself and his adherents understood perfectly well that they were committing a canonical crime. By the way, during his time in the ROC and the UOC, Denisenko never allowed himself such liberties.

Moreover, the position of Filaret about the Greek Catholics was very unpleasant. "The Greek Catholic Church was created by the Jesuits to exalt the Orthodox Christians. Instead of Christian unity, it brought grief and travails to the Ukrainian people under the authority of the Pope," Filaret firmly argued in the 1990s. Now, given the political ambience obviously, Denisenko calmly performs ambiguous actions, which can be regarded only from one angle – as flirting with the UGCC.

Looking at all this, it is worth recalling the following quotation of the current UGCC head Svyatoslav Shevchuk: "Today, it’s not a secret to anyone that the only canonical Orthodox Church in Ukraine, that is the one which stands in full communion with world Orthodoxy, is the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in unity with the Moscow Patriarchate. There are other Orthodox ecclesiastical communities which were excommunicated from this Patriarchate at the time of Ukraine's independence for various reasons; they are considered non-canonical by other Orthodox Churches."

Given all of the above, we are faced with a very dubious symbiosis. Despite this, the Ukrainian media have already managed to praise the actions of Filaret, calling it almost an alliance of Churches. By the way, the same step was taken in the UAOC, but their participation in the funeral of Guzar remained virtually unnoticed. Along with this, the actions of the UAOC can be characterized as another attack of agony, which has become a norm of life for this denomination. Being on the verge of self-disintegration, the UAOC is plainly uncertain on whose side they have to jump at the moment in order to preserve those remnants of parishes, which in the last two years have been actively changing their jurisdiction.

Although the relations of Ukrainian schismatics and Greek Catholics are far from ideal, it is obvious that the presence of the former at the funeral owes exclusively to political reasons. The Uniate leadership in power actively promotes the "Kyiv Patriarchate" in the fight against the UOC, and in exchange receives silent loyalty from the "Filaret followers”. The funny thing is that the latter do not even know what fate is held for them after they have completely fallen into the orbit of the Uniate influence in Ukraine. As for the UAOC, they simply get in the way, trying to at least somehow mitigate their imminent perish.

Inter-faith bacchanalia: to be or not to be?

It's ridiculous and at the same time scary that all these churchly-political games are constantly trying to get the Ukrainian Orthodox Church involved. What is customary to call the "United Local Church" in the highest state posts, is already beginning to acquire its first outlines. As one can see, the basis for this Local Church is not the UOC-KP, as the mass media and various "experts" are continually bursting with this.

Obviously, the Ukrainian union is increasingly getting out of the control of the RCC, gradually turning into a political tool of influence on the society. Moreover, it is the UGCC that is being prepared for the foundation of the "neo-church", which in fact can become a machine for the destruction of Orthodoxy in Ukraine as a whole. It is very convenient for authorities to have an entire institution that will obediently cover up all the flaws of the current government as their supporters. And this scenario, I must say, was not created by the Vatican.

As for the unification processes of the UOC with the Ukrainian schismatics, when looking at the developments, it comes to mind very often – do we really need it? With whom, pardon me, should the UOC unite, when these, if I may say so, Churches absolutely lack principles and any prerequisites for self-preservation? To unite so that a bunch of politicians would twist Orthodox hierarchs, putting in their mouths everything they cannot get across to society?

The situation with the funeral of the former Greek Catholic leader very clearly shows the future that can await "One Local", created under the scenario of the state power. At the same time, no one says that to honor Husar's memory is bad. Not at all. But there are many other ways to express condolences in connection with the death of a person. For this end, it is not necessary to organize demonstrative prayers, stepping on your throat.