Are Uniates preparing for a new Maidan?

The political component of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is so evident that this is no longer a secret to anyone. It is not just about the rhetoric of its official representatives but about their direct and immediate intervention in the political life of the country.

UGCC – a religious-political alliance

Famous UGCC blogger and researcher Alexander Voznesensky states that the Greek Catholics not only participated in the Ukrainian Maidan, but were their immediate initiators: “they were the main organizational force of the Maidan”.

According to official sources quoted by Voznesensky, during the first Maidan in 2004, most of the protesters were located in the Ukrainian House in Kiev. The headquarters of the National Salvation Committee, the center of the UGCC, and the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) were also located there.

During the second Maidan 2013-14, its active participant, bishop of the UGCC Boris Gudziak stated that half of the participants in the protest movement were Greek Catholics. Voznesensky recalls that the militant organizations of Maidan – the Right Sector and the Trident, cooperated very closely and prolifically with the UGCC.

“It was the UGCC that <...> created the prototype of the Ukrainian national organism.”

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko spoke about the significance of Uniates in state processes. On January 17, 2019, at the presentation of the book of the UGCC head, Sviatoslav Shevchuk “Dialogue Heals Wounds,” Poroshenko said, “A large role in uniting the Ukrainian people, in explaining the significance of spiritual independence for every citizen belongs to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and its supreme archbishop.”

On July 15, 2018, Petro Poroshenko, speaking in Zarvanitsa, stated that it was the UGCC that formed the “Ukrainian national organism”: “The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church ensured constant communication with the Western European Christian community. For many centuries, it has been providing spiritual guidance to the Ukrainian flock. At a time when Ukraine was stateless and divided between neighbors, the UGCC <...> created a prototype of the Ukrainian national organism ... The priests, their sons, their grandchildren formed entire dynasties of the Ukrainian intelligentsia.”

Poroshenko repeatedly stressed the merit of the UGCC also in obtaining the Tomos. This is not surprising if we recall that the main lobbyists of the “independence” and “autocephaly” of the Ukrainian Church were Uniates: Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Andrei Paruby, Director of the Department of the Ministry of Culture for Religions Andrei Yurash, head of the Parliamentary Committee on Culture and Spirituality Nikolai Kniazhytsky and others.

”Ukrainian spirit” of Uniatism

On April 30, 2019, the current President of Ukraine visited the main training center for Ukrainian Uniates – the Ukrainian Catholic University. In one of the Greek Catholic churches, located on the territory of the UCU, Poroshenko stressed that “the Ukrainian spirit definitely dominates in this Church, the Christian faith of the Ukrainian nation definitely prevails”. The President noted, "We will definitely not give up anything that we have won over the past five years, because it was won thanks to the support of the believers."

He added, "We will definitely work to ensure that our country moves to Europe, just to remain Christian, so that the Ukrainian Church stands up and protects us before God," and called upon Lvov citizens to "protect our Church and our language together."

Judging by the recent Poroshenko’s actions and rhetoric, the term “our Church” should be understood precisely as the UGCC. The grounds for such a statement are more than enough.

”Raising awareness of the electorate”

In the last election, as it became known from the official data of the CEC, the incumbent president gained about 25% of the vote, while his opponent Vladimir Zelensky – about 75%. The gap of almost 50% between the candidates for the presidency is unprecedented in the history of Ukraine. However, Poroshenko would not have scored this number of votes if not for Galicia, or rather, if not for the Uniates.

If you look at the interactive map of election results in the regions of Ukraine, you can see that Poroshenko won an unconditional victory in only one region, Lvov – 62.79%. In other western regions, he lost, albeit by a small margin. In Ivano-Frankovsk, he scored 42.46%, while in Ternopol – 46.64%. In other areas, the results of Poroshenko range from 11 to 30%. Thus, at least a certain number of votes was secured to him namely by Galicia.

The expansion of Rome to Ukraine, attempts of mass conversion into the Catholic faith, the struggle against Orthodoxy, the destruction of the Orthodox clergy and the creation of the union – all this occured and to some extent occurs in these territories. Lvov region has always been a spiritual and intellectual hub for the Ukrainian Uniates. Here used to live an ideological inspirer of modern Greek Catholics, Metropolitan Andrey Sheptitsky, here is also located the main sanctuary of the UGCC, the Cathedral of St. Jura and the Ukrainian Catholic University. That’s why it is small wonder that Poroshenko received support in this particular region. Galician Uniates did justice to his struggle with the Orthodox Church.

Ready for a new Maidan?

According to Alexander Voznesensky, “the appearance of Poroshenko in the UCU does not bode well for Ukraine”, because “this institution was one of the main engines of Maidan 2013-2014”.

Above, we wrote that the role of the UGCC in organizing protest actions in our country is enormous. And today, in essence, this Church is ready for a new confrontation.

It is no secret that the UGCC purposefully and consistently not only campaigned for Poroshenko (at all levels – from ordinary priests to honored bishops), but also insulted those who had the opposite opinion. In addition, only the Uniates have not yet congratulated the newly elected President on his election victory.

Showing such disregard for the will of the Ukrainian people and the demonstrative silence from the top leadership of the UGCC does not look just indecent. It rather looks like in-your-face disagreement with the election outcome. However, beautiful words about democracy, free will and an example for other countries of the world, which are heard from the mouth of the UGCC head Sviatoslav Shevchuk, are nothing more than a beautiful screen designed to hide disappointment and anger at this very will.

"The choice of thugs."

Director of RISU Taras Antoshevsky about Vladimir Zelensky

In fact, the Greek Catholics put themselves in tough opposition not only to the new President, but also to the Ukrainian people who chose him. You must admit that for representatives of the Church such a viewpoint looks more than strange. After all, the Apostle Paul teaches us that in the Christian Church “there is no Gentile or Judea, neither circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Skythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all” (Col. 3, 11). This means that for Christians, any national, ethnic, and political boundaries are erased. Nevertheless, it seems that they are not erased for Greek Catholics.

An indisputable fact – the rejection of someone else's point of view has long been the hallmark of the Galician Uniates. Challenging the results of the 2004 election, the Maidan of 2013–14 and the present threatening silence are all links in one chain, namely, the desire of the UGCC leadership to fully control the political life of the country. Moreover, if necessary – to declare war on the current government.

Control of power – overthrow of power

In a recent interview, Sviatoslav Shevchuk almost word for word repeats the main theses of Poroshenko. If the new President does not want to follow them, the head of the UGCC promised Zelensky the fate of Viktor Yanukovich, “If a politician decides to change or turn Ukraine from its confident course toward Europe, then he will bring a big tragedy upon himself (we already had such presidents) and upon the Ukrainian land."

There is nothing bad about Europe. The bad thing is that the head of a religious organization tells the President what political line he should follow. Shevchuk said that his structure would “control the power, demand from it all that we, as voters, voting for a certain candidate, hoped to see him fulfill, hoped that he, having come to his ministry, would do exactly that we hoped for it."

Boris Gudziak, one of the most respected Greek Catholic bishops, echoes Shevchuk. Commenting on the election outcome, he said, “If the mosaic that looms is not pleasant, we must roll up our sleeves and take on work.”

In addition, there is no doubt that neither Shevchuk nor Gudziak is joking. Because otherwise, the top officials of the UGCC would have to respond to the rhetoric of some of their representatives, who all the time emphasize that Ukrainian society consists of those who think correctly and those who think incorrectly, that Ukrainians who have different political preferences from those of Uniates are “thugs” or stupid.

However, no one will respond to this insult, since Shevchuk frankly said before the elections: one of the tasks of the UGCC is not to educate a Christian, but to "educate a mature voter who will make a sensible choice". Naturally, the “mature voter” in the understanding of representatives of the Uniate Church is a person who votes for the “supreme commander in chief” and for the one who “is responsible for the foreign political course of Ukraine”. That is, as journalist Kirill Alexandrov rightly noted, according to Shevchuk, “all that is required of the future president of our country is to fight and earn good graces from the West.”

Ukraine – a laboratory of ecumenism

The statements of Petro Poroshenko that “Ukrainian Catholic University is a symbol of Ukrainianness, a symbol of the greatness of our nation,” is not only a tribute to the support he received in previous elections and not only the words spoken on the eve of the parliamentary elections in October of this year. There is something more behind them. What exactly?

I think it would not be an exaggeration to say that the main task that the Uniates have set for themselves, headed by the current authorities, is the complete destruction of Orthodoxy in Ukraine, which is impossible without a cardinal breakdown of all spiritual values and traditions of the multinational population of our country. Naturally, such a position will lead to the destruction of Ukrainian society, to even greater stratification and opposition within it. However, according to the Jesuit principle, "the choice of the end covers the choice of the means."

During the rule of Poroshenko, the UGCC made the largest expansion into Orthodox territories it had ever done. Today, Uniate churches are built even where they have never been built. For example, in the east of Ukraine. In almost every major city in the country, the UGCC temple is either already operating or being built. All this fits into the program of consolidating the Ukrainian society around the UGCC.

"Ukrainian Catholic University is a symbol of Ukrainianness, a symbol of the greatness of the nation."

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko

Back in 2016, the head of the Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs Department, Andrei Yurash, frankly said, “The state should do everything possible so that believers and the clergy understand – without unity and consent, without concentrating all Kiev-centric forces around a certain center, there is no development of the church sphere. Almost for the first time in the history of Ukraine, they are working on this at all levels. There is a clearly articulated position of the President, coordination of efforts of all branches of government.”

In turn, the head of the UGCC, Sviatoslav Shevchuk, has repeatedly stressed that his religious structure advocates "the creation of a single Orthodox Church", which is only the first step to "achieve the unity of the Churches of St. Vladimir Baptism in a single local Kievan Church". The second step, in his words, "is an ecumenical dialogue between the UGCC and the united Ukrainian Orthodoxy in the direction of restoring the original unity of this Church".

Of course, by “the initial unity of the Church,” Uniates understand “unity” exclusively around the papal throne, and view Ukraine only as a “laboratory of ecumenism”.

Well, if Ukraine is a laboratory, then Ukrainians are guinea pigs, used for experiments by those who seek to occupy a dominant position in the world. In addition, it can be said that this experiment was largely successful; otherwise, the current President of Ukraine, who considers himself an Orthodox Christian, would not defiantly take the Holy Communion with the Uniates.

* * *

On April 28, 2019, Catholic Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti told that the Pope is preparing a big surprise for the Ukrainian Greek Catholics.

Perhaps, in this case, it is about granting the status of the Patriarchate to the UGCC, which they have been dreaming about for many years. This status will enable them to participate more actively in the “unification process” of the Ukrainian Churches (i.e. in the destruction of canonical Orthodoxy in Ukraine), and to entice the Ukrainians to union.

Ultimately, the Uniate Church appears before us in the guise of a powerful political force, which intends to deliberately pursue the goals it has set for itself. At the same time, neither victims, nor religious confrontations, nor the possible collapse of the country will be taken into account. The main thing is to achieve unity with Rome and wipe off even a hint of "Russian Orthodoxy."

Of course, there is nothing Christian in this activity. The church, which cares not for the acquirement of the Holy Spirit, but for the cultivation of the Ukrainian spirit, is as far from Christ as the Pharisees were. Eventually, everything will end up with the same exclamations of “crucify Him!” The only question is whether the Greek Catholics themselves are aware of this.