Ukraine

A land plagued with endless drama and delusions.

New Ukrainian Church and Greek Rite Catholics Pledge Cooperation

According to information published by the Ukrainian website RISU, “the primate of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the Patriarch of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (Uniate) have already met and agreed to work out a roadmap, in order to deepen the relationships between the two Churches”.

In an interview with the Ukrainian TV channel Pryamyy, Metropolitan Epifaniy declared...

 “We have outlined a definite path for our future cooperation, and from now on, we will seek for points of convergence that will unite us, in the field of spiritual education and other areas of our lives. Ad hoc commissions will be created by our Orthodox Church and by the Greek Catholic Church, and we are developing the roadmap for our cooperation”.

He stressed that the Greek Catholic Church of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kyiv Patriarchate) have always had a common goal, namely to work for the development of the Ukrainian State. This is a permanent goal.

As reported, Patriarch Svyatoslav (Shevchuk), the head of the Ukrainian-Greek Catholic Church contacted Metropolitan Epifaniy, the Primate of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine. He wrote that, in the name of his Church, he was reaching out to Epifaniy and all the Orthodox brethren, offering them to journey together towards unity.

Source

Hmm...

UGCC is Equipping Ukrainian Troops

Ternopil, Ukraine — As the train bringing the wounded soldier home from the front line grinds to a halt, the crowd on the platform bursts into patriotic song. Maj. Ruslan Androsyuk’s three-year-old son jumps into his arms, unsteadying him as he limps from the carriage.

Relatives and friends wave balloons and Ukrainian flags, welcoming Major Androsyuk back after a mine ripped through his armored personnel carrier in the Donetsk region, leaving him with a broken leg, fractured ribs, and pierced lungs. “If it wasn’t for his bulletproof vest he wouldn’t have survived,” says his wife Olga, choking back tears.

But it wasn't Ukraine's government that supplied Androsyuk his gear. Like hundreds of other soldiers fighting against pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, his equipment was provided by the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC).

...The UGCC's direct role in the conflict is substantial. The powerful UGCC dioceses of Lviv and Ternopil have donated over $200,000 worth of equipment since March to Ukrainian forces, mostly body armor, ammunition, helmets, sleeping bags, stretchers, and medical supplies, official church records show.

Read the rest here.
HT: Ordo Antiquus

In fairness there is little doubt that some of the Orthodox churches are also meddling to varying degrees on both sides, with the canonical Church backing the Russians and the schismatics backing the nationalists. But it has become fashionable for Catholics to pretend that it is only the evil Orthodox who are interfering, and of course this is simply not true. The UGCC has been involved up to its eyeballs in the anti-Russian Ukrainian nationalist movement from its inception.

From my perspective this low intensity civil war is a spectacular tragedy and  an indictment of all the major churches in Ukraine, none of whom have clean hands in this business.

Yet another schism in the Ukraine

This time it's among the Greek Rite Catholics . I am starting to wonder if there might be something in the water over there. It seems that whatever its political problems, it is also the land of ecclesiological chaos.