Ukrainian Catholics experiencing 'total persecution' in Crimea
Kyiv, Ukraine, Mar 20, 2014: As the Russian president signed a bill to annex Crimea
Tuesday, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in the peninsula has been experiencing
what a Church official calls “total persecution.”
“At this moment all Ukrainian
Greek Catholic life in Crimea is paralyzed,” Fr. Volodymyr Zhdan, chancellor of the
Stryi eparchy in western Ukraine, told CNA March 18. From 2006 to 2010, Fr. Zhdan
served as chancellor of the Odesa-Krym exarchate, which encompassed both the mainland
port city of Odesa and the Crimean peninsula. Since late February the peninsula has
seen the emergence of pro-Russian troops, who have taken control of its airports,
parliament, and telecommunication centers.
Referring to the kidnapping of three
Ukrainian Greek Catholic priests in Crimea by pro-Russian forces over the weekend,
Fr. Zhdan stressed that one such case could be called a mistake, but that “multiple
kidnappings are not an accident.” On March 15 Fr. Mykola Kvych, a naval chaplain stationed
in Sevastopol, was detained immediately after celebrating a “parastas,” a memorial
prayer service for the dead. The following day Fr. Bohdan Kosteskiy of Yevpatoria
and Fr. Ihor Gabryliv of Yalta were also reported missing. Later that night all three
were said to be alive and safe, with Fr. Kvych confirming that he had escaped to the
mainland of Ukraine with the help of parishioners.
Fr. Kvych told the Ukrainian
Greek Catholic Church’s information department that he was held and questioned for
eight hours by representatives of the Crimean self-defense force and Russian intelligence
officers. According to Fr. Kvych, they accused him of “provocations” and of supplying
the Ukrainian navy with weapons. Fr. Kvych maintained that he helped organize the
delivery of food to a blockaded naval base, and that he gave two bulletproof vests
to journalists. Upon seeing a Ukrainian flag at his home and portraits of Roman Shukhevych
and Stepan Bandera – Ukrainian nationalists who fought against both the Nazis and
the Soviets in the 1940s and 50s -- inside, Fr. Kvych’s captors accused him of being
in the “SS Army,” a reference to Nazi Germany.
Followers of Bandera are colloquially
called “Banderites,” a label that has been heavily circulated by Russian authorities
and media in recent months and whose reported presence in Ukraine, many analysts say,
has been used to justify Russian intervention in the country. Fr. Kvych has been charged
with “extremism,” which in the Russian Federation can carry a sentence of up to 15
years in prison. Fr. Kvych does not know how the trial will be conducted, since the
national status of Crimea is in dispute.
A referendum was held in the territory
March 16 regarding union with Russia. Crimean authorities claim that 97 percent of
voters favor seceding from Ukraine and joining Russia, and March 18 Russia’s Vladimir
Putin and Crimean leaders signed a treaty declaring the territory absorbed by Russia.
Western nations and the government in Kyiv have condemned both the referendum
and the annexation. In addition to the arrests in Crimea, several other problems at
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Churches throughout the country have been reported in recent
days. According to the Religious Information Service of Ukraine, an important 130-foot
electrical cable was stolen from a small chapel in the Kherson region north of Crimea
over the weekend. On March 15 a parish in Kolomyya was vandalized and another in Dora
was burned to the ground, reportedly from arson. Both damaged parishes are in the
Ivano-Frankivsk region, which borders Romania in the west of Ukraine.
In Crimea,
clergy have received threatening phone calls and messages. At the home of one apprehended
priest, a note was left that read this should be “a lesson to all Vatican agents.”
“This
is not new,” Bishop Vasyl Ivasyuk, who served as Exarch of Odesa-Krym from 2003 to
2014, told CNA. “During Soviet times, we were always accused of being ‘agents’ of
the Vatican,” Bishop Ivasyuk continued. “Of course not all people in Crimea think
we are spies, but there is a very active pro-Russian group there that does.” The Ukrainian
Greek Catholic Church was heavily persecuted during the Soviet era; it was considered
illegal, and operated completely underground until 1989.
“The Church emerged
from the underground 25 years ago, having been the largest illegal church in the world
for 45 years prior,” Bishop Boris Gudziak, Eparch of Paris, explained to CNA last
month. “The UGCC was the biggest social body of opposition to the Soviet ideology
and totalitarian system. It was completely illegal, but in the catacombs, it was spiritually
free because it was not collaborating.”
Bishop Ivasyuk confirmed that such
freedom is important in Crimea, where the relationship between the Ukrainian Greek
Catholic Church and the local government has always been complicated. “Many Crimeans
respect the UGCC for not taking part in elections, for staying out of politics,” he
said. “Our priests do not run for political office and this has granted them a kind
of moral authority.”
Of the five priests normally serving Ukrainian Greek Catholics
in the peninsula, two reportedly remain. When asked their motivation for staying,
Bishop Ivasyuk explained that they want to be with the people as long as possible.
“Life is the most important thing, so we shouldn’t go looking for the mouth of the
lion … but we’ll stay with the people wherever they are.” On March 18 the Department
of Religious and Ethnic Affairs in Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture issued a statement
condemning the persecution of clergy in Crimea.
“Recently, in the Autonomous
Republic of Crimea cases of persecution of the clerics of various denominations have
been documented. There has been an unprecedented violation of rights in the field
of freedom of conscience and religion,” the statement read. “We demand there be
a stop to the practice of terror and for rights and liberties to be respected.” With
the signing of the Russia-Crimea treaty, it is unclear what will happen to the Ukrainian
Greek Catholic Church in the region. It is estimated there are roughly 5,000 Ukrainian
Greek Catholics on the peninsula. “What we saw this weekend was a disturbing signal
of a future political direction,” Fr. Zhdan concluded.
A Polish-born bishop
who ministers in Crimea called upon European Catholics to pray and fast for the Church
there. The region, which had been part of the territory of Ukraine, was annexed by
Russia following Russian military intervention and a plebiscite. Auxiliary Bishop
Jacek Pyl of Odessa-Simferopol, who said that it is “not the Church’s mission” to
issue political statements, told the Italian Catholic news agency SIR that he entrusted
Crimea to the Immaculate Heart of Mary after Sunday Mass.
“I feel like Jesus
in the Gethsemane garden,” he said. “In the present circumstances, we need help and
spiritual support, we call for prayer and fasting in this Lenten period because we
need a miracle. But we also have faith, and we believe that God rules over history
and guides us also this situation.” (CNA/EWTN News)