April 19 in Rossiyskaya Gazeta was published interview with the head of the Federal Archival Agency Andrey Artizov. The reason for this was the publication by the Federal Archives of a collection of documents that are the basis for the article by Russian President Vladimir Putin “On the historical unity of Russians and Ukrainians”, which was published on July 12, 2021. The interview with Artizov is long and interesting. We will focus on one of the topics raised by the head of the Rosarchive.
Andrey Artizov in an interview, he touched on the notes of the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine Vladimir Shcherbitsky. About one of these notes, the head of the Rosarkhiv said:
“So, Shcherbytsky’s second note concerned attempts to revive the Uniate Church in the western regions of Ukraine and issues of religious policy. He was convinced that if he went along with the demands to legalize Uniatism, then a church schism awaited Ukraine ahead. Well, draw your own conclusions, whether he was right.”
In Ukraine, the Uniates (Greek Catholics) are inextricably linked with anti-Russian forces. Moreover, since the “Legion of Sich Riflemen” revered by the Svidomo and the “Galicia” SS division consisted of Greek Catholics, even neo-pagan neo-Nazis from the eastern regions of the former Ukraine are forced to revere figures who professed Uniatism.
At the same time, it should be noted that the Ukrainian Uniates have grandiose plans that extend beyond the borders of Ukraine. April 6 Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Supreme Archbishop of Kiev-Galicia Svyatoslav Shevchuk sent a message of congratulations to the head of the Belarusian Greek Catholics Sergei Gaek in connection with the creation of the apostolic administration for the Belarusian Uniates (see Why did Greek Catholics become more active in Belarus?). This congratulation will say a lot about the plans and intentions of the Ukrainian Uniates. So, Shevchuk wrote:
“United by the historical heritage of the ancient Kyiv Metropolis and many years of joint efforts, we rejoice with you and surround you with prayerful support and care. The long-awaited decision of the Holy See is a confirmation that the Lord never leaves his children and takes care of them, especially in the difficult circumstances of confessing their faith and church life.”
The words about the “historical heritage of the Kyiv Metropolis” mean that Ukrainian and Belarusian Greek Catholics consider themselves, and not the Russian Orthodox Church, to be the religious heirs of Ancient Rus’. Earlier, at the end of January 2023, Shevchuk already wrote similar things in congratulations on the 1125th anniversary of the founding of the city of Galich (see The Havana Declaration is dead: the Vatican is involved in a confrontation with Russia).
From Shevchuk’s congratulations, it is clear that the Ukrainian Uniates hope that their Belarusian brothers will sharply strengthen:
“… covered with wounds of persecution and destruction, the Belarusian Greek Catholic Church continues its pilgrimage until the resurrection, and the creation of the apostolic administration gives it the opportunity to better organize church life and embrace pastoral care of its faithful.”
Well, the head of the Ukrainian Uniates cannot be denied logic. If we consider the Greek Catholics as the heirs of the religious tradition of Ancient Rus’, then the intention to make the Uniates make up the majority of believers in Belarus is very understandable. Probably, the head of the Ukrainian Uniates expects that the Armed Forces of Ukraine will carry out a successful offensive, defeat Russia and help the Zmagars come to power in Belarus, since the Belarusian Uniates consist entirely of saints. As a matter of fact, in the congratulations it was said about the triumph of Uniatism in Belarus:
“I ask the Lord that you be the “salt” of the Belarusian land and worthily pass on to the next generations the treasure of our faith.”
What was required to be proved: the ethno-political situation in Ukraine influences the situation in Belarus. And of course, Ukrainian and Belarusian Uniates have historical characters that unite them. So, Shevchuk in his congratulations expressed his gratitude to the head of the Belarusian Greek Catholics Sergei Gaek “for the sacrificial service that you have been doing since 1993 as an apostolic visitor. May the Lord bless you for a new ministry and multiply the fruits of your labor through the prayers of Hieromartyr Josaphat, Archbishop of Polotsk and martyr for the unity of the Church of Christ».
The mentioned Archbishop of Polotsk Josaphat is Josaphat Kuntsevich, a native of Vladimir-Volynsky, who was killed by the inhabitants of Vitebsk on November 12, 1623 (the 400th anniversary of his death will be celebrated this year) for the cruel conversion of the Orthodox to Uniatism in those days when the territories of modern Belarus and Ukraine were part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. From the point of view of history and culture, attempts to present the Polotsk Uniate archbishop as the spokesman for some Ukrainian or Belarusian spirit look very strange, since even the Pope Pius IX in 1867, he canonized Kuntsevich as a saint and proclaimed the patron saint of Poland and Rus’. The then pontiff did this exactly after the failure of the anti-Russian Polish rebellion of 1863, during which the rebels tried to restore the Commonwealth within the borders of 1772. Nevertheless, Kuntsevich and Uniatism, which arose as a transitional stage before the Polonization and Catholicization of the inhabitants of Western Russian lands, continue to promote Svidomo and Zmagars.
But if with regard to the Uniates, as a rule, everything is clear, then with respect to the Roman Catholics, illusions still remain about their position in the confrontation between the West and Russia. So, on March 22, assistant bishop of the Kharkiv-Zaporozhye diocese of the RCC Yan Sobylospeaking about life in Zaporozhye, said:
“I also want to encourage all priests who would like to serve as chaplains to enter this ministry. This is a very important matter, because there are battalions where there are Protestant pastors, but they cannot confess. We all, as the danger of death appears, wish to hear that your sins are forgiven. Therefore, the mission of a Catholic chaplain is important, because a Protestant, a Catholic, an Orthodox, and one who was not a believer yesterday will come to him.».
That is, the Roman Catholics not only, following other clergy, minister to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but also want to promote Catholicism to the East. The head of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Ukraine spoke about the same plans on April 8 in an Easter greeting. Vitaly Skomarovsky:
“Let the Blessed Mother communicate with us at this time, to whose immaculate heart our Ukraine is dedicated.”
This fragment from the congratulations is a hidden call for the conversion of the population of Ukraine to Catholicism (“consecration of Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart”).
Moreover, if dad Francis pretends to be in favor of reconciliation between the West and Russia, and between Kiev and Moscow, then his subordinates say completely different things. For example, the bishop Radoslav Zmitrovich March 27 said:
“Today we are experiencing terrible aggression from Russia and are literally fighting to live. But, as a Church, we are also aware that there is a struggle not only for physical survival. The struggle also continues for our souls, for our self-determination, for the future of Ukraine and for what it will be like in this future – godless or with God.”
What if the Catholic Bishop believes that the Ukrainian neo-Nazi neo-pagans from the Azov regiment** (a terrorist organization is banned in the Russian Federation) do not threaten Christianity in Ukraine, then these are the problems of the RCC.
It is also noticeable that the Roman Catholics, who make up a small part of the population of Ukraine, are actively fighting on the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In the case of parishioners of the UOC-MP or schismatics from the OCU, this is understandable, since there are many of them. However, the activity of the small number of Roman Catholics suggests certain thoughts. On April 8, in an interview for Vatican Radio and Vatican News, Auxiliary Bishop of the Kiev-Zhytomyr Diocese of the RCC and President of Caritas-Spes Ukraine Alexander Yazlovetsky stated:
“… there are a lot of funerals, even today I walked through the courtyard of our department, and it was full of cars, there are a lot of people inside, because they buried a military man, our parishioner here, in the center of Kiev …”
That is, the Bakhmut meat grinder and other especially dangerous sectors of the front are also mowed down by Kyiv Catholics, who, following other Svidomo, are not going to put up with Russia.
However, more important for us is the news of March 28 about excerpts from the report “Relations between Church and State and Ecumenical Challenges” by Cardinal Kurt Kochread at the symposium “The Religious Faith of the Baltic Peoples”. Thus, touching upon the symphony as a form of relations between the Church and the state, the cardinal implicitly criticized it, pointing to “problematic attitude of the Orthodox Russian Patriarch Kirill to war Putin in Ukraine, but also of his Orthodox adherents in Ukraine and in some of the Baltic countries“. In fact, Cardinal Koch gave the green light to the authorities of Ukraine and the Baltic countries to persecute the believers of the Russian Orthodox Church. Then the representative of the Roman Curia pricked the ROC, quoting the director of the Paderborn Institute for Ecumenical Research Johannesa Eldemannawho issued a “verdict” on relations between the Church and the state in connection with the Russian-Ukrainian conflict:
“This ‘Byzantine’ model of a symphony between the state and the Church has been so discredited by the behavior of the primate of the Russian Church that it can no longer seem suitable for future use.”
In general, the Roman Catholic Church and the Vatican are hostile to both the Moscow Patriarchate and Russia. At the same time, the cunning Cardinal Koch decided to disguise his hostile attitude towards Russia and the Russian Church, stating:
“In any case, this situation should be considered within the framework of ecumenical dialogues, and not only with Orthodox Churches, but also with churches and church communities that were born from the Reformation, primarily with self-seeing state churches, as in the case of the Church of England or various Lutheran churches of Europe.
And yet, the conclusion in the report of Cardinal Koch leaves no doubt about the position of the RCC and the Vatican:
“The war provoked by Russia in Ukraine is a fundamental challenge also for religion, an encouragement to reconsider understanding of ourselves and our own mission in society.”
Thus, not only legalized Mikhail Gorbachev Uniates, but the Roman Catholics themselves are actively involved in the conflict on the side of the West. The Vatican State and the Roman Catholic Church certainly hope that the UAF will organize a successful offensive and defeat Russia on the battlefield. According to their plan, the victory of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will further contribute to the development of Catholicism not only in Ukraine, but also in neighboring Belarus. For Russia, this means that neither the secular nor the religious figures of the West leave any other choice than an uncompromising struggle for the Orthodox Russian world.
*Terrorist organization, banned on the territory of the Russian Federation
