Posted on 09/15/2018 9:34:47 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
The non-admission of the Russian Orthodox Churches' complicity with the Soviet persecution of Greek-Catholics in Ukraine is undermining relations between the two Churches. The warning was voiced by the Archbishop of Kiev, Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Greek-catholic Church.
"The ability to apologize shows a lively Christian conscience, which is a precondition for the so-called healing of memories," said Archbishop Shevchuk in an interview with the Ukrainian newspaper Den (Day). "The Russian Orthodox Church was used by Stalin's regime for the compulsory settlement of our church - he added - the fact there has been no symbolic reconciliation between us is really a serious obstacle to the development of mutual relations."
In 1946, two years after the occupation of Ukraine by the Red Army, with the council of Lviv orchestrated by Soviet power, the Greek-Catholic Church (Uniate) was outlawed, because it was considered - as opposed to orthodoxy - hostile to Moscow and to directly 'dependent' on the Vatican. Priests and bishops were sent to jail or labor camps, from where many did not return. More than 2,270 parishes were closed or transferred, and their property passed to the Orthodox. Patriarch Shevchuk has also reiterated that the discussion on the "pseudo-Synod of Lviv" is still "at a standstill."
The so-called Uniate issue (term, however, considered derogatory by those who follow this ritual) continues to hinder ecumenical dialogue between Rome and Moscow.
(Excerpt) Read more at asianews.it ...
And in occupied Crimea and Donbass, Russian Orthodox persecution of Catholic, Protestant, and rival Orthodox groups is well documented.
The perennial issue with the Eastern Orthodox: Nationalism.
The UGCC has some legitimate grievances here. In particular the so called Synod of Lviv which which claimed to dissolve the UGCC in favor of union with the Russian Orthodox Church was as bogus as a $3 bill. During the Stalinist era the ROC suffered under the most brutal persecution in the history of Christendom and was nearly exterminated. All but a handful of clergy and bishops who collaborated to survive were either imprisoned in the gulags or killed outright along with millions of the faithful laity. So I am not blaming the ROC for what happened then. But I do blame them for not acknowledging the historical reality of that period and repudiating the false union imposed on the Greek Rite Catholics. That is both historically and morally indefensible.
And herein lies the real foundation for the current crisis between Kiev and Moscow. And the current crisis of modern Russia as a whole.
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