Ukraine welcomes a pilgrim of peace and brotherhood.

Pope John Paul's unforgettable visit to Ukraine from June 23 to 27 was a pastoral and celebratory pilgrimage. Sharing a message of peace, hope and Christian love, he rejoiced with the Latin and Eastern Catholic Churches in Ukraine, which survived over 70 years of bloody persecution by the Communists and the Nazis. His visit culminated in the beatification ceremonies on the final two days, honouring 27 martyrs and three "confessors of the faith."

Catholicism in Ukraine

From the underground practice of the faith before Ukraine declared its independence in 1991, Ukrainian Catholicism has risen to a flourishing state. Under the Communist regime (1918-1989), the Ukrainian Byzantine-rite Catholic Church was dissolved by a pseudo-synod in 1946 and its hierarchy forced to join the Orthodox Church; those who refused to go over to Orthodoxy and betray their loyalty to the Pope went underground, living in terror and violent persecution for decades. Today, out of a total population of 50.1 million, there are five million Eastern Catholics with 3,676 parishes, 23 bishops, 2,522 priests, and 1,075 religious. In addition, there are 1,236 seminarians. There are also 870,000 Latin-rite Catholics.

John Paul II was welcomed by pilgrims and heavy rain in Kyiv upon his arrival. He was greeted, among others, by the President of Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma. After kissing Ukrainian soil, the Pope called upon Christians to turn their eyes toward Jesus Christ, the Saviour, and to seek forgiveness for obscuring the image of Christ's love. The Pope sought, as well as offered, forgiveness to the Orthodox Church, of which he spoke affectionately.

On Sunday June 24, at his first Mass, the Pope paid tribute to the Christians who were persecuted by Communists, and also to Jews who were murdered by the Nazis. He referred to Ukraine as a cradle from which Christianity spread to other nations, and thanked the Ukrainians for their fidelity to the Gospel, which was attested by the blood of martyrs. He also called for unity in the social, civil and religious fields. The Latin-rite Mass, conducted mostly in Ukrainian, was attended by the people and hierarchy of both rites, Ukrainian and Latin.

In the afternoon, the Pope met with representatives of all of Ukraine's religions, including the Ukrainian Orthodox Patriarch Filaret of Kyiv and Metropolitan Methodius of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. These two Churches, which have broken away from the Moscow Patriarchate, assured the Holy Father of their efforts to seek unity with both Orthodox and Catholics.

Chief Rabbi 

In addition to the meeting with Filaret and Methodius, there was an affectionate gesture towards the Holy Father by the Chief Rabbi of Kyiv and Ukraine, who asked the Pope to appeal to nonbelieving Jews to embrace faith. A Muslim Tartar correspondent from Crimea asked the Pontiff to visit his land where the relics of Popes Clement and Martin reside. Notably absent was the Orthodox Metropolitan Vladimir of Kyiv who holds allegiance to Moscow's Patriarch Alexy II.

Russian Patriarch

Patriarch Alexy, the head of an unknown number of Orthodox followers across Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, variously estimated from ten to fifty million, refused to meet with the Pope. He charged that the Pontiff's visit fostered disunity among Christians and encouraged "Catholic expansionism." It was his influence that had prevented the Pope from visiting Ukraine any sooner. However, after fourteen years, the Holy Father could not delay any longer visiting a Church which had suffered so much oppression.

The Byzantine-rite Divine Liturgy at the airport near Kyiv on Monday June 25 attracted about 70,000, about a third of whom were Orthodox Christians, who disregarded Alexy's call for a boycott of the papal visit. The Pope prayed "that they may all be one" (Jn 17:21), in the words of Jesus. He raised his prayer for unity to the Lord "from this land, sanctified by the blood of whole hosts of martyrs." He defined this oneness as a mystery of the Church willed by Christ, and noted the presence of this mystery at the Divine Liturgy concelebrated by the heads of the Eastern-rite and Latin-rite Churches of Ukraine. "Your living side by side in charity should become a model of a unity that exists within a legitimate pluralism and has its guarantee in the Bishop of Rome, the Successor of Peter," he said.

The Pope reflected also upon the testimonies to holiness in the land of Ukraine since its baptism, and described Kyiv as a "new Jerusalem." He entrusted the path of reconciliation and unity to the intercession of Jesus' Mother.

At Babi Yar John Paul II paid tribute to the 200,000 (mostly) Jews who were massacred there by the Nazis. He also visited the site of the mass graves of about 200,000 Ukrainians who were killed in Soviet jails from 1929 to 1941. In the evening the Holy Father departed for Lviv in western Ukraine, where he was welcomed with great enthusiasm by immense crowds.

On June 26 during a Latin-rite Mass attended by about half a million faithful, the Pope beatified two confessors of faith known for their love of the poor and illiterate. He appealed for the reconciliation of Poles and Ukrainians, and challenged them to recognize their infidelities to the Gospel and to work together to build a future of respect, cooperation and solidarity.

In the afternoon, the Pope had a special meeting with about half a million youth who came in good spirits in spite of relentless rain. He exhorted them to go against the current by applying the Ten Commandments and the Holy Gospel to their lives. He warned them that "freedom is demanding, and in a sense is more costly than slavery!"

The martyrs

It is estimated that 17 million Ukrainians suffered a violent death in the 20th century, many for their witness to the Christian faith. At the Byzantine rite Liturgy on June 27, which according to several sources was attended by 1.5 million pilgrims, Pope John Paul beatified 27 martyrs and one confessor of the faith. The Divine Liturgy was presided over by the head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, Cardinal Lubomyr Huzar, who began the service by asking for forgiveness for violent acts committed by members of his Church in the past century, while offering forgiveness to their persecutors.

The Holy Father, in turn, thanked the countless Catholics who were persecuted and killed for their faith. "Like an icon of the Gospel of the beatitudes, which they lived even to the shedding of blood, they are a sign of hope for our times and for the times to come," he said. He also recalled the sacrifice of Christians of other confessions, noting that the ecumenism of the martyrs and witnesses to faith indicates the path of unity for Christians of the 21st century.

As throughout his visit, the Holy Father again stressed the need for forgiveness, urging a spirit of reconciliation and unity.

In the evening, the Pope bade the country farewell at Lviv's international airport. The faithful responded with enthusiasm and love. He returned to Rome with a Ukrainian holy icon of the 16th century and many memories.

Those beatified during the Pope's visit to Ukraine included the following martyrs:

Women Religious

* Laurentia Herasymiv (1911-1952), Sister of St. Joseph, was arrested with Sr. Olympia Bida for leading prayers at a funeral. She was exiled to Siberia and patiently endured subhuman conditions and manual labour until her death.

* Tarsykia Matskiv (19 19-1944), Sister Servant of Mary Immaculate, made an oath to sacrifice her life for the conversion of Russia. She was shot and killed by a Russian soldier when she answered the door to her monastery.

* Olympia Bida (1903-1952), Sister of St. Joseph, was a catechist and youth director. As superior of the convent in Kheriv she was exiled to Siberia where, amidst heavy forced labour, she organized other Sisters for prayer and mutual support. She succumbed to a serious illness and died shortly thereafter.

Laity

* Volodymyr Pryjma (1806-1941), a cantor, was tortured and murdered by the NKVD (KGB), along with Fr. Nicholas Conrad, as they were returning from the home of a sick woman who had requested the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Bishops and other hierarchs

* Nicholas Charnetsky (1884-1959), a Redemptorist bishop, died after spending six years of forced labour in Siberia. Due to his reputation for holiness, his tomb, a site of miracles, has for months been attracting flocks of pilgrims, who come to pray and carry away handfuls of soil. Each week new soil is added onto his grave.

* Nykyta Budka (1877-1949) served as the first Ukrainian bishop in Canada from 1912-1929. The Soviets imprisoned him in 1945 and sentenced him to eight years of hard labour. His body was thrown into a forest. (See CI, June 2001, pp. 29-31.)

* Basil Velychkovsky (1903-1973) became the prior of a Redemptorist monastery in Ternopil where he was arrested in 1945 and taken to Kyiv. His death sentence was commuted to ten years of forced labour, after which he returned to Lviv. He served as an underground archbishop from 1963 and was imprisoned again in 1969 for three years. Before releasing him, his jailers injected him with a disease. He travelled to Rome and then to Winnipeg, Canada, where he died.

* Gregory Lakota (1883-1950), Auxiliary Bishop of Przemysl and a theology professor, was arrested in 1946 and imprisoned for 10 years in Vorkuta, Russia, where he died.

* Gregory Khomyshyn (1867-1947) had studied theology in Vienna and was appointed Rector of the Seminary in Lviv by Metropolitan Andrew Sheptytsky. A bishop since 1904, he was arrested twice by the NKVD (KGB) and died in a Kyiv prison.

* Josaphat Kotsylovsky (1876-1947) obtained a theology degree from Rome in 1907. Subsequently a professor at the Ivano-Frankisvsk Seminary and Basilian bishop, he died in a Kyiv prison.

* Simeon Lukach (1893-1964) was a secretly ordained bishop who functioned as an underground member of the clergy. He was arrested twice and while in prison was stricken with tuberculosis which hastened his death.

* John Sleziuk (1896-1973), secretly ordained a bishop in 1945, was arrested and deported for ten years to a Russian labour camp. He was released in 1954 and then rearrested in 1962 to a camp with a very strict regimen. After his release in 1968, he was required to report to the KGB for regular "talks." He died shortly after the last "talk."

* Leonid Feodorov (1879-1935) was born into a Russian Orthodox family, but converted to Catholicism in 1902. In 1913 he became a monk of the Studite rule and was subsequently arrested and sent to Siberia. In 1917, he was released and appointed head of the Russian Catholic Church of the Eastern rite. He was rearrested in 1923 and died in prison.

* Peter Verhun (1890-1957) was appointed as priest for Ukrainian Catholics in Berlin, Germany, and later became the Apostolic Visitor to Germany. He was arrested in 1945 and sent to Siberia where he died as a martyr of the faith.

* Clement Sheptytsky (1869-1951), the younger brother of Metropolitan Andrew Sheptytsky, was the Archimandrite (Abbot) of the Studite monastery at Univ. During World War II he gave refuge to persecuted Jews. In 1947 he was arrested by the NKVD and sentenced to hard labour. He died in prison.

* Teodor Romzha (1911-1947) was ordained Bishop in 1944. A professor of philosophy and courageous defender of the rights of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Carpathian-Ukraine, he was seriously wounded when a Soviet police bus ran him off the road. He died in hospital from poison.

Priests

* Omelian Kovch (1884-1944), a married priest with six children, was arrested by the Gestapo in 1943 for aiding Jews. On 25 March 1944 he was burned to death in the ovens of the Majdanek Nazi death camp. In September 1999 the Jewish Council of Ukraine awarded him the title "Righteous Ukrainian."

* Severian Baranyk (1889-1941) became the Prior of a Basilian monastery in 1932. In 1941 he was arrested by the NKVD, who had him boiled to death in a cauldron and served as soup to the other prisoners.

* Vitaliy Bayrak (1907-1946), a Basilian Ihumen of the Drohobych monastery, was arrested by the NKVD in 1945 and sentenced to eight years in a labour camp. He died just before Easter after a severe beating in prison.

* Zenon Kovalyk (1903-1941), a Redemptorist priest, was arrested in 1941 while delivering a homily. The Communists crucified him on a wall in the Bryhidky prison (formerly a convent of the Sisters of St. Bridgette) in Lviv.

* Roman Lysko (1914-1949) was ordained to the priesthood by Metropolitan Sheptytsky in 1941 and in September 1949 was arrested by the NKVD. In spite of tortures, he was heard loudly singing the Psalms in prison. It is reported that Fr. Roman was sealed into a wall and left there to die. He departed this life on 14 October.

* Nicholas Tsehelsky (1896-1951) was ordained by Metropolitan Sheptytsky in 1925. After World War II he was intimidated, threatened and beaten by the Communists. Arrested in 1947, he was sentenced to ten years in prison, far from his wife and four children. He was deported to notoriously cruel labour camps in Mordovia where he suffered from severe pain until his death.

* Oleksa Zarytsky (1912-1963) was ordained a priest in 1936 by Metropolitan Sheptytsky. He was imprisoned in 1948 for 10 years and deported to Karaganda. After a brief release he was imprisoned again and died as a martyr in a Karagandan labour camp.

* Andrew Ishchak (1887-1941) taught at the Lviv Theological Academy from 1928. He died as a martyr at the hands of Soviet army soldiers retreating before the Nazi invasion.

* Ivan Ziaiyk (1899-1952) was a Redemptorist hegumen (Prior) of the monastery in Ternopil. He was arrested and sent to Ozerlah in Russia, where he died after being severely tortured.

* Yakym Senkivsky (1896-1941) served as proto-ihumen at the Basilian monastery in Drohobych. He was arrested by Communist authorities in 1941 and boiled to death in a cauldron in the Drohobych prison.

* Nicholas Konrad (1876-1941), who taught in the high schools at Berezhany and Terebovlya and subsequently at the Lviv Theological Academy, was martyred for his faith by the Bolsheviks.

Also beatified were three confessors of faith:

* SisterJosaphata Hordashevska (1869-1919) co-founded the first Ukrainian-rite women's active congregation, the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate. With great kindness, she cared for the sick and the impoverished. Sr. Josaphata suffered and died of bone cancer.

* Jozef Bilczewski (1860-1923), Polish, was the Latinrite Archbishop of Lviv. He espoused a great love for the poor and the needy.

* Zigmund Gorazdowski (1845-1920), Polish, was ordained a priest in the Latin rite in 1871. He organized centres for the poor and the orphaned, the hungry and the homeless. He founded the Sisters of St. Joseph, who assisted him in the works of charity.

Aftermath of the papal pilgrimage

The Pope's visit lifted the hearts of Ukrainians and other pilgrims. The great modesty and gentleness of the spiritually powerful Pontiff were very impressive. He attended all scheduled events from morning until night, in rain or shine, not letting his frail health get in the way of fulfilling his pastoral duties.

Although the visit to Ukraine has had a great significance of its own, it has been also been viewed as a stepping stone towards a papal visit to Russia. It seems that now even Russia may be open to this. The Russian television and newspapers closely followed the events in Ukraine, and a number of positive commentaries were heard on the topic of a papal visit--for the first time.

For years, certain Orthodox Churches, including the ROC (Russian Orthodox Church), have been portraying the Pope as a despotic, authoritarian, power-hungry leader. Some Orthodox pejoratively refer to him as a "profaner of the Orthodox faith," "blasphemer," and "head of the Vatican State," not as spiritual leader of Christianity's largest Church. This attitude seems to be strong with the followers of Moscow's Patriarch Alexy. Prior to the Ukrainian papal visit, they staged anti-papal protests in Kyiv and in Moscow. While the Pope was ending his Ukrainian tour, Alexy travelled to the intersection of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, to symbolically reaffirm his power over the Eastern Slavic nations. He denounced the expansion of Western forces, which he perceives as a threat to his own influence and control. Together with the authoritarian Belarussian President, he stated: "These [papal] forces, under cover of peacemaking rhetoric, are conducting a spiritual, economic and political expansion. We urge the fraternal Slav peoples not to give in to the temptation of division and hostility..." (Globe, July 2).

Alexy fears not only the strengthening of Catholicism, but also the loss of his followers to Ukraine's Orthodox Metropolitan Filaret, whom Alexy had excommunicated. The ROC is the strongest and most numerous Church in Ukraine, where it has 7.5 million followers in 9,000 communities, compared to Filaret's 2.5 million followers in 2,800 communities. However, Filaret's popularity seems to be on the rise following the papal visit. Somehow, the visit did more to unify and reconcile Catholics and Orthodox than "to foster disunity."

On the final day of the Ukrainian papal visit, Holy See spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls stated that the "Holy Father's pilgrimage has not had a negative effect on Catholic-Orthodox relations; on the contrary, it has opened a new stage of dialogue." (Zenit, July 10)

Even in Russia itself attitudes may be changing. According to a survey published by Interfax Russian agency, 63% of Russians favour a papal visit, and only 17% are opposed. Russian President Vladimir Putin has already expressed his openness to a visit by the Pope, though he is cautious not to offend the ROC. A number of Catholics who reside in Russia attended the papal services in Kyiv, and invited the Pope to their land with clearly visible signs: "We want the Pope to come to Moscow."

Meanwhile, John Paul II is preparing for his next international trips to Kazakhstan and Armenia, former Soviet republics.