The Day greets all Christians of Ukraine — Orthodox, Greek Catholics, Roman Catholics, and Protestants of all confessions, including latter-day ones, as well as Old Believers — with the Resurrection of Jesus Christ!
Christians currently make up 97 percent of Ukraine’s religious communities. Despite various differences and conflicts, religious peace has been preserved for 15 years in our country with its more than 60 officially registered religions and confessions, and 30,000 religious communities. Moreover, relations between various churches are gradually easing and there is an increasing desire to cooperate for the benefit of society. This is just the start of the road, because should the Son of God appear in Ukraine today in His Might and Glory, He would find it very difficult to understand the problems — apart from some ritual and jurisdictional differences — that are dividing His faithful and turning them practically into enemies.
On this joyous occasion The Day is taking the liberty of wishing every church in Ukraine a speedy realization of all its plans and solutions to all its problems. May all Orthodox churches finally determine their stand and unite in the spirit of Christian love for the good of the Ukrainian nation! The fact remains that all the parishioners of our three Orthodox Churches are Ukrainians, strange as this may seem to outsiders.
We wholeheartedly wish the Greek Catholics to complete the construction of the Resurrection Cathedral in Kyiv, as this will mean translating into life the dream of many generations of western Ukrainians here and abroad. We hope that the cathedral parishioners will serve as an example of tolerance, education, and good manners for the Kyivans. We wish the Catholic Church in Ukraine the return of all the cathedrals in this country that only a blind man could mistake for Orthodox or secular structures; above all St. Michael’s Cathedral designed by Horodetsky (three Ukrainian presidents have promised to do so).
We feel sure that the Catholics will do restoration works there that will shame the Kyiv City Council, whatever its membership, and that beneath the vaults of the nave will sound not only church music (let’s not forget Bach) but also secular organ music. We expect from the self-sufficient and independent Protestants even more active social efforts and the realization of their ambitious educational plans.
We would also like to see our Ukrainian Protestant businesspeople as models (in accordance with Weber’s theory) of scrupulous decency in all fields of endeavor. And may the Old Believers finally translate their long- held dream into life by setting up the museum “Old Believers’ Traditional National Culture in Ukraine” — and, of course, that they invite us to the opening ceremony. We will be happy to attend because The Day respects enlightened people who hold their history sacred.
We wholeheartedly wish all Christians in Ukraine to live in peace and accord, so that they can properly celebrate their religious holidays; so that each one of us can repeat the words of St. Paul: “Receive us; we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man... for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?”
