The following is a sequel to a series of features on social services performed by Ukrainian churches, on how they help people in this complicated time of transition. The Patriarch of Kyiv and All Rus’-Ukraine comments on the charitable endeavors of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Kyiv Patriarchate.
Before we broach the main subject, would Your Holiness tell our readers about the situation in the highly complicated area of uniting the Ukrainian Orthodox community?
Filaret: Regrettably, there is no progress to speak of, although we are convinced that this unity will eventually take place, and that it will be centered on the Kyiv Patriarchate. The point is that the KP represents the most influential church in Ukraine, uniting most of the faithful and acting in conformity with the ideology of state-building. One ought to remember that every Orthodox country (where the Orthodox believers constitute the majority of the population) should have its own autocephalous local church. We are confident that we will have this church. Since the Moscow Patriarchate does not want to unite with the KP, I think the process is irreversible and will take a different, evolutionary course. After the KP is recognized as a local autocephalous church by Ecumenical Orthodoxy, our Church will be gradually joined by parishes and eparchies of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine, and by those of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.
How are you going to gain recognition from Ecumenical Orthodoxy?
Filaret: This will largely depend on our government, the supreme secular authority. Historically, in the Orthodox countries both the government and believers are interested in having a local church. The thing is that, although the Church exists separately from the state, it has a degree of political influence and every government is interested in having relations of partnership, in cooperating with the Church as a factor of stability. We see this in the history of the Balkan states and their churches as well as in Russia. In 1924, the Orthodox Church of Poland was granted autocephaly only thanks to the active stand taken by Pilsudski’s government (actually, Pilsudski was out of power at the time — Ed.). Estonia is a recent example. Its authorities supported the Orthodox community when it decided to withdraw from the Moscow Patriarchate’s jurisdiction (it had been forced under it in the twentieth century) and return to the Mother Church, the Constantinople Patriarchate.
Your Holiness, will the talks continue between the Moscow and Constantinople Patriarchates concerning the problems of Ukrainian Orthodoxy?
Filaret: Yes, they will, although little headway has been made so far. Unfortunately, both the Kyiv Patriarchate and UAOC were excluded from the talks, but such problems cannot be solved without all interested parties.
How important do you think the social aspect, charity, is for the Church?
Filaret: The Christian Church has been involved in charity from the outset, adhering to His Commandments (Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself). In the first century the Church held agapae or feasts of love to carry out that Commandment. When Christianity became the official religion in the fourth century, the Church took over social services as an institution. In Ukraine and Russia, monasteries and convents have from time immemorial been the principal venues of charity, since they had more money and other means; prosperous people would donate land, houses, and money, while cloistered communities, bound by the vow of poverty, would use such money for charity. Under the Soviets, the churches as institutions were prohibited to conduct any social activities, including charity, but they did so nonetheless on an individual basis, the more so that charity is a duty of both the Church and every believer.
Would you tell us about Kyiv Patriarchate charitable efforts?
Filaret: The Church is returning to social service on a broad field. Regrettably, we are not sufficiently strong financially to make charitable efforts at the level of the early twentieth century, but we try our best, setting up homes for the elderly, canteens for the poor, and orphanages. The Donetsk eparchy, for example, runs a home for the elderly in the Telmanovo district.
The Church often helps public canteens with food supplies and they give the poor free lunches. This is done by the Brotherhood of St. Andrew the First Called. Their counterparts in America have thus assisted four or five such canteens for over a decade.
There are brotherhoods (for example, that of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in the Borshchahivka district in Kyiv), which serve free meals for the poor several times a week. I know of such parish canteens in other eparchies. The Church also helps state-run homes for the elderly. Some parishioners have founded orphanages. For example, Ivan Suslov, a businessman, built an orphanage for 12 boys and 12 girls in the village of Buky (Skvyra district, Kyiv oblast) and undertook to pay for their post-secondary education and then to provide them with jobs and homes. Unfortunately, bureaucratic obstacles are encountered even here. Local officials are in no hurry to allow orphans to be transferred to such private children’s homes. Although the state is interested in such charity, it is not legally provided for. Nevertheless, there is an orphanage and children live there. I visited the place. They have adequate living conditions, the boys and girls live separately, and there is a nice dining room. In a word, they have everything they need to live and study normally. You can visit that home anytime.
However, everything I have mentioned is just the beginning of social service by the Church in Ukraine. We cannot place it on an adequate scope for want of funds. Church funds are mainly spent on the restoration and rebuilding of Church buildings destroyed by the previous regime. We have to restore our houses of God before we can proceed with social service.
We often hear from people and the media that all Ukrainian churches, especially Orthodox ones, erect church buildings instead of giving money to the poor. What does Your Holiness think about this?
Filaret: I think that such accusations addressing the Church and individual philanthropists paying for the restoration and construction of temples are unfounded. The Church must take care of not only human flesh but also man’s soul. This is possible only in a house of God. I don’t think that we would be able to feed all the hungry by halting church construction. On the contrary, it is by building churches and restoring the spirituality of this society that the Church will be able to persuade affluent Ukrainians to help their needy fellow human beings. For the reciprocal path to social service lies through the house of God.
What you have told us so far is achieved at the level of eparchies, even the Patriarchate. What about parishes? How active are they in the benevolent domain and how are they accountable to the hierarchy?
Filaret: The statutes of the eparchies and parishes stipulate charity. It’s a must, so they don’t need any special instructions from the Patriarchate. For example, the Telmanovo parish is supervised by Bishop Vicar Serhiy. Also, the parish of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, on the initiative of Dean Bishop Valery Symantsev.
Let me tell you about another kind of help for the poor: foreign humanitarian aid. The Vicarage of the Kyiv Patriarchate in the United States headed by Deacon Stepan Posakivsky is very active. With the blessings of the Patriarchate, Father Posakivsky has for the past decade constantly provided humanitarian aid, bringing it personally and jointly with local authorities distributing to orphanages, hospitals, and homes for the elderly. Our parish in Chicago is also quite active. Its dean Vasyl Kosy’s daughter has annually brought humanitarian aid to Ukraine, specially for children’s institutions, allocating it in coordination with social protection authorities (they advise her of where this aid should be directed: hospitals or orphanages).
We are assisted by the Catholic Triumph of the Heart organization, particularly by its coordinator in Ukraine Stefan Magyar. They receive humanitarian aid from abroad and allocate it through our Church, through Kyiv Patriarchate eparchies and parishes. It consists of food, clothes, footwear, pieces of furniture. There is a social aid station at the Vydubetsky Monastery where such shipments are received and allocated.
I have told you what I know and where I have visited, yet every bishop conducts his own social work in his eparchy [diocese].
Is there any reporting and accounting to be done in this sphere? Do they report to the Patriarchate? Does the Patriarchate have an accounting department or something?
Filaret: We require no such reporting. We believe that helping those in need is the duty of every eparchy, every parish, every priest and believer. Especially in these trying times.
In other words, does the Patriarchate have no one to keep track of charity?
Filaret: No, it does not. We have our chancellery and they take care of this, but I plan a special benevolent department, most likely based at the Vydubetsky Monastery.
Does the seminary curriculum include a course of training in social service?
Filaret: Yes, we have such disciplines as pastoral theology and pastoral practice with special sections on social service and meeting modern challenges.
You haven’t mentioned parishioners’ individual benevolent activities. There are elderly people sick and alone in every village. How are they assisted by parish priests and congregations?
Filaret: I know about the Cherkasy parish and how the believers are encouraged to help their neighbors in need. In most cases parishes assist homes for the elderly and orphanages. Recently we aided the orphanage in Irpin. The Church cannot as yet afford to completely sustain such institutions or hospitals.
As I have mentioned, the reason is lack of funds and legal framework. In Germany, for example, every citizen pays the church tax under law (1-2% of income). The state collects the tax and transfers the money to the Church, so the latter has broad financial opportunities to operate a developed network of modern social and medical facilities. In other countries the Church is completely tax-exempt and provides comprehensive social aid in return.
You have had an opportunity to take a closer look at the benevolent efforts of churches in the West. You have worked abroad, representing the Church in various international organizations. How different is their social approach from ours? How are their faithful aware of their duty to help fellow humans?
Filaret: The difference between the Orthodox and, say, Protestant Churches is that Protestant service is more socially oriented, emphasizing social protection. The Orthodox Church does not reject social service, but focuses on spiritual upbringing, so people make benevolent efforts not formally but because they are inspired to do so. Kind and compassionate individuals cannot keep from helping others. In Germany they just pay the church tax and don’t know what will happen to the money. In Orthodoxy it is different. We must educate our flock so no one will look away from his neighbor’s misfortune.
Are your benevolent projects and institutions meant only for Orthodox believers?
Filaret: We never discriminate between people. We help whoever needs it, regardless of their religious affiliation or creed, nonbelievers included. Thus, our Church pays special attention to war veterans. We send them humanitarian aid on holidays (in Kyiv we do so when people request such aid) and never inquire about their religious views.
Are there any official requirements from the state in this domain?
Filaret: The state imposes no requirements, but encourages the Church in this direction.
Would Your Holiness recall an instance of such help from your life, from your childhood or youth?
Filaret: I would not want to discuss myself — well, I can remember going to church in my teens. I was fond of religious literature and enjoyed reading about St. Nicholas. I was especially impressed by the story in which the saint secretly helped a family in a critical situation, tossing three small sacks of gold through their window at night. I read it during the war, when people lived in misery, often having nothing to eat. So I put some grain in a sack, away from my mother’s eyes, and tossed it into the yard of a very poor family in the neighborhood.
Was that your first act of charity?
Filaret: If you could put that way.
Many thanks, Your Holiness, for this interview.
