William Yoder
Outsized Generalizations I am struck by the generalizations in Brother Mykhailo’s article. For example, in reference to the post-Soviet Union since 1991, he claims “not a single memory of those times will remain.” This assumes that the world’s historians will be struck with massive amnesia. Much is vague: How were Western missions in Russia “bound by Soviet history”? Do these missions behave differently in Ukraine? Russian parishioners are “increasingly disappointed with political Christianity.” But Ukrainian Protestants are also extremely political on Facebook.
Cherenkov is often hard to decipher. What is the new evangelical order coming into being in Ukraine? How is it different from North American evangelicalism? I think, for example, of the Charismatic movement’s “apostles” and “prophets” touring through Ukraine prophesying the demise of Russia. Cherenkov claims that “Eurasia is the unbreakable, indivisible unity of Europe and Asia.” But Eurasianism is the ideology of Alexander Dugin and other Eastern-oriented, Russian nationalists.
Cherenkov writes: “Russian Christianity . . . has absolutely nothing to offer other Christian traditions or neighboring countries.” Is that not arrogant? Pope Francis met with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kyrill in Havana on 12 February 2016. Apparently, the Vatican takes Russian Orthodoxy much more seriously than does Ukrainian Protestantism.
Cherenkov expresses concern for inter-church relations, which is laudable. But he does not extend his support for cross-denominational efforts to Ukraine’s largest church body: the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Moscow Patriarchate. Precisely because this church is well-represented on both sides of the East Ukrainian divide, it is best-equipped to foster reconciliation within Ukraine.
A Civil War or a Proxy War?
For Russians, Cherenkov’s charge of “war raged by Russia against Ukraine” is pure propaganda. How can this not be a civil war? The territory of what we now call Ukraine has been divided roughly along the Dnieper River for over a millennium. Actually, the conflict in Eastern Ukraine is both a civil war and a proxy war. It is true that the vast majority of those fighting on both sides are citizens of Ukraine. But it is also a proxy war because Russian citizens and a few others are fighting on the side of East Ukrainian separatists, while U.S. citizens, Canadians, Poles, and Balts are fighting on, or otherwise aiding, the postMaidan Ukrainian government. Further complicating the issue, Russian citizens (Chechens) are fighting on both sides in the conflict.
Cherenkov writes, “In Russia, widespread nominal belief has become infected with an explosive mixture of nationalist-Orthodox-Stalinist beliefs.” True, such tendencies exist. One example is Moscow’s Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, who spoke out against this very mixture and was deposed by Patriarch Kyrill in December 2015.
Support for War and Support for Peace
In Ukraine, Patriarch Filaret of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate has made inflammatory remarks regarding the people of Russia, calling for a holy war. Both his church and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church have officially gathered funds for the purchase of ammunition. The Greek Catholic faith, strongly repressed during the Communist era, survived through its exile existence, mostly in North America after 1945. That faith was compromised by its support for the Ukrainian fascist movement during World War II and its genocide against Poles. Greek Catholic priest Mykhailo Arsenych, for example, has made extremely fascist statements in recent years. Indeed, he belongs behind bars.
I think, as well, of U.S. Senator John McCain describing Russia in February 2016 as “the enemy.” By way of contrast, just after his visit in Cuba, Russian Patriarch Kyrill pleaded for reconciliation between his country and the United States. Russian Evangelical Christians-Baptists, as well, are making moderate and conciliatory statements, for example, those made by the denomination’s President Alexey Smirnov in an interview published in Moscow’s Protestant on 17 March 2015. Russians regard the enmity against them as artificial, a creation of powerful circles in the West struggling for even greater economic and geo-strategic advantage. How prophetic it would be if, instead, evangelicals in Ukraine and Russia would raise their voices jointly in the name of reconciliation and peace.
Russia or NATO to Blame?
Cherenkov claims Russia is seeking a “reconstruction of the Soviet empire.” I see no indication of that in the Baltics or on the border with Poland. On 5 May 2005, Vladimir Putin reported on German television: “People in Russia say that those who do not regret the collapse of the Soviet Union have no heart. And those who do regret its demise have no brain.” Someone struggling to resuscitate the Soviet Union would speak otherwise. NATO, on the other hand, broke its 1990 oral agreement in which it promised that it would move “not an inch” eastward from Germany. It is now poised in Varna, Estonia, less than 150 kilometers west of St. Petersburg. The Soviet Union gave up its East European sphere of influence, while the U.S. did not keep its part of the deal. Mikhail Gorbachev will resent until his dying day that breach of good faith. Russian behavior in Ukraine (2014) and Georgia (2008) needs to be understood in this context.
Cherenkov is wary of the idea of Russian messianic aspirations and warns that “Russia without Ukraine risks entering into barbarism.” However, it is very difficult for Russians to attribute a saving character to Ukrainian society. The Russian perspective is that the violent revolution on Maidan in February 2014 occurred less than ten months prior to elections that were scheduled for December and that were to include international monitors.
Fascist “Browns” and Communist “Reds”
Ukraine has millions of Western-style democrats, some of them evangelicals, but it also has a problem with its ultra-rightist “browns.” Before 1941, as well as after 1946, the West’s concrete actions lent credence to the slogan that “brown is better than red.” That position has enjoyed a mighty public revival in the Baltics and in Ukraine since 1990. Revisionism was obvious on 7 January 2015 in Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk’s strange comments on German TV: “Russian aggression in Ukraine is an attack on world order and order in Europe. All of us still clearly remember the Soviet invasion of Ukraine and Germany. That has to be avoided.”
But not all fascism was Nazi: World War II also featured Italian, Croatian, Slovak, and Ukrainian fascists, among others. Russians correctly prefer “red is better than brown.” The Soviet victory over Nazi Germany was morally far superior to a victory of brown over red.
It would be good if Cherenkov could explain the role of Ukraine’s Secretary of National Security Oleksandr Turchynov, who is a Baptist, among the semi-fascist Azov Battalion in the war-front city of Mariupol? Reports claim he is a commander. In addition, Ukrainian Pentecostal pastors such as Gennady Mokhnenko clearly support the semi-fascist Right Sector.
In closing, it is hardly innovative to attempt to recreate American-style church conditions in Ukraine or elsewhere. It would be much more creative to give serious thought to ways evangelicals could thrive and grow in the less-than-ideal setting of Eurasia.
William Yoder is press representative for the Russian Evangelical Alliance, Moscow, Russia. He resides in Orsha, Belarus.