Today is Ukraine’s Independence Day. Yes, believe it or not, Ukraine has been independent and sovereign since 1991. Many powers, internal and external, tried to thwart Ukrainian independence. Almost everyone knows about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but how many people know about American attempts to stifle or weaken Ukraine? George H.W. Bush’s “chicken kiev” speech? The Budapest Memorandum of 1994, when Ukraine gave up its nuclear arsenal in exchange for security guarantees - which the signatories have conveniently ignored (looking at you, USA, UK, Russian, France, and China).
In one way, I’m a likely supporter of Ukraine. My grandfather was from Tetiiv in the Kyiv Oblast, as Ukrainian as they come, and a conservative, old fashioned, and very faithful Orthodox priest. My grandmother was from Kyiv even though she was German. My other grandmother, Vera, was from Kherson. And paternal grandfather Anatoly was from Anapa - a descendant of the Zaporizhian cossacks Empress Catherine II relocated to the Kuban’ region.
In another way, I was an unlikely supporter. I couldn’t stand Saturday Ukrainian school and the youth organizations. I moved from the Ukrainian church to the OCA in 1994 (blame Fr. Schmemann of blessed memory, whose writings captivated me, and a certain Minneapolis archpriest whose pastoral ministry I adored and continue to now).
My brother, grandfather, and I made an epic visit to Ukraine in 1993 - two years after independence. I was recently reading my diary and started to weep. I’m thinking of my family members in the village and their massive struggles. My family from Mykolaiv, in the thick of this awful war.
I have hope for Ukraine, which “experts” predicted would fall in two days, but is still standing more than three years after Putin’s assault. Here are my hopes for Ukraine.
I hope that Ukraine would continue to resist the pressure to become a vassal state and chart its own course, as it has for 25 years, despite the embarrassment of the “chicken kiev” speech and the failure of Budapest.
I hope that Ukraine will defeat their pursuer, Putin.
I hope that Ukraine will remain democratic and double down on fighting and resisting corruption.
I hope that Ukraine will bring the Ukrainian “businessmen” and oligarchs to justice for exploiting their people.
I hope that Ukraine’s Orthodox churches will overcome their tragic estrangement and reconcile. It is difficult, but all things are possible with God.
I hope that Ukraine will continue to be a veritable multireligious country that provides a friendly home for its diverse people.
I hope that the people of Ukraine will find the perseverance to remain in the country during the hard years of rebuilding.
I hope that other countries will treat Ukraine, and other countries without an imperial heritage, as equals and not inferiors.
I hope that Americans will learn about Ukraine’s distinctive country and resist the Putinist lie that Ukraine and Russia are one people.
I hope that the other Orthodox churches will discover the riches of the Kyivan Orthodox tradition and honor Ukrainian Orthodoxy for its spiritual wealth. I hope that they will come to learn that Ukrainization and the desire for autocephaly are not marks of renovationism.
I hope that the Kyiv Pechers’ka Lavra and the Pochaiv Monastery will become havens of pilgrimage and resist the entreaties of “businessmen” and wealthy patrons seeking to exploit them.
I hope that the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches in Ukraine will find peace and common ground.
I hope that Europeans will invest in Ukraine.
I hope that everyone reading this gets a chance to eat Ukrainian cuisine and receive Ukrainian hospitality. You’re in for a treat.
I hope that Ukraine and Belarus’ reconcile.
I hope that humanitarian aid agencies enjoy a renaissance as soon as possible after the unnecessary and scandalous shuttering of lifegiving aid and can do what they do so well in Ukraine.
I hope that injured soldiers, widowed mothers (and fathers), and orphans will receive mercy from people who honor their dignity.
I hope that the brave Russians who protested the war and were expelled, punished, and threatened will serve as a bridge for an eventual creation of a new relationship with Ukraine.
I pray that Mary, the Mother of God, would comfort the bereaved and intercede for the Ukrainian people, who love and honor her.
I pray that St. Michael the Archangel, patron of Kyiv, would continue to protect the golden-domed city from assault.
I give thanks to the millions of Americans, Canadians, Europeans, and people of goodwill throughout the world who have prayed for and helped Ukraine.
I give thanks for my parents and grandparents, for teaching me how to read, write, and speak Ukrainian, and for bringing me up in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
I give thanks for my dozens of Ukrainian friends throughout the world. You know who you are, for sure, but Fr. Cyril Hovorun, Fr. Andriy Dudchenko, Fr. Heorhiy Kovalenko, Fr. Bohdan Ohulchanskij, Dr. Paul Gavrilyuk, Dr. Konstantin Sigov, Dr. Halyna Tesliuk, Dr. Lidiya Lozova, Dr. Daria Morozova, Ms. Oleskandra Kovalenko - thank YOU for sharing your love for Ukraine. Allow me to add Dr. Frank Sysyn and Fr. Daniel Galadza as honorary members of this club and Ukrainian-Canadians, Dr. nadia Kizenko as a fellow Ukrainian-American, and Dr. Heather Coleman, Dr. Cathy Wanner, and Dr. Matt Pauly, who are the most Ukrainian non-Ukrainians I have ever met!
All politicians have tried to learn the new Ukrainian greeting - Slava Ukraini, heroyam slava! But the opening words of the national anthem are more appropriate: ще не вмерла Україна!
Україна була, є, і буде, бо з нами Бог!
