The Spiritual Legacy of The Ukrainian Nation
People of a specific territory of a particular saint inherit the legacy of their forefathers. It is contemporary Ukraine that also has exclusive privilege to its own heritage of Kyivan Rus’. The distinctive heritage and treasures of the past are the spiritual blessing of a Ukrainian nation that makes it so unique. The heritage of St. Volodymyr and the saints of Kyivan Rus’ has a lasting spiritual value that is being felt to this age.
These saints greatly influenced the shape of the nation. The spiritual legacy that is incarnated in the life of the Ukrainian nation makes it also humble to the point of identifying it as the “greatest power”. It is a sort of “self-consecration” to God and a reply to God’s commandment to become holy as He is Holy (Leviticus 11, 44, 19:2, and 20:7; Peter 1:16). We cannot forget that sainthood is a gift from God to humanity and those who respond to this call-in self-sacrifice are the “vessels” of the immensity of God’s grace.
Paradoxically, the centuries of oppression and persecution of the Ukrainian nation can also be understood in the context of “voiceless kenosis” for the re-creation of humanity. Only in the context of the greatness of silence can we measure the glory of witness of so many generations of Ukrainians of the past history. It is a great force that is expressed in myriad martyrs. The silence of so many generations of martyrs of Ukraine might be more profound here than any measure of human word.
This concept can be only authenticated in the aspect of a “new creation” of mystery that is lived without explanation. We have to identify the aspect of humility as liberation from the sin of pride that causes the nation to fall into a delusion of universal centralism. But from another perspective, we have to emphasize that the tears of sorrow, repentance, suffering, and oppression directed to our merciful God are the ways of members of the Church to sanctify the world.
Every member of the Church is called to be a saint. The presence of so many miraculous icons of the saints in Ukraine is not an accident. The Pochayiv icon of the Mother of God and the relics of St. Volodymyr are among those examples in the life of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine that does not need to be exemplified. From the Orthodox perspective, iconography in the Orthodox Church identifies the most perfect source of a particular culture. This is one of the reasons, why it is imperative for us to emphasize the heritage of St. Volodymyr and all the saints of Kyivan Rus’ who made Ukrainians who they are today.
In the presence of the specific icon and relics, there is a suspension of time, and we participate with our own integrity in this eschatological dimension. With the identification of St. Volodymyr, Ukrainians associate themselves with the eternal as death does not separate all those who are called to holiness. The uniqueness of the heritage does not allow us to be identified as Russians, but uniquely as Ukrainians.
The distinction and uniqueness of the identification of Ukrainians with the land of Kyivan Rus’ prevents them also from an inclusion into an ideology of Moscow that can lead to a total annihilation of the nation in the future. The identification with the heritage of the past does not allow us to dismiss this argument. The uniqueness of the identification also prevents anybody else from abusing it according to their own thoughts.
Excerpt from: Fr. Dr. J. Buciora, “MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE’S UTOPIAN VISION OF RUSSIAN CIVILIZATION”, in: The Valley of Hope, 2016.