4 May 2020, 20:47 | Religious-digest |  | 

A Vatican Memo, Sheptytsky, and the Holocaust

Recently, a German scholar, Hubert Wolf, gave a "spoiler" interview in which he spoke of previously unearthed documents from Vatican archival collections of 1939–1958, which had been opened briefly this past March. I myself had an opportunity to view some of the newly available files before Italy and te Vatican shut down, due to the Coronavirus quarantine.

28 April 2020, 11:19 | Society-digest | 

Mounting religious persecution as Russia imposes monopoly on faith in occupied Crimea

This year alone, three Crimean Imams have faced prosecution for praying in their own mosques, with Russia claiming this to be ‘unlawful missionary activity’. Serhiy Filatov, a Jehovah’s Witness from Dzhankoy is imprisoned, awaiting his appeal against a six-year prison sentence for having worshipped with others in his own home.

29 March 2020, 11:36 | Society-digest | 

The Orthodox Church & Social Teaching

In January the Ecumenical Patriarchate approved a social document, titled For the Life of the World, that formulates guiding principles for the role of the Orthodox Church—and the responsibility of Orthodox Christians—in the modern world.

11 March 2020, 17:14 | Kaleidoscope-digest | 

Building Trust through Dialogue in Ukraine

When Taras Dzyubanskyy founded the Libertas Centre for Interconfessional and Interreligious Dialogue in Lviv in May 2013, Ukraine was at relative peace. Less than a year later, violent protests had toppled the government as a result of Russian claims to the Crimean Peninsula.

6 March 2020, 13:51 | Society-digest |  | 

CRIMEA: "Unjustifiable to jail someone for reading the Bible"

Jehovah's Witness Sergei Filatov was today sentenced to six years jail with an additional five years additional restrictions, and his co-believer Artyom Gerasimov was in a separate trial fined about two year's average salary. "I'm outraged, because it is unjustifiable to jail someone for reading the Bible," Filatov told Forum 18 before the sentence.

2 March 2020, 14:06 | Kaleidoscope-digest |  | 

Ukrainian Churches in the Canadian Prairies

Approximately 170,000 Ukrainians from the Austro-Hungarian crownlands of Galicia and Bukovina (Bukovyna) arrived in Canada from September 1891 to August 1914. The vast majority settled in the prairie provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, where they obtained land to farm.

2 March 2020, 13:00 | Society-digest |  | 

CRIMEA: Six months in Russian prison punishment cell

In January, Crimean Muslim prisoner of conscience Renat Suleimanov completed six months in Russian labour camp punishment cell for an alleged conflict with another prisoner. He was then transferred to the camp's strict section. Suleimanov's lawyer insists the accusation was fabricated to punish his client. On 3 and 5 March, verdicts are expected in criminal cases against Jehovah's Witnesses Artyom Gerasimov and Sergei Filatov

13 February 2020, 16:04 | Kaleidoscope-digest | 

Decolonizing The Global Ukrainian Church

Saying that this Church is my home is often considered contentious, mostly because I am not an ethnic Ukrainian. This contention, I find, is equally raised by some within the church. However they want to read my body, I am in this church.

10 February 2020, 22:07 | Society-digest | 

DONBAS: Donetsk: Raid, fine for unregistered worship meetings

Security forces of the unrecognised Donetsk People's Republic raided Protestant Sunday morning worship on 19 January. They interrogated church leaders at the police station.

28 January 2020, 16:53 | Religious-digest |  | 

Praying in Secret: What Ukraine's Underground Church Teaches Us Today

In history classes across the United States, students are taught that the persecution of Christians was foundational to the independence of this country. But after almost a quarter millennium, the majority of evangelical Christians still believe Christians experience discrimination.

16 January 2020, 10:01 | Society-digest | 

Ukrainische Autokephalie als Sorge um die Menschen

Seit der Unabhängigkeit der Ukraine galten die Gläubigen der „nicht kanonischen“ orthodoxen Kirchen als Christen zweiter Klasse und waren von der Weltorthodoxie getrennt. Die Verleihung der Autokephalie an die Orthodoxe Kirche der Ukraine hat diesen jahrzehntelangen Missstand beendet. Millionen ukrainischer Gläubiger sind nun wieder Teil der globalen Orthodoxie, zudem hat die Autokephalie die Wahlmöglichkeiten der Kirchgemeinden gestärkt.

15 January 2020, 16:27 | Society-digest | 

Israeli and Ukrainian media report fake anti-Semitic ‘pogrom’ in Ukraine

On 11 January 2020, the Israeli publication Yeshiva World News posted a supposed news report under the shocking title “POGROM IN UMAN OVER SHABBOS: Ukrainian Thugs Attack Jews, 4 Evacuated To Hospitals”. There was no pogrom, yet within hours ‘the story’ had been repeated as though it were established fact by other Israeli, Ukrainian and Russian media. Very few have posted updated texts, explaining that the information had proven false, and some of those who reported the police statement debunking the claims still kept the same catchy – and misleading – titles.

5 January 2020, 10:08 | Kaleidoscope-digest |  | 

Carol of the Bells & the fight for national dignity. Lessons from the history of the Ukrainian National Republic

For many, Carol of the Bells is an irreplaceable symbol of Christmas. Few know that not only is this originally a Ukrainian folksong, but a folksong that was performed one hundred years ago all over Europe and the Americas in Ukraine’s first-ever cultural diplomacy project.

1 January 2020, 12:45 | Kaleidoscope-digest | 

The Christmas mission of the youngest: how Ukrainian scouts bring Peace Light to soldiers on the front-line

Every year before Christmas, Plastoons or Plastuns (Ukrainian scouts) disseminate the Peace Light of Bethlehem all over Ukraine. The fire is the symbol of peace, love, and unity.

20 December 2019, 16:11 | Society-digest |  | 

DONBAS: Luhansk: Gospel of John, Baptist books banned

The unrecognised Luhansk People's Republic banned 12 Baptist books as "extremist", including an edition of the Gospel of John in the widely-used Russian Synodal translation.

8 December 2019, 16:08 | Society-digest |  | 

CRIMEA: UN call to halt Cathedral eviction

The United Nations Human Rights Committee is considering an appeal by 62 parishioners of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine's Sts Volodymyr and Olga Cathedral in the Crimean capital Simferopol.

29 November 2019, 11:00 | Society-digest | 

World cannot overcome the current crisis by neglecting the destiny of Ukraine – Soviet dissident

This article is an abridged version of a lecture given by Myroslav Marynovych as part of the conference “Human Dignity – Socio-ethical Legacy and Challenge of the Revolution of Dignity”