An iconic example of the unity of Ukraine’s religious community was when Ukrainian Orthodox Patriarch Filaret, and two of his Protestant colleagues, including Pentecostal Bishop Mykhailo Panotchko, leader of Ukraine’s evangelical Pentecostals, sat across the table with then-President Viktor Yanukovych soon after Interior Ministry government forces on Nov. 30, 2013, beat up students to spark the events that precipitated the EuroMaidan Revolution that ended Yanukovych’s rule on Feb. 22, 2014. From that day to this day, it remains an unforgettable image of inter-denominational Christian unity against the unjust actions of a corrupt government.
This was not a coincidence, but rather a result of a deliberate effort of the religious leaders of Ukraine. It was long before that moment,(and despite their doctrinal differences or sectarian ambitions)- that those leaders recognized the need to unite in order to provide a moral alternative to the corruption and its practices in Ukraine, by providing a Christian inspired critique of Ukrainian society and an alternative to a secular and materialistic worldview.
It didn’t begin or end there. For it could be argued that the “religious of the church, in terms of a societal institution of a slowly growing democracy, is perhaps the most unified in the country in post-maidan life. It is an example of how the diversity of thought and life practice within a context of mutual respect, trust, and fellowship, can become a behavioral model for life in a democracy.
This said, less than two weeks before the Nov. 22 second round of elections for mayor of Rivne, the regional capital home to 243,000 people located 328 kilometers west of Kyiv, Ukraine’s religious unity is being tested. Flyers are being distributed around town attacking the religious faith of Oleksandr Tretyak. Tretyak is a Protestant, evangelical, and Pentecostal who is running for mayor as the candidate from Poroshenko’s European Solidarity party. Tretyak, a young family man and a political newcomer whose presence and first-round success poses a direct challenge to the city’s status quo, is running on a platform of the need for honesty and transparency in local government.
The disseminated materials are entitled with such sensational headlines as: “Danger: Sectarianism,” “Are Pentecostals Sectarians?” and “Protestantism and its Negative Effects.”
The point here is not necessarily what was said, but rather, why would such material, expressly religious in content, be disseminated in the midst of a very hard-fought political campaign?
One’s first reaction could have been that this was just an example of a desperate political attack in the late stages of a political campaign to “bring down” an opponent in the minds of the electorate. Indeed, this seems to be the case here.
However, to resort to a personal attack on a political opponent based on the specificities of his religious beliefs, even going so far as to attacking specific doctrinal beliefs of a man’s faith, was an act whose sole purpose was to denigrate and disparage his individual dignity. This was an act of intended intolerance and one that in a young and growing democracy that should be categorically condemned.
Put more succinctly, to disseminate bigoted material against a political opponent under such titles was a cynical act of political opportunism. It was a deliberate public and blatant act of religious intolerance in the quest for political gain. An attempt at personal ostracism, as well as an attempt to ostracize an internationally recognized and accepted religious group. Unfortunately, the authors intended to inflame – and then exploit – what still could be latent forms of prejudice against Protestant believers, knowingly and without shame. Finally, it was an attempt to divide the city of Rivne.
When the Ukrainian Orthodox Church received the ‘Tomos,” it was a proud moment for all Ukrainians. Orthodox, Catholics, and Protestants gathered at Sofiyivska Square that Sunday morning to pray and celebrate together and to show unity amongst Ukrainian believers. Polling even showed that Greek Catholics were even more supportive than Ukrainian Orthodox believers. Protestants in Ukraine, though less in numbers, were no less proud of the achievement for the Ukrainian nation. That example of unity and tolerance is the kind much needed now in Rivne, and not the divisive attempts at religious bigotry currently being practiced by some political forces.
On Nov. 22, local voters will have their chance to reject such religious prejudice and affirm the principle of religious tolerance in their city.
