Ukraine, the Forgotten Country
Interesting Facts About Ukraine, Its History and Role in Prophecy

Much of the world was largely unaware of Ukraine or the former
Rus <as we will refer to it for much of this text> until the summer of
1991 when it officially declared its independence from the USSR.
Bordering the Black Sea and surrounded by Moldavia, Romania,
Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Byelorussia and Russia it is the second
largest country in Europe with over 50 million people in an area larger
than France.

This unresisted move for independence was an unspeakable triumph
for a country that had known nothing but communist domination for over
7 decades.  Prior to the loss of its national identity and total absorption
into the USSR in 1920, it boasted origins of antiquity, even from biblical
times and its role in the evolution of man's journey toward God weaves
in and out of history like a thread in a tapestry; beginning with the written
word of God and ending on the same note.

History
In the 5th century B.C. the ancient historian Herodotus visited the
inhabitants of the regions around the Black Sea, known as Scythians,
giving us this account:

"The Scythian solder drinks the blood of the first man he overthrows
in battle.  Whatever number he slays, he cuts off all their heads, and
carries them to the king; since he is thus entitled to a share of the booty,
whereto he forfeits all claim if he does not produce a head ... "

A rather long description of defleshing the skull follows.  Scalps were
kept as trophies, sometimes worn on the bridle-rein or sewn into
coats.  A biblical mention can be found in 2 Maccabees 4:47 showing
them to be just, as well as cruel.

They only skirted the edge of the arts of civilization being largely
nomadic and living on the steppe in tents but they still managed to
acquire Greek art and fine gold wares some of which is still preserved
in St. Petersburg.  They were native goldsmiths themselves who's art
influenced both Europe and China.  But they were xenophobic by
nature and very suspicious of strangers.  Herodotus also tells us of
a case whereby two famous Scythians were murdered by their
own for adopting Greek customs.

Their chief source of survival was trade and occasionally warfare,
acting as middlemen between Rome and the north.  Roman coins
dating to the 1st and 2nd centuries have been found at ancient
settlements suggesting the contact between ancient Rus and the
civilized world predates literary evidence to the contrary.

When the Huns swept into Europe in the 5th century much of
the old Scythian stock was killed, some were absorbed and others
fled to the northern edge toward the forests to join those who
were already calling themselves Slavs.  Intermingling at that time
occurred and from then onward people of Mongolian appearance
speaking Turkish dialects blended with the populace.  In time, actual
trading settlements were established along the great rivers pouring
wealth into the land spurring the conditions for a unified state to protect
this important route.  But national union was disrupted by the Viking
invasion of the 9th century which fell upon Western and Eastern
Europe alike.  Many adventurous conquerers took advantage of
the chaos that ensued.  Among these was the Viking Rurik who
established himself at Novgorod in 862 A.D and by the second
generation of his house had already established a rough unity based
upon the annual practice of taxcollecting in addition to trade.  It was
Rurik's successor Oleg that established the golden era of Kievan Rus
uniting all the principle Slavic tribes.  For 700 years afterward all of
the royal and kingly houses of Rus claimed descent from Rurik.

Religion
The Slavs were predominately pagans who worshipped the sun or
other deities of nature.  There is an unsubstantiated legend that St. Andrew
the Apostle himself came to Rus and preached Christianity to the Slavs in
the first century.  But the first known recorded account of attempted evangelization
doesn't occur until the late 9th century and concerns two Greek missionary
brothers, Sts. Cyril and Methodius, saints in both the Eastern and Western
Churches.  They were dispatched to the Khazars, a Turkish tribe that
dominated the southern steppe who's ruling classes initially accepted
Judaism but later requested a teacher of Christianity.

Educated in Constantinople and priests by vocation, in preparation for
their work the brothers invented a rough alphabet and translated the
Gospels and other necessary sacred writings into Slavonic.  The
foundation of the modern Slav/Rus languages is based on this alphabet,
now called Cyrillic.  The Saints are known today as the Apostles to the
Slavs.  (Their feast day is February 14.)

Christianity developed slowly due to the size of the country and
the apprehension of most Slavs to accept a new religion.  Even though
Slavonic made access to Church writings accessible to almost
any literate Slav, the language closed the door in Rus to Greek classical
culture.  It was not portable to common speech.  And it widened the
coming breach between the East and the West.  Schism was already
brewing in Constantinople.  More than 100 hundred years would pass
between the work of the Sts. Cyril and Methodius and the official
national acceptance of Christianity by all of Rus on behalf of
St. Vladimir who publicly accepted Baptism in the River Dnieper in
988 A.D.

The impetus for this move was borne of several important facts.
His grandmother, St. Olga, a claimed descendent of theViking
warlord Rurik, was the first of her family to embrace Christianity.
She herself made a pilgrimmage to Constantinople and was Baptized
in 957 A.D.  She returned to her native country anxious to convert
her people to Christianity and sent envoys to the West in the hopes
of getting Pope John III to erect a Metropolitan See in Kiev but all
her efforts were opposed by pagan nobility and failed.  Again the old
Scythian obstinancy to resist change, a nearly national flaw, also
renders conversion of either her son or husband (the latter who been
assassinated earlier) impossible and the former would die a pagan.
She met with success in influencing her grandson Vladimir to
embrace religion however.

But for him the reasons weren't entirely devotional.  While he was
well aware of the fact that religion would unify his country his plan was
to be a major player on the world stage and his recent offer of marriage
to Anna, the sister of Emperor Basil II in Constantinople had been
refused on the grounds that he was not Baptized.  He was converted
the same year.  His dream of worldly success was eventually realized
in his own life and through his descendants who married both into
Byzantium and the leading states of Western Europe, including the
English monarchy.

Public, forced Baptisms of his people followed.  The same forcefulness
that made him something of cruel rogue in the days when he erected pagan
shrines and had multiple wives at least extended itself for the willed good
of his kingdom. He softened considerably after his marriage to Anna
dispensing his other wives and became well known for his kindness and
zeal in spreading Christianity.  He had in his possession the famous Black
Madonna (or Our Lady of Czestochowa), thought to be painted by St.
Luke which was brought to Constantinople in the 4th century.  He had it
brought to Kiev where it resided for 600 hundred years until it was taken
to Poland to protect it from invaders.  The liturgy that he accepted was
from the Eastern Church, not Rome and it would dominate the entire
landscape through the Great Schism of 1054 and beyond Communist
repression, for 1000 years.
 

  The Black Madonna

In 1382 the image was damaged. An arrow from an invading Tartar struck it
and left a scar on the neck which is still visible today.

Considerations - The Rise of Muscovy, Communism and the
Fall of the Berlin Wall
It has been said that the Ukrainians hate Russians.  Perhaps it was more the hatred
of Russification than the people itself.  But nevertheless, Moscow's ascendancy
in the12th century ended the Golden Era of Kiev and brought with it the suppression
of native Slavic culture which lasts to this day.  Hardly any of what modern Russia
claims for its own is authentically Russian:  its religious history, vodka, cossacks,
caviar, etc., to hear my own father tell it and history bears this out.  An account
in a book on my computer desk relates how the Kremlin was built over the
ruins of the first settlement in Moscow by a renegade grandson of a Ukrainian king.
But while people much more scholarly than myself endlessly debate the origins of
Russia and Ukraine, one thing is certain and not even the long-suffering Slavic heart
anticipated it, the rise of Communism would fail to rid them of the bonds
of the czarist regime only to trade one sort of slavery for another.

The histories of the Russian Revolution and two World Wars are well
known and don't need an exact repeating here.  These were dark days of
horror, famine, starvation and it was said, cannibalism.  Twenty thousand
died a day in Stalin's man-made famine of 1932 and 1933 with a total number
of 7 million perishing in all.  News was kept from the west while Ukraine's
grain was exported around the world, including to America.

Then came the subsequent extermination of Jews.  In a manner of days most
of the Jewry from around my father's village was summarily executed along with
anyone else who resisted.  The Germans had come and they were worse than the
Russians.  And it was at that time that dad, a mere boy of about 13 was separated
from his family.  He would never see them again.  He came to America, like
millions of displaced Eastern European refugees, another Slav with a yearning for
freedom.  He never lived to see Ukraine's newly elected democratic president
Leonid Kravchuk meet with Boris Yeltsin and Shushkevich of Belarus to dissolve
the USSR.  But his daughter did and it is with solemn deep gratitude that this
modern day descendant of St. Vladimir brings you this history.  Because in a
strange, mysterious way, I may not be here if he never existed but I certainly
wouldn't have had any personal interest in taking 2.5 days to write this
otherwise.

Roman Catholicism in Ukraine and The Last Days
The Slavic view in the economy of salvation was that they were late-comers
to belief and God had acted through particular nations; first the chosen people,
then down to themselves.  Slavic theologians will more readily debate doctrine
even while they take on faith what we westerners endlessly rationalize.  But the
philosophical differences between the East and West proved insurmountable
for centuries upon centuries and orthodoxy never came to terms with such things
as the papacy or certain Roman teachings on purgatory, for example.  The Church
of Rome had little success converting them.  The Germans couldn't do it before
Cyril and Methodius.  It wasn't until 1439 that the Eastern Church in Ukraine
accepted Papal Primacy but Roman Catholics remain a minority.  Regardless
of their theological or doctrinal differences, the Slavs have been been deeply
devoted to Mary, the Mother of God, since the son of St. Vladimir, Jaroslav the
Wise, made her the patroness of his country.  And where there is Mary, there
is also the Church, however fledging it may be.

Just a year short of the 1000th year anniversary of Ukraine's conversion to
Christianity on Mercy Sunday in April of 1987 at about 8 pm in the evening a
strange light appeared over Holy Trinity Church in Hrushiv, Ukraine.  It was
also a year to the day of the catastrophic nuclear accident in Cherynobyl, a
mere 300 miles away.  A young girl about 12 years old, Marina, decided to
investigate the strange light closer and to her amazement saw within it a
beautiful young woman holding a baby.  Within a week news of the apparition
spread to the surrounding areas and more than 100,000 people came to see
it for themselves.

The woman in the light picked up her rosary with blue beads and kissed
it reverently, saying to the crowds ....

    "I come to you with tears in my eyes and I implore you to pray and
    work for good and for the glory of God.  Ukraine was the first country
    to acknowledge me as Queen and I have received her under my care.
    Work for God, for without this there is no happiness and no one will
    gain the kingdom of God."

The Dnieper River, in which St. Vladimir received Baptism 1000 years
ago connects the reservoir that feeds the nuclear plant at Cherynobyl.

Visions of Mary occured daily in Hrushiv.  On the first anniversary of the
Cherynobyl disaster her message went as follows:

    "Do not forget those who have died in the Cherynobyl disaster.
    Cherynobyl is a sign for the whole world. Pray always for
    the deceased.  Do not forget them and especially those who have
    not lived holy lives."

A month later in the same year she promised that eventually Ukraine
would taste freedom at last.

    "... I see your faith and strength and how you have persevered in
    fidelity to the Church even when all hope seemed to have gone.

    "That is why I ask you to forgive your enemies.  Through you and
    blood of martyrs will come the conversion of Russia.

    "Repent and love one another.  The times are coming which
    have been foretold as being those in the end times.  See the
    desolation which surrounds the world ... the sins, the sloth,
    the genocide.  Pray for Russia.  Oppression and wars continue
    to occupy the minds and hearts of so many people.  Russia,
    despite everything, continues to deny my Son.  She rejects
    real life and continues to live in darkness.

    "My daughter Ukraine, I am interceding and praying for
    you and your future.  The time is coming when this nation
    will achieve its statehood.  You are dear and precious
    to me.  If there is not a return to Christianity in Russia
    there will be a third world war and the whole world
    faces ruin."

Mary warned in no uncertain terms at Fatima in 1917 that if Russia
did not convert it would spread its errors throughout the world
causing a third world war.

Ukrainian Catholics believe that Chernobyl signified the beginning
of the The Last Days.  In the last book of the Bible, the Revelation
to John, a portion reads thus,

When the third angel blew his trumpet, a large star burning
like a torch fell from the sky. It fell on a third of the rivers and
on the springs of water.  The star was called "Wormwood,"
and a third of all the water turned to wormwood. Many people
died from this water, because it was made bitter.  RV 8:10-11

In Ukrainian bibles the word for wormwood is chernobyl.

I leave you with a final message of hope for the world and the Church,
through the Mother of us all.  My own hope is that it will give you a new
appreciation for Ukraine's role in helping to usher in the Kingdom of
God and its significance in helping to prevent future bloodshed by its
cooperation with grace.

    "Teach the children to pray.  Teach them to live in truth and live
    yourselves in truth.  Say the Rosary.  The Rosary is the weapon against
    Satan.  He fears the Rosary.  Say the Rosary everyday -- constantly at
    any gathering of people.  I have come here to thank you, the Ukrainian
    people, because you have suffered most for the Church of Christ in the
    last 70 years.  I have come to comfort you and tell you that your suffering
    will soon come to an end.  I love Ukraine and its people and shall protect
    you for the glory and the future of God's Kingdom on earth, which will last
    for a 1000 years.  The Kingdom of Heaven and Earth is close at hand but
    it will come only through penance and the repentance of sin.

    "Many lies are being proclaimed today against the Truth.  The innocent are
    condemned.  This wicked world is feasting on depravity and impurity.  Many
    come as false messiahs and false prophets, so be diligent and on your guard.
    Happy are those whose lives are blameless and who walk in the fear of God ...
    but they are only a few.

    "My children, all of you present are dear to me and please my heart.
    I make no distinction of race or creed.  Here today you have received
    the knowledge of the One, True, Apostolic Church and with this you
    have been shown the true road to Heaven.  You must follow this path
    even though it may be painful.  The Eternal God is calling out to you
    Ukraine.  This is why I have come for you, for you were the first nation to
    become mine.  In your persecution you alone have not lost faith or love.
    I pray for you."

A statue of St. Vladimir, clothed as a Viking, overlooks the river peacefully.

East, meet West.

This story is not yet over.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

St. Andrew, patron of Ukraine,
    pray for us.
Sts. Cyril and Methodius, patrons of unity
within the Eastern and Western Churches,
    pray for us.
Sts. Vladimir and Olga, founders of
Christianity among the Slavs,
    pray for us.
Mary, Mother of God, Patroness of the
Americas and Ukraine,
    pray for us.

Pray for me, even as I pray for you.
- OLD UKRAINIAN PROVERB

Sources:
Lives of the Saints, Catholic Book Publishing Company
Queen of Ukraine, John Bird
A Short History of Russia, R.D. Charques
A History of Russia, John Lawrence
The Catholic Encyclopedia
Various Internet Sources
And my father's memories.

--

Vicki (Sr. Mary Francis, SFO+)
http://vicki.dynip.com
http://saintaloysius.dyndns.org
http://chinaflower.homeip.net
Where a little bit o' Heaven
comes to earth.
 

James Kellogg wrote:

______________
January 30, 2004 --  'YOU'RE GOING to have to go on record. The Holocaust
happened, right?" Peggy Noonan asks of Mel Gibson in the Reader's Digest for
March.

Gibson: "I have friends and parents of friends who have numbers on their
arms. The guy who taught me Spanish was a Holocaust survivor. He worked in a
concentration camp in France. Yes, of course. Atrocities happened. War is
horrible. The Second World War killed tens of millions of people. Some of
them were Jews in concentration camps. Many people lost their lives. In the
Ukraine, several million starved to death between 1932 and 1933. During the
last century, 20 million people died in the Soviet Union."

Gibson sat down with conservative Catholic writer Noonan to speak of his
controversial film, "The Passion of the Christ," to explain his faith -
which he says became a strong force in his life after years of being "a
monster," having become "spiritually bankrupt" in the thrall of success. And
Gibson admits his spiritual life is "nowhere complete yet. I'm still so full
of flaws." Noonan pushed him about the Holocaust because of accusations that
the actor's father questions the attempted extermination of all Jews by
Hitler. Of his dad, Gibson says, "My dad taught me my faith, and I believe
what he taught me. The man never lied to me in his life."

Gibson talks eloquently about his passion for "The Passion," the gospel and
what he wants to do next - "something light and funny and nobody'll be angry
at me!"

Noonan: "Give me the headline you want to see on the biggest paper in
America the day after 'The Passion' opens."

Gibson: "War Ends."
__
JK

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