00:00:00.000 - 00:00:31.740

[Silence] [Radio announcer speaking in German] [Music] [speaking german]

00:00:31.740 - 00:00:44.740

[speaking german] forced to return to the Russian Orthodoxy. This act, which contradicts all human rights, has been openly celebrated in the Soviet Union

00:00:44.740 - 00:00:52.740

since last year. We will report on this today. Our correspondent Franz Kösler, the only foreign TV journalist,

00:00:52.740 - 00:01:09.740

was allowed to film the event in Lemberg, Galicia. The Ukrainians had been in unison with the Roman pope since 1596. They have always been and still are a thorn in the eye of the Orthodox, and at the same time a hindrance in the efforts to

00:01:09.740 - 00:01:25.940

to an ecumenical approach of the old churches in the East and West. Accordingly, after the Second World War, the Orthodoxy used the favor of the historic moment of the victory of the Soviet Union and the Ukrainians, under the accusation of collaboration with the Germans,

00:01:25.940 - 00:01:49.740

were forced to be church-admitted. Rome, however, has taken more and more influence from the exiled Grand Archbishop Slippi for ecumenical reasons. His successor Cardinal Lubaczewski has a shadowy presence in Rome. His latest protest against the oppression of his church in Galicia, Ukraine, is almost unheard of behavior.

00:01:49.740 - 00:02:05.420

and it didn't help him to call himself Helsinki on very clear agreements in the KSCD documents. What is the reality in Galicia with the Orthodox and the still faithful Catholics?

00:02:05.420 - 00:02:18.060

Here is Franz Kösler's report. His Greek name is Leopolis. The Ruthenians or Ukrainians call it Lviv, the Poles Lwów, the Russians Lwów.

00:02:18.180 - 00:02:39.180

In German it is called "Lemberg", depending on where the movement of the Middle European history has taken it. To Poland or Russia, to Austria-Hungary or to the Soviet Union. For one, the former capital of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria was the outpost of the West in the East. For the other, the eastern outpost in the West.

00:02:39.180 - 00:03:08.180

Political, cultural and religious. Today Lemberg is located in the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic. The inhabitants of Galicia loved to compare their cities with those in the West, as if they could bring a piece of the big world to this border region of the Habsburg Empire. A lot of this can still be felt in the street image today, even though the diversity of peoples has been greatly reduced by pogroms and national conflicts.

00:03:08.180 - 00:03:29.180

The Catholic cathedral and the tree chapel bear witness to Gothic and Renaissance, of the once rich Jewish culture, nothing is left. The facades at the former main square of the city recall a rich past. Here were the hotels, elegant shops, restaurants and bookstores.

00:03:29.180 - 00:03:45.180

The Jesuit collegium bears witness to the religious conflict which took place at this intersection of cultures. Religion was not the last instrument of the cultural, political and national connection of Lemberg to the Evening Land.

00:03:45.180 - 00:03:59.180

The Latin cross on the gable has been preserved. The building itself now houses the communist pioneers. This is where the metropolis of Lemberg resided. In 1596, the Ukrainian church

00:03:59.180 - 00:04:11.140

in 1596 in the so-called "Presta Union" of the authority of the pope. In 1946, when Stalin led the Soviet Union, the United Church was dissolved

00:04:11.140 - 00:04:24.140

and the Russian Orthodox Church was re-established. In the spring, the Orthodox Church began the controversial anniversary of reunification with a celebratory ceremony.

00:04:24.140 - 00:04:45.300

[MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC] (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language)

00:04:45.300 - 00:05:14.140

[MUSIC] ♪ To all the world ♪ [MUSIC] (singing in foreign language)

00:05:14.140 - 00:05:27.660

(singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) [singing] (singing in foreign language)

00:05:27.660 - 00:06:14.340

(singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) [MUSIC] [ Music ]

00:06:14.340 - 00:06:33.340

[MUSIC] (singing in foreign language) (choral music) (choral music)

00:06:33.340 - 00:06:49.340

(choral music) (choral music) [Music] (singing in foreign language)

00:06:49.340 - 00:07:21.540

[music] 20,000 people attended the event. The St. George's Cathedral couldn't take the crowd. Many of them came in Ukrainian national clothes.

00:07:21.540 - 00:07:34.540

The United Church was a kind of Ukrainian national church, which, by being a part of the pope, also created a cultural bond with the West. When Lemberg fell to the Soviet Union in 1939

00:07:34.540 - 00:07:48.540

because of the division of Poland, the pressure on the United Church increased. When Hitler's armies finally invaded the Soviet Union, many Ukrainian nationalists saw their possible liberators in the occupiers,

00:07:48.540 - 00:08:24.740

including some of the hierarchs and the believers of the Ukrainian Church. A deceptive, deceitful hope. [ Music ] Exactly 40 years ago, a similar ceremony took place in the St. George's Cathedral.

00:08:24.740 - 00:08:38.740

The United Church was united with the Russian Orthodox. These documentary recordings, which are extremely difficult to access, prove the historical event. Almost the entire hierarchy of the United Church

00:08:38.740 - 00:08:58.940

was arrested under the charge of collaboration with the German occupiers. The church was broken, discouraged, divided and under strong political pressure. In this situation, a movement was formed that advocated the dissolution of the United Church and its inclusion in the Russian Orthodox Church.

00:08:58.940 - 00:09:22.500

[speaking in foreign language] [singing in foreign language] [speaking in foreign language] a priest of the United Church.

00:09:22.500 - 00:09:38.500

Together with some others he had called a synod which was supposed to decide the dissolution of the union of 1596 with the Roman Catholic Church. The legality of this synod was always denied by the Catholic side.

00:09:38.500 - 00:09:51.420

It was under political pressure and the arrested hierarchy had no possibility to participate in the discussion. [speaking in foreign language]

00:09:51.420 - 00:10:22.220

Here the historic decision is made. Kostelnik's application is unanimously accepted. Kostelnik himself was murdered as a guide of the union with the Russian Orthodox Church a few years later in this church. Even today, people say that the murderer was on behalf of the Vatican. Kostelnik probably became the victim of Ukrainian nationalists,

00:10:22.220 - 00:10:40.420

who fought against the Soviet power in those years. The politics of the Church Unions, after the Second Vatican Council, also fell into a critical light from the Catholic side. The strategy of dividing up churches and reuniting them with the Catholic Church

00:10:40.420 - 00:10:53.520

should be devoid of the spirit of the Ecumenical Council. In Lemberg, Kostelnik is honored as a martyr. And the question of the unions remains a point of contention on the way to the ecumenism between the Catholic and the Orthodox Church.

00:10:53.520 - 00:11:18.420

The question of the unionist churches was a hindrance between you and the Catholic Church for a long time. How do you imagine the development of the relations now? We want to build our relations as brotherly relations. That is, the union as a means of reunification of the Orthodox with the Roman Catholic Church

00:11:18.420 - 00:12:04.320

must be excluded from our further relations. What concrete steps do you expect in today's situation in this question from the Catholic Church? We expect the Catholic Church to reject the union as a way to develop the relationship between the Catholic and the Orthodox Church. Do you think that Pope John Paul II's position on this issue

00:12:04.320 - 00:12:25.320

is in line with your expectations? I think that it depends on the attitude of the Pope. In his last speech, the Pope explained that the Union had its importance in history,

00:12:25.320 - 00:12:33.320

and also in the present, their significance is not lost. These words of Pope John Paul II have caused

00:12:33.320 - 00:12:41.320

unrest in the Orthodox Church. Representatives of the Orthodox Church have in Geneva a corresponding document

00:12:41.320 - 00:12:55.320

on the issues of the Union and proselytism have been approved. and the Orthodox Church adopted the relevant document on the issue of union and proselytism.

00:12:55.320 - 00:13:15.320

As you know, in the West, in Vienna, Rome and other cities, there are many Ukrainian Catholics who have not experienced the dissolution of the Union, who still feel like Ukrainian Catholics. What relations do you have as an Orthodox exarch of Ukraine to these believers,

00:13:15.320 - 00:13:33.320

and what do you think of their religious claims? We treat all Christians with brotherly love. We have brotherly love with all Christians and representatives of other religions, including the Ukrainian Catholics.

00:13:33.320 - 00:13:53.320

If we criticize them, we mean those in the hierarchy of the Ukrainian Catholics who instigate mistrust, distort historical facts, and do not contribute to the development of brotherly relations between the churches. As for the Ukrainian Catholics in Vienna,

00:13:53.320 - 00:14:19.320

I had very good relations with them at the time I was a bishop in Vienna, and I believe that they have remained so to this day. I had a very good relationship with them as a bishop of Vienna. And I still think that we have a good relationship.

00:14:19.320 - 00:14:58.320

But in your speech here in Lemberg you also practiced very hard political criticism of these believers. You have proposed to them to have worked with the German occupation during the war and even now, to use too little for the relaxation and peace in the world. Yes, we criticize that the Greek Catholic Church of Galicia

00:14:58.320 - 00:15:10.320

during the Second World War, worked together with the Hitler occupants. We also criticized those church leaders of the Ukrainian Catholics

00:15:10.320 - 00:15:25.320

who still today, through their actions, do not contribute to the development of brotherly relations. They have deceived us and our socialist homeland. They work together with nationalist Ukrainian organizations.

00:15:25.320 - 00:15:47.520

In this way, they are doing a political activity that is not aimed at brotherhood, but, on the contrary, has the consequence of the degeneration of hostility and hatred. As Christians, we must reject and condemn this. and not to strengthen brotherly relations between nations,

00:15:47.520 - 00:16:09.520

but on the contrary to unify, to create enmity and hatred. We, as Christians, reject and condemn this. The Russian Orthodox Church has gained a permanent, if not yet unquestioned, place in the Soviet Union.

00:16:09.520 - 00:16:23.520

In the annual meeting of the Resolution of the United Church, in addition to the church dignitaries, representatives of the Soviet power also sat in unusual attire. After Stalin's reconciliation with the Orthodox Church

00:16:23.520 - 00:16:36.520

in the Great Patriotic War, only Khrushchev attempted to drastically restrict the play space of the church with administrative measures. Since then, the delicate issue has not been officially touched.

00:16:36.520 - 00:16:51.520

The difficulties remain. Again and again, the ideological fight against religion is called for. Many churches remain closed. The state is hesitant to distribute paper for church publications.

00:16:51.520 - 00:17:16.520

For example, in Ukraine, there is no Bible in the national language. But in recent years, the Orthodox Church has increasingly been brought to the light of the public. The government newspaper Izvestia reported on the celebrations in Lemberg. The church on the other hand publicly announced support for Gorbachev's economic program and armaments proposals.

00:17:16.520 - 00:17:38.200

In a Lemberger church we happened to come across a church wedding. We were able to get permission to film without the usual bureaucratic difficulties, and none of the attendees had any concerns about it. [music] Despite the active anti-religious propaganda in the media and in schools,

00:17:38.200 - 00:18:09.920

the churches, not only the Orthodox, have seen a significant increase in religious interest in recent years. The Baptists, for example, that exist in Lemberg, have increased from 200 members to 2,000 in a few years. It is difficult for them to get prayer houses, which are able to accommodate the large number of believers. "Overall, an orthodox priest told us, the number of believers in Ukraine has increased significantly in recent years.

00:18:09.920 - 00:18:31.920

However, statistics are not available." "The appearance of the believers has also changed. Not only the babushkas, the old mothers, determine the image. Many young people are also to be found in the churches.

00:18:31.920 - 00:18:59.320

[singing] The party membership is forbidden to the believers. She puts the confession before atheism. Active religious activity is also forbidden for minors,

00:18:59.320 - 00:19:11.320

if they are not adults in the company. But many people bring their children to baptism. Those who fear negative consequences from this, the church ensures anonymity.

00:19:11.320 - 00:19:40.740

A couple who was coming from a church, still scares me. [speaking in German] [speaking German]

00:19:40.740 - 00:19:51.660

[speaking in German] [speaking in German] (speaking in foreign language) The Roman Catholic community in Lemberg

00:19:51.660 - 00:20:00.660

is one of the 30,000 believers, mostly of Polish native language. Four times a day the service is celebrated here. The church is usually overcrowded.

00:20:00.660 - 00:20:11.660

For the Catholics the situation is complicated. They consider themselves Poles, and the Poles have long been the foreign rulers. National feelings have mixed up in Ukraine

00:20:11.660 - 00:20:23.660

among the religious for a long time. The United Church, which is the same The third church, which was known to the same Roman pope, had distrust in the Polish Catholics from national considerations.

00:20:23.660 - 00:20:35.660

Only a few Ukrainian Catholic believers, after the dissolution of their church, found a new religious home. Especially in the countryside, the Unions often remained without a church.

00:20:35.660 - 00:20:52.160

The state forbids them to register as a religious community. Without registration, however, the practice of religion is considered illegal. This is very rarely mentioned in least-hitherto-contemporary school. [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:20:52.160 - 00:21:24.400

(chanting) [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC]

00:21:24.400 - 00:22:04.400

[MUSIC] In the sacristy of the Catholic Church, the priest tells about the current situation. The church was dissolved 40 years ago. Is this problem still there for the believers and are there still hard cases from this situation? [German]

00:22:04.400 - 00:22:26.400

In Lemberg itself, and in the area of Lemberg, the situation looks like this. The largest part of the believers from the United Church went to the Orthodox Church. They belong to the Orthodox Church. They visit their services. A small part of them came to us, to the Roman Catholic Church.

00:22:26.400 - 00:22:41.400

They took over our calendar, celebrate our festivals, do everything we do. I know that a third part of the believers neither belongs to the Orthodox Church nor to the Catholic Church.

00:22:41.400 - 00:23:13.400

They don't want to go to the Russian Orthodox And they don't want to come to us, because we are Poland. And the Poles don't count to the Irish. I am convinced that for these people religion is only second to everything else

00:23:13.400 - 00:23:31.400

and, first of all, national movement founders. Such people visit neither the Orthodox nor the Catholic churches, but I believe that they are not very numerous. Such people no longer go to the Orthodox Church,

00:23:31.400 - 00:23:48.400

nor to the Catholic Church. I think that this is not a very large number of people. Yes, but they still exist, even after 40 years. What do these people mean to you? Do you see them as brothers or what are they to you?

00:23:48.400 - 00:24:25.400

In our city and in the whole area of Lemberg, there is no restlessness about the question of nationalities. All nations must be respected, and all people who have a faith can follow it in peace. There is the Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church and other confessions. In Lemberg, for example, there are also Baptists.

00:24:25.400 - 00:24:49.400

and they have their own faith, they can easily recognize them. Either they are Orthodox, or they are Catholics, or they are Baptists. Because in Lviv we have people who belong to the faith,

00:24:49.400 - 00:25:05.400

I am not a Catholic, I am a Baptist. You represent the Roman Catholic Church. The Uniates also know the Roman Pope. Does this controversial question still pose a problem in your situation

00:25:05.400 - 00:25:22.400

in cooperation with the Russian Orthodox Church? The question of the Uniates does not exist between us. No, there are no problems between us about the Uniates. We know our tasks and the Orthodox, theirs.

00:25:22.400 - 00:25:42.400

And we stand together like brothers, like very close people, who believe in a common God and in Christ, in the spirit of ecumenism. A few hundred kilometers from Lemberg

00:25:42.400 - 00:25:51.820

lies the magnificent Bochaev Monastery, in a restricted area for foreigners. (dramatic music) (bells ringing)

00:25:51.820 - 00:26:02.460

(bells ringing) (bells ringing) (bells ringing) (bells ringing)

00:26:02.460 - 00:26:13.640

[Music] (dramatic music) (dramatic music) (bells ringing)

00:26:13.640 - 00:26:53.300

(bells ringing) [Music] [music] [music]

00:26:53.300 - 00:27:11.300

There is a festival in the monastery to visit the Metropolitan. For centuries it was a preface to Orthodoxy, but during a short Polish rule the monks had to avoid Catholic brothers. The monastery is in distress, the number of monks is drastically declining.

00:27:11.300 - 00:27:24.800

In the surrounding villages many churches have been closed and the believers pray to the monks. The state authority does not see this without mistrust. There are rumors that the monastery will become a museum.

00:27:24.800 - 00:27:50.800

The visit of the Orthodox hierarchy is therefore probably also part of the claim of the church. The celebrations in Lemberg attracted an unimaginable amount of believers. A visible proof of the strength of the Orthodox Church in the Soviet Union.

00:27:50.800 - 00:28:04.200

In the precarious balance of the national forces in Ukraine, it took over the legacy of the United Church in the post-war years. In the role of a Russian national church, also in the interest of the Soviet power.

00:28:04.200 - 00:28:26.200

Not least of all is its strength. It is not a counter-power, like the Catholic Church in Poland, but it is without doubt still a power in the Soviet state. [MUSIC]

00:28:26.200 - 00:28:36.420

[CHANTING] (chanting) (chanting) (chanting)

00:28:36.420 - 00:28:57.220

[MUSIC] (singing in foreign language) [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:28:57.220 - 00:29:19.900

♪ There's one for all the world to see ♪ ♪ There's one for us good old days ♪ (dramatic music) (choral music)

00:29:19.900 - 00:29:45.220

[MUSIC] [MUSIC] (wind howling) (wind whooshing)