Father, we have just heard of the ordinations at Warsaw, Poland, on November 22, 2006. Could you give us some news?

This last week we had the honor of having a large group of our friends from the Ukraine for the ordination of nine of their seminarians in our church here in Warsaw by Bishop Williamson. Seven seminarians were ordained to the diaconate and two to the priesthood. It was also an occasion of great joy for us all to see so many faithful from the Ukraine amongst us for the da–close to 200 made the long voyage by bus, amongst whom five Basilian Sisters from Lvov.

Certainly the ordination of priests is always a great consolation for all, but could you tell us something about these young men?

These young men are members of the Society of St. Josaphat, a religious order similar to the Society of St. Pius X but of the Eastern Rite. It was founded in September 2000 under the aegis of Bishop Fellay for the priests of the Eastern Rite who wish to remain faithful to Tradition. Fr. Basil Kovpak is their superior, and there are currently 13 priest members. Some 8,000 faithful assist at the liturgy every Sunday in just one church in Lvov. Some 25,000 faithful are attached to Tradition throughout the country. There are also many other Ukrainian priests, around 15 or so, who are friendly to the Society of St. Josaphat but who do not yet have the courage or opportunity to join them in the struggle for Tradition.

Tradition is thus a growing movement in the Ukraine?

Yes, very much so. There are many vocations, though the seminary at Lvov has but 16 seminarians at the moment due to the lack of an adequate building and the very strict rules of admission. We must add also that the Basilian Sisters at Lvov number close to 20, with some postulants as well. The number of faithful is ever on the increase, in spite of the severe persecution they are undergoing.

Persecution?

Yes, persecuted but never vanquished. The Catholic Church in the Ukraine has always had to suffer enormously for her unity to the one true Church, especially this last century. In 1939, when the Ukraine fell into the hands of the Soviets by the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, all the material possessions of the Church were confiscated, many church buildings destroyed, and in the Fall of 1939 some 50,000 faithful and 41 priests were deported to Siberia whilst 34 priests were massacred on the spot.

After the horrors of the Second World War, in 1946 the Communist government organized a pseudo-synod which declared "the return of the Greek-Catholic Church to the bosom of the Russian Orthodox Church," and over 1,400 priests, 800 religious, and around 10,000 faithful would pay for their fidelity by the sacrifice of their liberty or of their own lives.

Nonetheless the Catholic Church in the Ukraine would survive clandestinely, in circumstances that remind us of the persecutions of the first Christians, and whose voice would be heard throughout Western Europe by such confessors of the Faith as Cardinal Slipyi. These faithful kept the Faith by an intense Christian life, in spite of the fact that it was not possible for them to assist at the liturgy or receive the sacraments regularly.

Their Christian life was nourished by those devotions which today one contemptuously calls "Latinisms," which had been known in western Ukraine since the time when the Ukraine was part of Poland and successively part of the Austrian Empire. The Catholics of the Ukraine had always seen in these devotions such as the Way of the Cross, the Rosary, the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, etc., a powerful expression of their doctrinal and spiritual attachment to Rome and their distance from the Orthodox. These devotions are for them a powerful protection and sign of their fidelity, and often a means of the heroic practice of Christian virtue.

Yet certainly after the fall of the Iron Curtain, things would be better for the Church in the Ukraine?

After perestroika and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Ukrainian Catholic Church was officially recognized, though the attempts to re-establish the material structures has never been without difficulty. Of the 11 million Ukrainian Catholics, and the several thousands of Orthodox who converted in the years following the official recognition, not many have received any regular religious instruction. Many priests from the times of persecution were never sufficiently instructed due to the urgent need of the sacraments and the lack of seminaries. The entire material structure of the Church must be renovated and rebuilt.

Never has good will been lacking, but in view of the enormity of the task, the help of the West was imperative. Yet exactly at the moment when one would hope for the help of the Good Samaritan, the modernist and the materialist were found on their doorstep. Instead of sending to the Ukraine men who would form the clergy and monasteries, the Europeans and Americans would send the technocrats of Vatican II. Up until the late 1990's the Church in the Ukraine had almost completely ignored the reforms of Vatican II. Yet at that moment when Ukraine was most in need of aid, the Ukrainians were confronted with the unhappy truth that they represented an enormous "obstacle" to the ecumenical dialogue with the Orthodox.

The Ecumenists were quick to realize that "dialogue" with the Orthodox would be impossible without the elimination of the Ukrainian Catholics. The "Uniates" had always worked for the conversion of their schismatic brethren, and thus were always an affront and a "danger" to the Orthodox. Thus in order to minimize this "danger," the infamous protocol of Balamand was ratified in 1993, forbidding the conversion of the Orthodox to the Catholic Church with the proclamation that the idea of "union" (and thus the existence of the Ukrainian Catholic Church) was a "false step."

And thus instead of deportation to Siberia, the faithful now have the Catholic Faith hijacked by ecumenical dialogue in the perspective of making one unique (Orthodox) Church. Thus on a practical level one begins by "purifying" the liturgy of the "Latinisms" in order to "return to the sources of spirituality," in order to bring the rite closer to that of the Orthodox. The churches are "purified" of statues, Ways of the Cross, sacred images, vestments and sacred ornaments which had been such instruments of grace and fidelity during the Communist persecution. Thankfully, a good part of the clergy and the faithful see the mortal danger of this ecumenism, but a great confusion is everywhere.

And thus the foundation of the Society of St. Josaphat?

Precisely. In the early nineties, a group of Basilian Sisters, as well as some local clergy, learned of the presence of the combat for Tradition in the West, and several initiatives to come to their aid took form. In 1997 six Basilian Sisters asked to continue their religious life in Tradition and are welcomed at the priory here in Warsaw. In the same year Fr. Basil would invite the priests of the Society of St. Pius X to his parish and to make contact with a dozen priests attached to the traditions of their ancestors. Thus gradually the Society of St. Josaphat would come into existence under the spiritual protection of the Society of St. Pius X.

The role, however, of the Society of St. Pius X consists principally in aiding the seminary at Lvov in the forming of priests and the preaching of retreats. The fruits are abundant, as we can see from the ordinations this last week. Yet such fruits can only come at the price of great sacrifice.

The clergy attached to Tradition are continuously attacked by the modernists as "schismatic"; two of their priests have been "excommunicated" by the local authorities, with more sanctions on the horizon. One of their churches was just recently burned to the ground by local ruffians sent by the modernist clergy. Add to this the extreme poverty and material want that they live with continually, and one can well imagine their need for our prayers and material assistance, especially for the continuation of their seminary.

Yet in all this one sees clearly the hand of Our Lady of Fatima. She demanded the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart, which will in the end triumph. Certainly the witness of those who have already made the costly step towards the Catholic Church is a powerful instrument in her hands, and thus the combat for Tradition in the Ukraine is absolutely vital for the triumph of the Immaculate Heart.

Thus in closing I would beg your readers for their prayers and sacrifices, assistance both spiritual and material for our friends in the Ukraine so that they might continue the good combat for the salvation of souls.

This article was taken from Christendom, No.8. Christendom is a publication of DICI, the press bureau of the Society of Saint Pius X (www.dici.org). Readers who are interested in helping the combat for Tradition in the Ukraine may send their offerings to the General House at Menzingen (FSSPX, Schwandegg, CH–6313 Menzingen, Switzerland) with an express mention of the Society of St. Josaphat.