The Role of the Members of «Prosvita» Society in the Organization of the Church Congresses on the Territory of Volyn Region During20-30-ies of the 20th Century

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The Role of the Members of «Prosvita» Society in the Organization of the Church Congresses on the Territory of Volyn Region During20-30-ies of the 20th Century

Valentina Petrovych, Iryna Charikova

The article highlights the role of the members of ««Prosvita»» society in the development of the national and church movement on the territory of Volyn region during 20-30-ies of the 20th century, aimed at the democratization and ukrainization of the church and religious life. The importance of the church congresses for the resurgence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Poland was investigated.

Key words: church congress, national and church movement, «Prosvita», ukrainization, Orthodox Church, Arsen Richynskiy.

Formulation of a Research Problem and its Significance

An important process of the cultural, national and spiritual revival of the state is promulgation of the self-sacrificing activity of the societies promoting development of self-consciousness of population, proper estimation of its values, beliefs and traditions. «Prosvita» society that united liberal Ukrainian intellectuals took pride of place in these processes on the territory of Volyn region during 20-30-ies of the 20th century. It was fully reflected in the development of the national and religious life, where one of the important aspects was a process of ukrainization of the church mode, caused by the growing public and political need for the orthodox of the Volyn Ukrainians. That is why the activity of «Prosvita» and its members conveying in those days mental and material interests of Volynians related to the ukrainization of the church life, preservation of the national identity was of high importance. In this context the necessity to find out the role of «Prosvita» members in the organization of the church congresses - public meetings called to solve a number of the urgent issues connected with mainstreaming and dynamism of the ukrainization of the Orthodox Church life in Poland during the interbellum period emerges full blown.

The development of the national and religious life in Volyn during the interbellum period was partially revealed and assessed in the works of the national historiographers, namely in the works of the historians and religious studies scholars V. Borshchevych [5], I. Vlasovskiy [6], M. Kucherepa [12], S. Makarchuk [14], B. Savchuk [17], N. Stokolos [19], V. Tkachuk [20] and others. Besides, a series of scientific publications by O. Alyoshina devoted to the activity and artistic legacy of Arsen Richinskiy - a famous organizer of the national and church movement in Volyn is worth of special attention. Being an active member «Prosvita» society in Volodymyr-Volynskiy he initiated meeting of the orthodox leaders and cultural organizations of Volyn [1; 3]. However, the stated topic - the fight of the public for the ukrainization of the Orthodox Church of Volyn is still insufficiently studied by the national scientists.

The aim of the research is to examine the role of the Volyn «Prosvita» members in the organization and carrying out of the church congresses and their influence on the process of the ukrainization of the church life on the territory of Volyn. In accordance with the aim of the research the following tasks were defined: to recreate the process of ukrainization of the Orthodox Church in Volyn during the interbellum period and to characterize the activity of «Prosvita» society aimed at the organization of the church congresses.

Presentation of the Basic Content of the Research and an Interpretation of the Results which Were Obtained

Ukrainization orthodox processes on the territory of Volyn during 20-30-ies of th 20th century were so active that the Polish authorities started considering them a danger to the stability of the Polish society. The same concerned the relations between the Ukrainian public leaders and the hierarchy of the Orthodox Church where the pro-Moscow influence was sufficient. Religious leaders were trying to keep using Russian during services. With time more and more segments of the orthodox population began realizing that their native language did not only make the service understandable and acknowledgeable but favored consolidation and establishment of the national identity too.

«Prosvita» society lied in the heart of the church and religious movement for making away from the influence of Moscow and autonomy of the Orthodox Church. It promoted revival and activity of the church congregates on the territory of Volyn. B. Savchuk, a Ukrainian scientist provides numerous examples of the fruitful cooperation of the rural «Prosvita» communities with local congregates and it was «embodied in the construction of churches, keeping cemeteries, organization of the joint choirs and carrying out of the various cultural and religious events» [17, p. 84].

Upholding the necessity of maintenance and development of the Ukrainian ethnicity avant-garde Ukrainian public and conscious clergy became the main spokesmen of the needs of the Ukrainians. They recognized that the Church would actually be closer to every Ukrainian preserving national and synodical traditions of the people [18, p. 238]. The model that Ukrainian public and church leaders of Volyn were trying to carry out was that the church was supposed to be Ukrainian in its nature, independent of the state and its structure was to be synodical guarantying active participation of the laypeople in its management [19, p. 62]. A. Richinskiy, one of the organizers of the movement for the ukrainization of the Church in his work «Problems of the Ukrainian religious consciousness» noted that it was natural that the aim of the mature nation is to create a distinctive religious and national culture. This author pointed that it was the only way to develop nation's talents, bring pass to service, to make sense of a particular moment of Eternity and to carry out a God's thought [15, p. 382]. «Health of the nation is more than the life of some people and depends on the healthy mental basis and ideological guidelines of the all-nation development. That is why the creative growth and huge work over the revival of the purely folk Ukrainian church were undoubtedly a demonstration of the livability of the nation and corpulence of its spiritual powers» [15, p. 100-101].

An important role for the revival of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Poland belonged to the church congresses. Volyn church and national movement actively demanded calling for the Ukrainian Church congress where the basic issues relating legal situation and ukrainization of the Orthodox Church were to be solved. The members of «Prosvita» society and representatives of intelligentsia were the initiators and organizers of this movement [8, p. 288].

Volyn eparchial congress of the clergy and laypeople that was held on 3--10th of October, 1921 in Pochaiiv was the first stage of this movement. One of the main issues that was discussed at the meeting was the ukrainization of the church services. The congress approved the resolution proclaiming usage of the Ukrainian language during services: «Living faith demands living faith in prayers and in divine service that is why we need to change Church Slavonic to the folk and living Ukrainian language». It was provided that such a transition was to be carried out gradually in accord with the translation and usage of the theological books [10, p. 289-290].

The resolution of the Pochaiiv congress gave an impetus to the further development of the national and religious movement on the territory of Volyn. Under the necessity of the circumstances the management of the Orthodox Church came round concerning the ukrainization of the church. The resolutions of the Holy Synod dated 16 June 1922 and 3 September 1924 allowing intoning of the services in English confirmed the abovementioned [6, p. 22]. However, the resolutions adopted by the Synod were slowly implemented.

Declaration of the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church in Warsaw in November 1924 and an official statement on 17 of September 1925 was an important event for the church and religious life of Poland of the stated period. However, the process of derussification of the religious organization was difficult. That is the process of ukrainization of the Orthodox Church began slowing down in 20-ies of the 21st century. Under the circumstances the conscious intelligenzia aspired to take partially upon itself the duties to speed up the process of ukrainization. Namely, A. Richinskiy proposed an idea to convene a Ukrainian church congress in Lutsk and that congress was supposed to regulate all the issues of the church life [3, p. 28].

The precondition of the convention of the congress in Lutsk was the one held in Rivne on 26th of September 1926. It was a convention of the Ukrainian cultural and educational organizations of Volyn with participants from Kholmshchyna, Halychyna and Polissiya. More than 300 delegates were present at the convention. One of the most important issues supported by the majority of the participants was a discussion of the church activity accounting that the church was almost the most significant stimulus to the cultural and national life. A number of resolutions, in particular on the formation of the district church committees were approved and they relieved management of the process of ukrainization of the district churches. It was decided that the committees were to constantly stay in communication with the aim to form Volyn Church Ukrainian Council which task was to protect national church as one of the important educational bases of the Ukrainian nation [11, p. 596].

An appeal about ukrainization of the church to Metropolitan Dionisiy was also drawn at the congress. It was stated in the appeal that the government spent much trouble on the support of the «Russian genius» among Ukrainian people. Instead «the only way to save Orthodox faith is to draw church nearer to the people and the people to the church». Besides, there was a demand to appoint Ukrainian bishops in Volodymyr, Lutsk, Kremyanets and to satisfy a request of the parishes about ukrainization of the services etc. put [2, p. 6-7].

The culminating phase of the ukrainization process of the Orthodox Church in Volyn was a Ukrainian Church Congress held in Lutsk on June 5-6, 1927. Its biggest importance was that during it the ideological program of the national and church movement against Moscow influence on the Orthodox Church was adopted.

The initiative of its convening belonged to A. Richinskiy, one of the leaders of the national and religious life of Volyn. He headed organizational committee on the convening of the congress which was formed in Volodymyr-Volynskiy for the sake of carrying out organizational work on preparation and holding of the church convention. In consisted of 17 members-representatives of 9 towns of Volyn and Polissiya as well as Berestya (Polish voivodship) [6, p. 45]. Ukrainian public organizations participated in its preparation. An especially noticeable part played branches of «Prosvita» society. Its district authorities hosted church committees which were sending appeals to the population where they explained the content and tasks of the future congress. 572 people were sending the appeals where every appeal had 50-80 signatures [17, p. 84-86].

A. Richinskiy and people close to his way such as Ivan Vlasovskiy, Borys Kozubskiy and others considered that they could not keep aloof the dangerous processes within the church: «We believe it is possible to start organizing Orthodox people not from separate parishes but from the whole national group of those who were faithful. The first step on that way was to be Ukrainian church congress which was supposed to lay the foundation for the organization of the Orthodox Ukrainian population» [6, p. 63].

They were not only Russian clergy but also official state authorities that stood in the way to the preparation for the congress. For example, the members of the «Prosvita» society were banned to participate in the preparation for the congress.

After long preparation the congress was held on June 5-6, 1927 in Lutsk. 565 delegates from Volyn, Polissiya, Kholmshchyna and Pidlyashshya arrived. The professor Ivan Vlasovskiy was heading at the congress and Arsen Richinskiy proclaimed a speech. The fact favouring the importance of the congress was that the student communities from Padebrody, Chech Republic, Orthodox parish council in Padebrody, representatives of the «Prosvita» societies from Rivne, Volodymyr and Berest, Ukrainian emigrants in Olshany, Central Committee of the Ukrainian People's Democratic Union in Lviv congratulated the members of the congress [9, sh. 119].

The agenda of the congress included eight issues for consideration and they related problems of ukrainization and democratization of the inner structure and life of the Orthodox Church in Poland.

The following reports were presented at the congress: «Modern situation in the church and religious life of the Ukrainian Orthodox population of Poland» and «Canonical inner structure of the Orthodox Church in Poland» (presented by A. Richinskiy); «Satisfaction of the religious needs of the Ukrainian Orthodox population in the sphere of: a) God's Service (A. Richinskiy); b) religious science in the church, at school and outside school (P. Artemuyk); c) books of the offices and religious and moral press (I. Vlasovskiy); d) recruitment of the bishops, deacons and conductors (V. Kovpanenko); «Issues of the church household» (I. Vlasovskiy) [9, sh. 91-92].

The hottest discussion was about the report of A. Richinskiy «Modern state of the church and religious life of the Ukrainian people in Poland». The reporter negatively estimated the policy of the church authority relating the satisfaction of the church and religious needs of the Ukrainians, provided proofs of the decay in the sphere of «church and public life of the Orthodox Church in Poland both in the inner structure and outside relations » [16]. In connection with such a dark state of affair he insisted on the necessity of the total ukrainization of all sphere of church and first of all of the office language.

The resolution specifically pointed to the necessity of the deep and sustained implementation into the activity of the Orthodox Church of the rules by the council. It was also demanded to issue a ruling on ukrainization of the church distinctly regulating this process. The congress also demanded immediate ukrainization of the inner records of the church kept mostly in Russian [9, sh. 119].

Lutsk church congress finished its work with choosing of the Ukrainian church committee (headed by A. Richinskiy), that was supposed to implement the resolution of the congress into life. The congress became one governing factors of the revival of the national and church movement in Volyn. Its main achievement was spreading among the Ukrainian population of the recognition of the necessity of the fight for the native church and the Ukrainian language of the office.

Lutsk congress triggered reaction of the both devotees of the church's ukrainization and numerous Volyn's russified. Following the congress in Lutsk similar congresses of the Ukrainian parishes were held in the districts. Ukrainian church committee together with «Prosvita» became initiators of the convention of the congresses. As an example, on the 6th of November 1927 a church congress was held in Volodymyr [9, sh. 137-138]. On January 15, 1928 the similar congress with representatives from Beresteyskyi, Kobrynskiy and Pruzhanskiy parishes was held in Berest. The bishops-nationalists provided their parushioners with information about church congresses [14, p. 7].

Existence and activity of the «Prosvita» society that was a purely national institution influencing different spheres of life of the Ukrainian society could not be favoured by the Polish authorities aspiring absolutely different realias - denationalization and assimilation. Accusation of the political activity became one of the most popular reasons for slowing down of the development of the «Prosvita» movement. ««Prosvita»» society did not keep aloof from the politics and the Polish government artificially claimed that all the cultural and educational work was connected with it.

Conclusions and Prospects for Further Research

church movement prosvita ukrainization

Thus, finishing our research it is worth noticing that in 20-30-ies of the 20th century a powerful and efficient movement aimed at the ukrainization of the Orthodox gained traction on the Ukrainian territory that was part of Poland as of the time. The movement was a distinctive example of the revival of the national consciousness of the Ukrainian population and an important means of the expression of the self-identity. A leading role in the national and church life belonged to the ««Prosvita»» society that was of paramount importance for the organization and holding of the church congresses and for the fight of the Ukrainian people for the further realization of the ideas of the church's ukrainizaiton.

Undoubtedly, the issues of the cultural and educational work, of the unbringing of the nationally conscious youth and recovery of the church by means of acquisition of the national character are still urgent nowadays.

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Петрович Валентина, Чарікова Ірина. Участь просвітян в організації церковних з'їздів на Волині у 20-30-х рр. ХХ ст. У статті проаналізовано процес українізації церковного устрою в контексті розвитку національно- церковного руху української православної громади Волині у 20-30-х рр. ХХ ст. На підставі урахування суспільно- політичних, етноконфесійних, внутріцерковних та регіональних особливостей доводиться, що національно- церковний рух на Волині міжвоєнного періоду взаємопов'язаний із якісним процесом національної ідентифікації українського народу. Розкрито роль товариства «Просвіта» в розвитку національно-церковного руху, зокрема в справі організації та проведення Церковних з'їздів і в боротьбі української громадськості за подальшу реалізацію на практиці ідеї відродження української православної церкви в Польщі. З'ясовано, що одним із провідних організаторів національно-церковного руху на Волині був Арсен Річинський, який зробив значний внесок у справу становлення незалежного українського православ'я.

Ключові слова: церковний з'їзд, національно-церковний рух, «Просвіта», українізація, православна церква, Арсен Річинський.

Петрович Валентина, Чарикова Ирина. Участие просвитян в организации церковных съездов на Волыни 20-30-х гг. XX в. В статье проанализирован процесс украинизации церковной структуры в контексте развития национально-церковного движения украинской православной общественности Волыни 20-30-х гг. ХХ в. Учитывая общественно-политические, этноконфессиальные, внутрицерковные и региональные особенности, доказано, что национально-церковное движение на Волыни междувоенного периода взаимосвязано с качественным процессом национальной идентификации украинского народа. Раскрыта роль «Просвиты» в развитии национально-церковного движения, а именно в деле организации и проведения церковных съездов и в борьбе украинской общественности за дальнейшею реализацию на практике идей возрождения украинской православной церкви в Польше. Выяснено, что одним из ведущих организаторов национально-церковного движения на Волыни был Арсен Ричинский, который сделал значительный вклад в дело становления независимого украинского православия.

Ключевые слова: церковный съезд, национально-церковное движение, «Просвита», украинизация, Православная церковь, Арсен Ричинский.

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