tales from the village

it seems odd that life should have returned to such a normal state as of yesterday here in ukraine, but seemingly, it has (at least in the west- im in lviv now). the tv programming seemed to have returned to the regular, buses running noramlly, people working, students back at school business as usual. but hopefully, it hasnt. and what happened last week will be the beginning of a radical change for ukraine for the better. anyway- tales from pidhaitsi. on sunday evening, i was invited over to frieds of th family i was staying with. to my great surpriae, the grandmother there, perhaps 80 or more, spoke wonderfully in english. she had been the english teacher at the secondary school in pidhaitsi for many years. although she has never left ukraine, she talked with ease in english. she told me a bit of the history of pidhaitsi. she told me tht before the war, there were ukrainians, poles, and jews living in town. i had visited the jewish cemitary in this town a few days beefore. Jthere were over 3000 jeiwsh people living in pidhaitsi in the 1930se town or more (the town's population today is 3000). today, there are no jewish people in pidhaitsi. completely absent. and this lady said that these people lived together in peace before. then the nazi occupation came. her father hid 2 jewish families in the basement of their house. when the father was out of the house, the ss came and searched the house. they found the mother an daughter. the grandmother told me she remembers so clearly the ss taking the mother with her baby child in her arms; taking them to the fieeldd behind her hoouse, and shooting them. she says that memory is so engraved in her mind. can you imagine? to be in a town with such history, but then life proceeds normally. the ruins of the empty synagogue lay near the centre of town, along with the cemitary with hundreds of jewish people. but no one today is left to be buried there.

revolution

so, the past few days have been quite tense here in ukraine. yesterday with so so many deaths. may their memory be eternal and may they rest in peace. i am quite far removed from Kyiv here in pidhaisti. but even here there are barricades set up with men waiting there as a checkstop. they are waiting here because the word is that people (bandits- former inmates of prisons) were sent to Ivano-frankibsk to beat the protesters there into behaving. we drove to zarvanetsya today (perhaps for another post) and there were similar checkstops along the way. there seems to be a sentiment accross the country of people coming together. at supper today, we toated firstly to the fact that there is peace today in maidan, and also to the fact that the government seems to be really making some positive decisions.to my understanding, they have voted to restore the constitution to as it was in 2004, limiting the presidents power; also to quicken the date of a presidential election to prior to december. in my opinion, he needs to go right now. and hopefully thatll happen soon. december is a long while away yet. especially for the pople in maidan. at supper, we also toasted that one day ukraine would be as such as canada (and we laughed that that include the roads-the roads here are bloosy awful). but it really hit me deep to think that the freedoms and the life that i enjoy in canada everyday-- these people in ukraine have never seen or enjoyed. is it really so much to ask? the first time i came to ukraine, i was very idealistic and naive.i had such a wonderful experience; i came to canada and told people that i would love to live in ukraine. i remember one ukrainian friend of mine in canada got very upset with me for saying that. she moved to canada for a better life. in this, my second visit, with 6 more years under my belt, i have a very different impression of ukraine. i guess i am seeing the corruption and the wffects of poor government, lack of trust, and even perhaps lack of hope. these are a people with a difficult life; and yet they recognise that life must go on. these are such a beautiul people here; but i am so much more thankful today for the basic things that i enjoy in canada that passed me by before. i really and desperately hope for the best for ukraine. that they can follow suite like poland and join the EU, and distance iittself from russia. because that seems to result o.ly in oppression and deception. the soviet must be kept as part of ukraines past, and not in is future. May God's will be done, and may God speedily hear the cries of this poor and long suffering people.

backpost: Pidkamin

A while back, on the same day I when to Pochaiv monastery (last week), I also visited another monastery the same day: Pidkamin. This is a Greek-Catholic Monastery. It is a pretty big premise- at one time there would have been many monks living there (it was founded I think in the 17th century). Today, there are two monks. But along with them are 106 patients at what is now a mental institute. In Soviet times, monasteries were closed and turned into mental institutions intentionally; this was the Soviets way of showing that they thought any one who believed in God was crazy. Univ monastery, for many years, was also a mental institute. It was quite an experience for me. When I was in Munich, I visited many Churches that had been destroyed in the war. But they had been completely and beautifully rebuilt. At Pidkamin, the main Church is still completely gutted. The Soviets used the church as a stable and garage. In its current condition, it could very well still fulfill that function. There are three other chapels/ on the premisis; one of those chapels is the crypt chapel. I was told that this was used as an execution chamber by the Soviets. Unbelievable. This place still has a very long way to go to being restored; and I think because of this, it had a very strong effect on me. The scars of the past were very evident. I also discovered the director of the mental institute may be from the very same village as my ancestors: Popivsti. I never got the chance to visit the town, but it was not far from Pidkamin. The bell, tetrapod, and chandelier in one of the chapels at Pidkamin was from Popivsti. I still have to do more research to see if this is the right town or not. But, he gave us a tour of the mental institute- also a completely new experience for me. Big hallways; rooms with perhaps 7-10 beds cramped inside. People wandering around everywhere. It was very interesting. Somehow, I don't think I could find a place as such in Canada. Somehow, the people there were able to fill me with joy; they were all around me; asking me questions; where I was from; if I had any holy cards or pictures for them; one lady sung us a song all the way to the main entrance. It was a very extra-ordinary experience. This day was perhaps the most interesting I have had yet on my journey.

backpost: Paris

There were a few days at the beginning of my trip when i did not have internet connection. Thus, i will write here about my first stop on europe: paris. I left toronto in the evening on jan. 15. I ahd an all night flight, getting into paris at 8.30am with the time change. I did not sleep at all! Bohdan, a greek catholic seminarian, helped me once i arrived, to find a plac to stay. He is studying to priest with a missionary society of pries.There work is prism arily done in asia. I stayed with them in their building from 1600s or something crazy like that. I went to liturgy with them one morning in their crypt chapel. It reminded me of the movie "of gods and men" because of the very beautiful style of chant with the resonance against the stone walls. I dont remember ever experiencing something like that. I did touristy things such as visit the eiffell tower and the louvre and the sene and notre dame and alll that jazz. Some people had told me that paris was a dirty city with lots of people, and not so nice. But i really thought it was beautiful. Beautiful and old buildings in every direction.i would go back. And indeed i will, because my flight is out of there. Qlso had a niv visit with fr. Mykailo romaniuk at the cathdral. Tjats all for now.

Pidhaitsi

On monday morning, i left univ monastery. I have to say that i was very sad to leave i became used to many things there and the way of life; and of corse i will miss the monks! Ill tell ya one thing thoug, my feet are glad to have a rest from 4-6 hour prayer days. My feet have blisters from the monastery- and i wasnt even going anywhere!!! Just from standing in one spot. Because much of that 4-6 hours is standing in one spot; there aint no pews. There are benchesbat the sides, which by the 3rd week, i gave up on any of my pridefulness and made full use of them when i could. I am now visiting my "adopted family" in the ton of pidhaitsi. 6 years ago, when i first visited ukraine, they took me under their wing, an showed me a real experienc of ukraine (as i have no known family of my own in ukraine). They welcomed me back with open arms again.they are just great. At the monastery, i would get homesick or lonely every once in a while; today at baba and didos house, with the family sitting together in the living room, i felt i was with my own family. It was great. They feed me way too much though. I am very glad that we only eat 2 meals a day (even though it seems like were eating constantly through the day-- which we are). And as part o their hospitality, they always serve me a little more than everyone else; it makes me feel very bad-- that i have 2 cutlets when Oleg, the father, a working man bigger than i am- has only one). But at the same time, i dont want to insilt them by refusing the food. praise the Lord. Yesterday we had samohonka (homebrew vodka) made feom birch tree juice . 60 proof. Wonderful. Praise the Lord. And if i was worried about what i should and shouldnt eat in ukraine, i can throw that out the window (whici kind of did at the monastery already). But at the monastery, i could choose wjat i put on my plate. Here, not so. I can just hope for the bes and take charcoal tablets if need be (which i have restocked in) And, as i have now learnt, if you want to seriously learn a new language, dont go to a monastery, stay with a family. Ive ad so many conversation only in ukrainian in the past 2 days! And get this, i can understand most of wat is going on (and i think they at least get the jist of what i say). Thanks pani marijka!! Also, after watching the news today, i am really hoping that there wont be a civil war in ukraine. That wouldnt be good. I couldnt understand what they were saying, but based on what rhe family was saying, an the videos on the news, it dont look good. But, dont worry, mum, i am in a small village hundreda of kilometers away from kyiv. Praise the Lord.

my last day at univ monastery

Last day at univ monastery today is my last full day here at univ monastery. I arrived here on january 25, so it will have been22 days or just over 3 weeks. That doesnt seem like such a long time, but let me tell ya, being in a monastery in a foreign country, where you can communicate in an almost regular fashion with just one other person, whom i would only see maybe a couple times a day-- one day can seem like a long time. But, in retrospect, time still passed relatively quickly. There was alot of reflection time. But there was always something to break it up- or to look forward to. Like i said, there was maybe 4-5 hours of prayer a day. And then i was usually working another 4 hours a day in laundry. Thus, i didnt even get the opportunity to do all the things i intended in my 'reflection' time in my 'cell'. But the Lord's plans are always better. I have confidence that the Lord had things for me to learn here, and even though they werent hat i was expecting, i did learn alot. For example, i learnt that it is true what we were taught in theology class: the 'monastic' way of life is something that eevery Christian is called to. Although my time at the monastery was extremely conducive to prayer and to trying to hear God's voice, i have a strong sense that i must bring this experience with me wherever i go from now, and that i must continue to foster this for the rest of my life. #2. I learnt , by living, eating, praying, and working with these monks, that they aret superhum.an. They are just ordinary people trying to live out the Christian way of life, in the way that God has called them. These monks, from what i have learnt, come from many different walks of life. The youngest (aspirant) is 18 years old, and the oldest is over 80. They each came here with their own history. Some were married, some came straight from secondary, and some from various carriers. But back in canada, when i may have suggested a possible interest in monasticism, the response, 98% of the time was: what a waste! After spending time at the monastery, i have learnt that this could not be any further from the truth. If anything, i jave discovered the beauty and necessity of such a way of life. We need it!! In canada too!! Very badly!! If anything, in canada, where consumerism and commercialism is off the scales, we need monasticism all the more!!!! So, im not sure if that makes any sense, but thar some of my reflection on monasticism after living here with these dudes for a while. Can you believe it? My university studies actually make sense with the real world. Amazing. Haha. Just kidding; but it is nice to see my studies being confirmed in my experience. Soon, i will be off to Mount Athos. And i may have to delete everything i jave just said (only joking- i hope)

pochaiv

2 days ago now, a few of the brothers an i made a day trip to pochaiv- the lovely moscow patriarchate monastery. It really was beautiful. We walked around outside, and visited a few of the churches there. The main church is really amazing. Really. It is hard to describe. We stayed for part of the vespers service. The monks have a great choir- really. It was a very prayerful, pious and reverent vibe. Initially, when i arrived, i wa very nervous, because i was told they hate greek catholics very much. But that wore off very quickly. I felt very comfortable there. Then we went to the skete (smalle monaster) for the rest of vigil. I heard the skete has just as many monks as the main monastery. But the skete immediately had a more peaceful feel to it. The moon and the stars were bright and the golden domes of the churhes shon brightly. It was very beautiful. The services are very regal. And very long. Haha. Vespers was nice, but matins was way too long and boring (the kathisma and canon) for someone who didnt understand anything. But i didnt get bored too long. I walked around looking at all of the wonderful icons. Venerated a copy of the wonder working icon of Mama Maria of Pochaiv. And i guess the place where she appeared. There is her foot (an icon of it) still a lottle confused about that. Wonderful experience altogether. Praise Gd in His holy places. I will write about pidkamin, the other monastery i visited, later. But right now, bqck to laundry (my job at the monastery). Praise the Lord.

the fatted calf

Ok, so it wasnt a fatted calf; but it was way cooler. We had ram for supper yesterday. The monastery has a bunch of sheep, and up until a couple days ago had 1 ram. But the ram was misbehaving, so it got its head cut off. Now thats hardcore disxipline. And i saw its head sitting on the table- with the horns and brains and all. It was really cool (and a little bit freaky). But was it ever tasty!!! By far, the best meal ive had while at the monastery. We had ram stew and then just like that with rice. And the joy around the table; it was really great.i was told though that the brothers always have to call someone from town to butchwr their animals, because they love them so much. Aw. So cute. Haha.

backpost: from paris to Germany

Many of you from ottawa may remember Lutz; he was studying at st paul unibersity as an xchange student 4 years ago. I visited Lutz in Germany- my old friend in his motherland. My first stop was in Gottingen- the city where Lutz goes to universty. We went to to a pub my first night there, which reminded me of the pub from the movie "inglorious bastards" because it was in a cellar all made of stone, lighted by vandles. It was super cool; thankful, no one was killed in this cellar- like in the movie. The next day, Lut's parents came to get u,s, and we drove to Babaria- which seems like the quebec of germamy; everthing jas to ne a little different there. We went to a super cool town which was complete, surrounded by the old city wall. And the town inside has been preserved like from a fairytale. I forgot the name, of course. Then we arrived at our destination: fazendas da esperanca. It is a farm for recovering drug addicts. The idea started in brazil. The head of this house is fr. Christian- lutz's godfather. I had a really great stay with this bunch. I really like the ideal and the feel of this place. The chaps pray, work, eat and live together. They run a cafe on sundays with absolutely delicious and beautiful cakes. Perhapa one day, this project will have to get started in canada- in the eparchy of edmonton- inch Allah. From there, we went to two klosterbrauerei- which are monastic breweries!! Becausei am on pilgrimage, i considered it absolutely essential to visit these spiritual places. Haha. By the way one of the churches of these klosterbrauerei was the weirdest ive ever seen. They had full skeletons behind glass- standing up, dressed like pirates. And the pulpit was the front of a ship, no less. Irsee. By the way, the best ive had,, by Ar, without question waa at the second of these monaateries. From there, we went to the 2 castles by auatria made by the crazy king- where walt disney got the idea for his apparently. Then, to munich. I saw the 1st german u-boat. Super creepy to ne on the other side looking at that. We were hosted by one of lutz's friends: Malte. He showed ua the city, food, and more beer. Beautidul. It was quite amazing to be in all of these buildings- especially chueches, then learning and seeing pictures of them being almost completely destroyed in the war. From munich, i took the 24 hour bus ride to lviv. Now we are all caught up! A huge thanks to Lutz and his parents for being such awesome hosts in Germany!!

lviv with the monks con't

Sorry bout that; this is a continuation from the last post. After the university, we went to the monastery at st michaels for lunch. Then we walkeked downtown for a bit. Then to the metropolitan church of st george. This was my first visit. I got to visit and pray at the tombs of met. Andrei sheptytsky, patriarchslijpy and other heads of the church. Beautiful. And guess who else i saw... My long lost friend... SISTER EMANUELLA!!! Ok, i had already seen her when i initially arrived, but this was a surprise because, i wasnt expectinf to see her. But apparently the patriarch office in lviv is at st georges- which is where ahe works- to my great surprise! We had a great visit. (for those of you who dont know, sr. Emanuella is an awesome sr. whom i know quite well from edmonton; she worked in edmonton for about 4 years, but was called back to ukraine. But perhaps if we pray hard enough, she will come back to edmonton, inch Allah.) Last stop of the day was the a womans monastery in lviv following the studite rule. This is their biggest monastery: ober 40 nuns. We stayed for vespers, complines and supper. And dont tell the monks, but their singing and cooking was better. Haha.thats all for now.