Jewish pogroms and the UOC cleansing: Is there a difference?

Last winter, many people saw the wild footage of Orthodox Christians in Ternopil going to worship through the so-called "corridor of shame". This video was so shocking that at one point it seemed that nothing like this could ever happen.

But it happened again – and this time not somewhere in Western Ukraine, but in the very heart of our country – in Kyiv, at the St Agapitus Church near the Lavra. On the Feast of Intercession, the faithful again had to pass through the "corridor of shame" – amid the shouting, antics and hooting of "activists" demanding the expulsion of the Church from the Lavra. What do these "corridors" mean, and why do the Ukrainian authorities not react to them in any way?

Jewish pogroms in Ukraine

In Ukraine, Jewish pogroms have a long and very sad history.

The first pogrom (after the collapse of the Russian Empire) took place in Lviv in 1918. Few people know about it, because it took place during the armed struggle between Poles and Ukrainians for power over Eastern Galicia. At first, the Ukrainians killed 70 Jews, and when the city was captured by Poland, Polish soldiers carried out a pogrom in which about 100 Jews perished. During that violence in November 1918, up to 200 people were killed.

Pogroms in Nazi Germany took on a completely different scale. It is difficult to call them pogroms because they were massacres. They took place not only in Germany itself but also in the occupied territories. Hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed in Ukraine alone, and two cities in the country – Odesa and Stryj – were declared "Judenfrei" zones, i.e. "free of Jews".

In October 1941, Odessa was occupied by Romanian troops and was declared the capital of the Transnistria Governorate. The city authorities planned a complete "cleansing" of Jews. From 14 January to 20 February 1942, they were deported to the Berezovsky district of the Odesa region, after which the city was declared Jews-free. 100 thousand Jews were taken to Bohdanivka, halfway from Odesa to Uman. They were stripped naked and shot. Their property was confiscated.

Something similar happened in Stryi, where 1,200 Jews were killed in a few months (from November 1941 to December 1942), and more than 3,000 were sent to death camps. In February 1943, around 2,000 Jews in Stryi were shot, and in May 1943, another 1,000. Jewish homes were set on fire, and Jews were persecuted and exterminated by any means. Moreover, as the Jewish Encyclopedia notes, all of this happened with the assistance of the local population. In August 1943, German authorities declared Stryi "Juden-frei". However, even after that, Jews hiding in the vicinity of Stryi were repeatedly discovered and shot.

Jews in other cities of Western Ukraine suffered a cruel fate.

On June 29, 1941, a pogrom began in Lviv, which lasted until July 3. Over those five days, local residents killed about 4,000 Jews on the city streets.

On July 25-27, 1941, about 2,000 more Jews were killed by Ukrainian residents of Lviv in a pogrom called the “Petliura Days” after Simon Petliura.

In November 1941, during an operation known as the “Bridge of Death”, around 5,000 Jews were exterminated. Local authorities played an active role in this crime, under the leadership of the chief of the German city police, Albert Ulrich.

As David Kahane, one of the rabbis of Lviv, wrote, “Huge crowds of 'Aryan' Lviv residents became spectators of this monstrous spectacle. The squares in front of the prisons, the prison yards, and corridors were filled with people who watched what was happening with undisguised delight. Hysterical cries of 'Shoot the murderers!' were heard from time to time. Volunteers from the crowd even offered to help the Germans ‘beat the Jews.”

In other words, the fascists would hardly have achieved such terrible results if it weren't for the local population. Hatred and resentment towards Jews filled the “Aryan” residents of Lviv to such an extent that they gladly participated in the “cleansing” of the city from Jews.

Several photos below illustrate well what was happening in the streets of Lviv in 1941 – the “corridors of shame”, mockery, humiliation, beatings, and, finally, killings.

"UOC-frei"

When you look at photos of the Jewish pogroms in Lviv in the 40s, and then look at videos of Orthodox believers going to or returning from religious services, you realise that history is repeating itself.

It's all the same: “corridors of shame”, humiliations, insults, and the authorities' tolerance. The only difference is that they are not killing at the moment, most likely because there are no direct “orders” for it. However, internally, the “Aryan'” residents of Ukraine, especially its Western part, are already prepared for it.

For example, in Horodenka, near Stryi, they first seize the UOC temple and then burn the premises where UOC believers continue to gather for prayers. Subsequently, on social media, there are posts whose authors openly call for violence against the Orthodox, while the city authorities threaten to “find and punish” anyone who dares to pray to God privately.

Similar events occur in Nadvirna, Ivano-Frankivsk region, where the authorities forcibly liquidate the UOC community, and Mayor Andriyovych threatens to “restore order” with the believers if he finds out that they are secretly gathering for religious services. The mayor's minions threaten to put the lists of parishioners on public display.

Andriyovych clearly looks up to the leadership of Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk, where they have already stated that their regions are “UOC-frei”, meaning 'cleared' of Orthodox believers. For example, here's what the mayor of Ivano-Frankivsk, Martsynkiv, wrote after the UOC cathedral was seized: “This was the last UOC Moscow Patriarchate cathedral in the Ivano-Frankivsk region. We've been working towards this event for a long time and today we've set a good example for the entire country... I wish that our independent state, for which our boys and girls shed blood, will be cleansed of the Moscow Patriarchate.”

The words of the Lviv mayor, Sadovyi, are similar, as he declared, "In two days, we ended the history of the Moscow Patriarchate in our city."

It's clear that neither Andriyovych, Martsynkiv nor Sadovyi intend to stop at just Western Ukraine – their aim is to make the entire country “UOC-frei”. Especially since representatives of the UGCC are also calling for this. For instance, a priest from this structure, Mykola Medynsky, recently told his parishioners, “We must cleanse and help cleanse those who are close to us... from the presence of the spiritual occupant,” meaning the UOC.

Antisemitism and Paganism

You might wonder how a person in the priest’s robe can call for the “cleansing” of the country's territory, essentially calling for pogroms. Or how government officials who go to churches and consider themselves religious people can make such statements?

The fact is that people like Medynsky or anyone else calling for “cleansing” Ukraine from the presence of the “wrong” believers cannot be considered Christians; they are pagans.

The point is that many believe one can only be a pagan if one knows nothing about Christ. But, in reality, one can know a lot about Christ without knowing Christ Himself. Paganism is a "faith" without good deeds, it's a mere theory that doesn't prevent killing, robbing, or smashing church doors with sledgehammers or heads of “enemies”. The Nazis also considered themselves believers in God; even their belt buckles had "Gott mit uns" (German for “God with us”) written on them, and many of them were devout Catholics. But that didn't make them Christians because if your god allows you to hate, then your god is not the same as the God Crucified on the Cross.

That's why we are convinced that the current persecution of the UOC is a pagan form of antisemitism with roots in the persecution of early Christians in the Roman Empire.

Indeed, at the start of the Church's history, the Romans could not distinguish Christians from Jews.

Firstly, the Lord Jesus Christ and all the apostles were Jews. Secondly, the majority of Jesus's followers from Galilee were Jews. Thirdly, Christ's teaching was initially spread in synagogues.

Furthermore, Christian liturgy and traditional forms of public worship originated as a form of synagogue worship: they read the Old Testament and the Psalms. Even in Greek-speaking communities, words like “Amen”, “Hallelujah” and “Hosanna” were used, which was viewed by pagans as a form of Judaism. The Jews were not loved in the Roman Empire, and authorities tried to solve the “Jewish question”. They tolerated them but only to an extent. As soon as a convenient reason came to deal with them, the authorities seized it. The first persecutions of Christians, initiated by Nero, were precisely persecutions against Jews, who, even if they distanced themselves from Christians, were still treated harshly.

Professor Bolotov writes in his famous book “The History of the Ancient Church”, “In an unreliable correspondence between the Apostle Paul and the philosopher Seneca, there is one letter concerning this process. It abounds with factual details, suggesting that the author had actual historical sources at his disposal. There is an interesting testimony: 'They put Christians and Jews to death in the usual way for the arsonists.” In other words, for the Roman authorities, Christians were initially equated with Jews, who were “accustomed” to being accused of all mortal sins.

Something similar is happening today in Ukraine. The figurative 'suitcase-train-gas chamber' has turned into 'suitcase-train-Russia'. But the essence of this phenomenon remains the same: a portion of people, and a significant one, simply should not exist. If today's persecutors of the Orthodox, like the participants in the Jewish pogroms in the 1940s, were given weapons and told, “Kill, there will be no consequences for you”, the result would be the same as with the Jews. It's not a coincidence that the regions of our country that gained the notorious 'Judenfrei' (Jews-free) reputation are now completely “liberated” (or already liberated) from Orthodox Christians.

What awaits those who persecute the Church?

In the Old Testament, there is a story about the righteous Job, who suffered terrible afflictions at the hands of Satan: the loss of all his ten children, his property, illnesses, and excruciating physical torment. Job's wife, seeing his suffering, told him, “Curse God and die.” Why did she say so? Because people of that time had no doubt that those who blasphemed God would meet one fate – death.

Today's Ukrainian authorities, by persecuting Christ's Church, persistently blaspheme God. And it's naive to think that no one in the world notices this. The descendants of Jews who survived the Holocaust understand very well that the persecution of the UOC has the same nature as the extermination of their ancestors.

Is it not the reason why more and more US senators are speaking out against the arrests of bishops and the closure of churches as “unacceptable”? Is it not the reason why the UN and OSCE persistently speak out about the “excesses” of the Ukrainian authorities in relations with the Church? Is it not the reason why the Ukrainian President is losing more and more international support when it is so crucial for Ukraine? Is it not the reason why Israeli authorities have denied Zelensky a visit to their country, citing “inappropriate timing”? After all, for the US, despite the war with HAMAS, it was “appropriate”. Perhaps, the Israelis see some parallels between “Juden-frei” and 'UOC-frei'?

Today, the Verkhovna Rada is preparing to fire a “control shot” at the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Let's hope this shot doesn't backfire.