To the editors:

For the second time in as many months The Washington Post has published an article containing disparaging remarks directed at Ukrainian institutions and monuments.

The first came with the casual 11/12/00 piece "Park Places" by John Mathews. There, Mr. Mathews took his cue from the London mayor's recently invoked policy of removing commemorations to examples of the British Empire's ignoble past. Mr. Mathews built his case in a capricious and poorly researched fashion calling for the removal of certain statues and monuments in the DC area, including that of Taras Shevchenko, inspirational poet to Ukrainians throughout the world. Appropriate letters critical of his careless remarks about both Shevchenko and Civil War generals were sent and published.

The more recent item appears in the 12/24/00 issue of the paper in a piece titled "United (Denomi)Nations" casually describing religious edifices along the northern reaches of New Hampshire Avenue in the Washington DC area. Mr. Josh Gibson, the writer of this item, like Mr. Mathews attempts whimsy. Perhaps the structures may be out of his realm and therefore peculiar. But usage of phrases such as "International House of Pancakes-blue", "Oz-like" in describing these structures, along with saying the appearance of a church "...calls to mind a peculiar mix of the Kremlin and the Bates Motel from 'Psycho'..." are extreme uses of a writer's license bordering on degradation. They also underscore Mr. Gibson's disregard to inform himself of the particular iconograhy and symbolism to which these structures pay tribute and seek to emulate.

With respect to the Ukrainian churches, Mr. Gibson's IHOP-blue is clearly derived from the splendid and world known cathedrals of Kyiv (Kiev), notably St. Andrew's as well as the belfry of St. Sophia. Holy Trinity Ukrainian Particular Catholic Church is based on the Hutsul architecture prevalent in Ukraine's Carpathian mountains and is spiritually, culturally, and historically (as well as in distance) far from Red Square and Alfred Hitchcock's movie sets.

The cited religious sanctuaries are testaments to the faith, collective strength, and commitment of the various peoples who have cared to mobilize themselves to create and build places for their respective religious congregations. They aren't part of some prevalent popular culture such as a Six Flags amusement park or the Las Vegas Strip, places where images are taken from the recent and distant past and are neutered to serve some prosaic commercial end.

Respectfully,
Max Pyziur
Principal
BRAMA-Gateway Ukraine
http://www.brama.com/
pyz@brama.com

Click to read the article in The Washington Post:
United (Denomi)Nations (Washington Post) 12/24/2000

"One simply doesn't compare the House of God to a motel," said Fr. Taras Lonchyna, pastor of Holy Trinity. In fact, the clergyman said, "in comparing our church to the Kremlin, it is doubly offensive … because the Kremlin had a policy of demolishing exactly these sorts of churches. Holy Trinity was built in the Hutsul style reflecting the spirituality and architectural history of a people whose churches had been demolished by the Kremlin." Fr. Lonchyna continued by saying that the Church was commissioned and its building was begun still during the period of the Soviet Union in an effort to preserve this sort of church architecture and spirituality which the Kremlin sought to destroy.

Holy Trinity Ukrainian Particular Catholic Church Website