Author: Andrew Sorokowski

“Fiend: A Novel of Menace,” by Alex Tarnavsky. Independently published, 2023. 653 pp. ISBN: 9798386260750 (paperback), $24.95. The book is also available as a Kindle edition on Amazon. Why do we read? Sometimes it is for information, sometimes for pleasure. But usually we want to read something that both teaches and entertains. Both fiction and non-fiction can serve these twin purposes. Among the genres that educate as well as divert is the historical novel. Perhaps the earliest example is Sir Walter Scott’s “Waverly” (1814); probably the most famous is Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” (1865-1869). A historical novel is a…

“Giuseppe Mazzini’s Young Europe and the Birth of Modern Nationalism in the Slavic World,” by Anna Procyk. Toronto-Buffalo-London: University of Toronto Press, 2019. 273 pp. ISBN 978-1-4875-0508-0. Hardcover, $75.

Like most events of this kind, the inauguration of Metropolitan-Archbishop Borys Gudziak of Philadelphia was programmatic as well as ceremonial: it sent a message about the future course of the Ukrainian Catholic Church. It was a “Heart to Heart” meeting not only among hierarchs, monastics, and pastors, but first of all between clergy and laity. This was evident, for example, when after the liturgy in Philadelphia on Saturday, June 8, priests and faithful joined in a barbecue, and the newly installed metropolitan and a leading scholar-cleric from Canada reportedly joined with children in a game of soccer.

Last Christmas, nearly 600 poor and homeless people were treated to a festive meal at the church of the Protection of the Mother of God in Lviv. Organized by the lay community of Sant’Egidio and the parish, these Christmas repasts have been held since 2006. Similar ones are offered in Kyiv and Ivano-Frankivsk. Founded in Rome in 1968, the community of Sant’Egidio has held Christmas lunches since 1982, at last count serving some 240,000 needy people in 77 countries. (Patriyarkhat No. 1, 2019, p. 30)

The people of Ukraine have spoken. By an overwhelming majority, they have rejected the incumbent, President Petro Poroshenko, and elected Volodymyr Zelensky, an entertainer with no political experience and only the vaguest of programs. Their vote is widely understood as a protest against corruption, in which many, if not most, have themselves participated. They also seem to be emulating the politically advanced American people, voting for “change” without much regard for the kind of change, and looking to comedians for political wisdom.

For generations, we have been complaining that people are leaving our churches, especially the young. Why are they leaving, and where are they going? A sociological study may soon provide some answers. The matter is tricky, because respondents may not always want to admit, even to themselves, why they leave a church or religion. But for now, we can at least guess at some of the excuses and outcomes.

Does this heading make you yawn? If so, I hear you. I do not mean that I hear you yawning. Rather, I understand that the average reader is not excited by the prospect of reading about parish picnics, canonical visitations, administrative regulations and pastoral letters. 

A “new Orthodoxy” – isn’t that an oxymoron? The very word, with either an upper-case or a lower-case “o,” connotes conservatism. And Church “Orthodoxy,” which means “right teaching” or “right belief,” suggests dogmatism. Moreover, the Russian Orthodox Church, which is the bearer of the kind of Orthodoxy with which most Ukrainians are familiar, is well-known for its conservative approach to matters both theological and political. 

The news is full of reports of human rights violations: in Crimea and the Donbas since the 2014 Russian invasions, as well as in dozens of countries around the world with a variety of political systems. But compared to the vogue for human rights in the 1970s, enthusiasm seems to have waned. 

One Easter in the early 1990s, I was taken to the village of Sholomiya, near Lviv. In a cramped house I encountered an elderly lady sitting by the television set. “It’s disgusting what they show on TV these days,” she complained. “Why, they even show people kissing!” If only you knew, I thought… 

After a decade in Washington, D.C., Ambrose Bierce defined politics as “a strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles.” Today, most people seem to hold either of two images of our capital: a fetid swamp that needs to be drained periodically because it keeps filling up with alligators, toads, water-snakes and Democrats –...

Colonialism comes up repeatedly in cultural as well as socio-political and economic discussions. We consider it a bad thing, but we rarely ask ourselves what it really means. In fact, there are different kinds of colonialism, and their effects vary considerably. Today, we may even find it where we least suspect. Literally, colonialism is the...