On 11 September, as part of UCU Days in Lviv, a discussion was held at the Sheptytsky Center: “Where does new breath for Ukraine come from? Transition from tactical maneuvers to a strategic vision.” Part of this event was a lecture given by Myroslav Marynovych, UCU’s Vice-Rector for University Mission. (The text of the lecture follows.)

**

In recent decades the amplitude of emotions in Ukraine has been overflowing: we fly at the height of Maidan enthusiasm; we plunge into the valley of post-Maidan disillusionment. Once, in Soviet times, it would be said about this: “You won’t be bored with us.” [Russian-language phrase]

It’s understood that our emotions need correction. Disillusionment is counterproductive. Emotions cool; you throw up your arms in disappointment.  Heated emotions encourage the person to look for those guilty of his own failures. Another matter is dissatisfaction with what has been achieved. Then the brain works to discover what is slowing things down, to search for ways to correct the situation.

Our friend Jeffrey Wills, hearing from me in 2015 the first notes of disillusionment, said to me: “Why do you Ukrainians want to jump across a wide river in one step? And then you agonize because you can’t do this? We Anglo-Saxons know well that every long journey is composed of small steps, and all this needs to be done in its turn.”

My age and experience allows me to say with certainty that the distance that Ukraine has already covered is fantastically long. By the standards of those hopes held by Ukrainian fighters of the resistance movement in the camps, Ukraine today has secured for itself the determining pre-conditions for its development: it has acquired and preserved political independence, has kept on in a “hybrid” war with Russia for four and a half difficult years, and re-organized its economy after all the acts of sabotage and Russian blockades. One visa-free regime would be enough to make former citizens of the USSR, crowded at impenetrable borders, absolutely happy.

So, we don’t need to be frightened by the realization of how much we still need to progress in order to achieve the level of life of the average German, but we need to break that path down into comparatively small sections and proceed step by step.

I needed this introduction because otherwise it’s not understandable why we need new breath, if not at all long ago on the Maidan we brought in air to fill our lungs. Truly, this was a shining time for Ukraine, when, over the course of a few months, we experienced changes which, in other conditions, would have taken a few decades. However, the exhaustion of the inspiration from the Maidan has certain concrete causes, which we should consider.

I will begin not with the government but with us ourselves. If during the Orange Revolution the people still believed in a “good tsar/messiah,” and so cried out “Yushchenko! Yushchenko!”, by the Revolution of Dignity it was cured of this illusion and didn’t cry “Poroshenko! Poroshenko!” However, another version of this social illusion appeared: paternalism. No, those who passed through the crucible of the Maidan trusted in their own ability to change the country, and so appeared the marvel of the volunteer movement, which became the strong backbone of a re-born army. But society is still waiting for someone from above to make it happy; it still faults the government in Kyiv for everything bad. And in this way, unfortunately, it will vote in the upcoming elections.

So the first pre-requisite of new breath is to realize that the main resistance to reforms is truly in the people, not in the government. This people would rather hold in its hands the old teat of corruption and nepotism than dare to catch a glimpse in the sky of the stork of a new style of life. But if this is what the electorate wants, why did it blame the government for everything? For the majority of Ukrainians, to live honestly and by the rules is to harm yourself. So to find a new breath is to bid farewell to the whining that is always comfortable for us, that “all is lost”; this is to avoid the conclusion no less comfortable for us that “this is not our government; it’s hostile to us,” that “they’re all like that.” We have a government for now worthy of a people that wants everything to change except for itself.

The second cause is, of course, the status of our political elite and the mistakes of today’s government administration. The elite, by definition, should lead the people, but lead it where? They themselves don’t know. The fate of the old question of Leonid Kuchma, posed to the deputies of Parliament, still hangs over us: “Tell me what kind of state we’re building, and I’ll build it.” Since then, the three branches of government have lacked a strategic vision for developing the state. Instead, tactical maneuvering is the rule. And it is not the interests of the state that are given attention, inasmuch as they have not been thought out, but rather one’s own interests and the interests of one’s clan. That’s what’s considered when political decisions are made.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but, in recent years the number of so-called “strategic visions” has been multiplying in Ukraine – therefore, the government is working on this. But these strategies are more like “feeders” from which imitators can draw inspiration rather than real reflections on the needs of the government. They are stillborn, because, truly, no one is working to bring them to life. People usually explain the fruitlessness of current strategies through a lack of professionalism or bad will, which borders on sabotage. However, the main problem here is in the values by which our upper and lower political elites live.

Today in the corridors of power of Kyiv, intensive and serious “men’s” work is going on: new party alliances are being formed, forces are re-grouping, positions are being bought and sold, harsh wars are fought under the carpet – and, of course, the strategic future of Ukraine will to some extent depend on this. But this has nothing in common with forming a strategy to develop the state. When you are fighting hand-to-hand in the trenches, you never see how the general theater of war looks. So attractive slogans, like the billboard “A new course for Ukraine,” are a banal imitation by political technologists and only obscure the infertile ideas of Ukraine’s political world today.

The imitation of democratic mechanisms and values, and also the imitation of the rule of law, inevitably degenerates into an imitation of strategizing. The spiritual status of today’s elite is an extract of what is being created among the people. But the extract has its particularities: it has a greater concentration of some substances. In other words, the following logic is the most characteristic of the elite: to live honestly and by the rules is to harm yourself. So, in vain do we appeal to those in power, calling them to form a trustworthy and promising strategic vision for the country’s development. The true situation is growing from an appropriate platform of values which defines the correct angle of vision.

Therefore, we need a change in basic values to influence the change in angle of vision. Because, otherwise, we drown in information about Kyiv’s stadiums and auctions, not understanding where Ukraine is heading (or drifting). So I propose to explain some foundational assumptions from which, in my opinion, we need to proceed.

The first assumption is the categorical imperative of independence. This is a necessary prerequisite for everything else. So independence needs defense, and on both sides. In time of war, we have to defend ourselves from an external enemy, and so the fighting capacity of the army is a first-priority concern. But we need to defend ourselves from ourselves, also. For if it is possible to combine two desires, an independent nation and ideal leadership, that’s wonderful. But if not, the independence of Ukraine must be the priority. A truly sovereign people would rather temporarily reconcile with non-ideal leadership than place its independence under threat. The experience of Israel can be very helpful here.

The second assumption is the categorical imperative of justice. This is decisive for three spheres at once.

First of all is a proper judiciary, the rule of law. The people must have a higher arbiter; otherwise, for the restoration of justice it will resort to violent vigilantes or invite “arbiters” from another country.

The second sphere is social justice. It is time to end the phase of “wild capitalism,” with its uncontrolled enrichment of some and impoverishment of others, if we don’t want new social upheavals. Social dissatisfaction is a crowbar with which Putin’s propaganda shakes Ukraine’s political stability.

The third sphere is national justice, that is, the harmonious co-existence of various ethnic groups in one Ukrainian political nation. The dangers here are the violation of the interests and cultural needs of rooted peoples, Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars, and the violation of the human rights of national minorities. Putin gladly forces his crowbar into cracks in this harmony.

Also, we need to maintain that joint front formed on the Maidan with those Russian-speaking Ukrainians, Russians, and other national minorities who, like us, want to live in a civilized country.

The third assumption is the categorical imperative of values. To change Ukraine means to change the Ukrainian, and to change the Ukrainian means to change the “treasure where lies his heart” (see Matthew 6:21), that is, to change his values. If values aren’t changed, don’t expect our wild apple tree to bear tasty pears.

It is difficult for people to understand the priority of values. For they are convinced that, if “the fish rots from the head,” it should also begin to heal from the head. However, the experience of John the Baptist should convince us: in vain he called Herod and his wife Herodias to return to the righteous path.

The logic here is simple: if the so-called “social elevators” are not working in society, and thus morally exemplary people are not ending up at the heights of power, then the movement for spiritual rebirth must begin from below. So I’m weary of the constant refrain: “We’re studying Jesus’s example, so the Bible story is a model for us.”

The vector of the acts of Jesus Christ can best be understood against the backdrop of Judas’s reproaches. He sincerely believed that Jesus was the future king of Israel. But if you are the king, why don’t you fraternize with the powers of this world? Instead you humble yourself among the poor, fishermen, and prostitutes? Become a king, come to power, pass just laws, and the people will obediently change.

Jesus, however, acts directly to the contrary, for It is not the law that makes the person righteous, but his conscience, that is, the law of God written on his heart. This is why Jesus did not rush to the corridors of power, where the powerful become slaves of their sins. Instead, among simple people he sought those who could change the moral basis of their behavior, who could return to moral living. And so Jesus gathered around himself the new people of God. He created a new spiritual organism in the old one, and, in time, this all turned out to be a very wise “business plan.”

How could this scenario of Jesus be implemented in Ukraine today? I see at least two ways.

One scenario is long, painful, and uncertain. More likely, our despair would deepen, and the enemy would come to the conclusion that the time has come to take revenge. I suppose that his real attempt would become that stimulus which would force the people to spiritual mobilization. For example, Putin at an appropriate time places as the leader of a united Donetsk/Luhansk People’s Republic the so-called “legal president of Ukraine,” Viktor Yanukovych, from there to begin “the overthrow of fascist usurpers.” If Yanukovych managed to be the trigger for two previous Maidans, why couldn’t he be the cause of a third?

I would imagine that in this case Ukraine would truly rise up for the next Maidan, which would shake out of the body of Ukraine all that hinders it. But would this Maidan be peaceful and non-violent? Would it lift up the human spirit and return it to values? Today there are some weapons in people’s hands and there’s a substantially lowered threshold for the use of violence. And much anger has built up. So Ukraine might not survive a new Maidan.

But the one who wants to build statehood from below needs not a pitchfork but a mind. So I personally would like a different lifting up of Ukraine, a full mobilization of those who bear a bright spirit. I dream that, in today’s morally half-formed “puppet,” in one blessed moment would form the “butterfly” of a new social body, which will immediately acquire clear moral subjectivity. Such an organism would immediately unite those who profess real values, who are ready for a new life, and would become that “critical mass” from which would start a “chain reaction” of Ukraine’s transfiguration.

However, here immediately arises a question which listeners often ask me: And where is that leader around whom will crytallize this morally perfect social body? And here I must repeat that thought which I recently expressed in my tribute to Bishop Borys Gudziak. Yes, Ukrainians usually complain of a lack of leaders, because they are always waiting for political avengers and fighters. But the Lord does not provide this, not because he is stingy and indifferent, but, it seems, because he has his own program for this country. And so, at that time when Ukraine plunged uncontrollably into a carnival of love of power and money, when the self-interested man came out onto the arena, the Lord sent us, as a counter, people of prayer, people with a high majesty of spirit. His Beatitude Lubomyr Husar of blessed memory was one, as is the president of our university, Bishop Borys Gudziak. Isn’t this why they were given to us, because Ukraine needs above all spiritual transfiguration, which will become the foundation of political and economic transfiguration?

The spiritual transfiguration of the nation is not predicted in any strategic plans prepared up to now in bureaucratic offices. Because administrators are involved in practical work, not in moralizing and utopias. This apparent practicality, however, ends in constant losses. All these “sober” development strategies are not implemented, because our human material does not correspond to the appropriate standards. So we live in a world of imitations. Thus, disillusionment follows every Maidan rising, for the people constantly travel a long-trodden path that leads to nowhere.

So Ukrainians should realize the total inevitability of this task that Mahatma Gandhi formulated: “Be the change you want to see in the world!” Finally, a sociopolitical force should appear in Ukraine which will respond to the deep matrix of ancient Kyivan culture and its fundamental values, and at the same time be on the cutting edge of modern tendencies in the world.

This force should be distinguished by at least three important signs.

First, it should be concerned not about winning elections but winning human minds and hearts. Moreover, not to deceive them, not to manipulate human needs, but to convince people of the need to live according to God’s laws. For this, what’s necessary is not skillful political technologists but a preparedness to sacrifice. This force should lose the first elections, because only by failure will the strength of its convictions be verified. Otherwise, why did the Heavenly Father, in order to convince people, send his Son as a sacrifice?

Second, this force should precisely recount and explain what it plans to change and how. This should be a decisive break with old administrative habits and procedures in which, despite superficial de-communization, the undying homo sovieticus is comfortably set. The measure here should not be the interests of the ruling clan but human dignity.

Thirdly, this new sociopolitical force must overcome the main barrier on the road of social activism – lack of trust between people. So that you will be trusted, you must learn not to betray others. So that people will rely on you, you need to keep promises. So that you will not be wounded, you need to not wound others.

So I am calling for spiritual disobedience, but this time not to the government but to our false collective stereotypes and our own temptations. And this means confirming a spiritual alternative to everything that ruins our spiritual world:

They encourage us to betrayal, but we will be faithful to our ideals.

They force us to sell ourselves, but we are not for sale.

They teach us to lie and do sloppy work, but we will be responsible.

They push us to hostility; we will seek understanding.

They convince us that to live honestly is to doom yourself to failure; we are sure that, on the contrary, the dishonest will fail because of cynical immorality.

There is potential for this in Ukraine. An alternative is already ripening in persons of the younger generation. The ideas are already spreading. What is lacking is only that impulse to self-organization which happens only at the will of the Holy Spirit, Who “cleanses us from all defilement.”

However, it does not thereby follow that we are doomed to wait. I was once impressed by the frames of a slow-motion film about lightning striking. It would seem the lightning bolt has to fall from above to earth. But it is not quite so. First a small channel of lightning breaks from earth and goes up, and only then does the main bolt of lightning give a kiss.

So our efforts are necessary and, in some sense, decisive. This is particularly the case with young people. Is it worth waiting, when “old adults” lead us into deadlock, in order then to consolidate, as it was in the previous Maidan? Why not consolidate right now, forcing the politicians to modernize the country? Who knows better than young people that an obsolete, clumsy, and crumbling ship of state will not lead the people through the stormy waves of today’s civilization? The future will open up for you only when you knock on its doors.

This is why the surge of youthful energy should activize the generation of two revolutions and those who support it. The new breath can and should start from your strong lungs, and this should be the surge of cleansed air. They now call you the generation of the war: Become the generation of spiritual renewal, spiritual aggiornamento. Become that radiant spiritual bolt which, like the forerunner of lightning, breaks out from the depths of our society to heaven. The Lord will certainly help you in this, for, as St. Augustine said: “God created us without us: but he did not will to save us without us.”

The words of the prophet Isaiah mean the same: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God! Every valley shall be lifted up, every mountain and hill made low; The rugged land shall be a plain, the rough country, a broad valley. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 40:3-5)

Myroslav Marynovych