Ukrainian Catholic Church moves to HQ to Kiev.

I firmly support the recent moving of the headquarters of the Ukrainian Catholic Church to Kiev. Kiev has been the center of Ukrainian Christianity ever since Prince Volodymyr converted the nation to the faith in 988 A.D., so why shouldn't the Catholic Church(which has shaped much of Ukraine's spiritual heritage) have its headquarters there?

However the Orthodox are clashing over this development. Although perhaps I should be more specific, the Russian Orthodox are clashing over this. The Ukrainian Orthodox(under the authority of the Kiev Patriarchate) has accepted this transfer and even sent representatives to welcome Cardinal Husar.

This only goes to show how much the Russian Orthodox Church wishes to suppress any attempts of the Ukrainian nation to express its own spiritual heritage. The Catholic Church has long been a symbol of a separate Ukrainian identity, and long been advocate of greater unity with their Orthodox brethren. This is a clear challenge to the Russian Patriarchate's claims of domination over Ukraine. If the Russian Patriarchate wishes to represent the interests of Russian Orthodox Christians living in Ukraine that's one thing, but leave us Ukrainian Christians to embrace and unite within our common heritage.

Taras Shevchenko

Perhaps any blog concerning Ukrainian culture should begin off with the life of Taras Shevchenko, who is Ukraine's most famous poet. However, to the Ukrainian people he is more than just a famous poet, he is their national bard and the literary spokesman for the Ukrainian soul. Similar attitudes can be found in the way Russians look upon Alexander Pushkin, the Poles upon Adam Mickiewicz, or the English upon William Shakespeare.

Taras Shevchenko was not only a great poet, but was a staunch Ukrainian nationalist. His poems are filled with nationalistic themes; particularly glorifying the great Kozaks of the past who fought for Ukraine's freedom against the Russians and Poles. Shevchenko was also active in the Brotherhood of Cyril and Methodius, which wished to promote Slavic nationalism based on Christian values. For his activity in the Brotherhood, Shevchenko would eventually be arrested and exiled to Siberia.

Shevchenko's most famous literary achievement was the Kobzar, which was named after the famous traveling poets of Kozak times(they were in many ways similar to the troubadours of Medieval Europe). The Shevchenko museum has a wonderful collection of English translations of his other poems here. One of my personal favorites is My Friendly Epistle, especially the last verses which read:

Then shall our day of hope arrive,
Ukrainian glory shall revive,
No twilight but the dawn shall render
And break forth into novel splendour....
Brother, embrace! Your hopes possess,
I beg you in all eagerness!