Sunday March 6, 2022
I love coincidences. Coincidences are like bits of information floating on an ocean of meaninglessness until they drift up onto a beach and a passer-by – me – fits them into some kind of pattern.
Today’s coincidence is the name Volodymyr. Or Vladimir, if you prefer the anglicized Russian spelling. As a person who intuitively roots for underdogs, I’ll use the Ukrainian spelling. But it’s the same thing, either way.
There are four Volodymyrs involved in this coincidence.
There’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the comedian with no political experience who came out of nowhere to become Ukraine’s president, and has since shown himself to have leadership qualities many other nations might envy.
There’s Volodymyr Putin – yes, same name, but usually with a different spelling – who sees the burgeoning democracy led by Zelenskyy as a threat and wants to take Ukraine back into Mother Russia.
There’s Saint Volodymyr, the pagan prince who created Russia in the first place. Ruling from Kyiv, about 977 BCE, he built an empire that reached from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea and into the steppes of Central Asia.
He’s considered a saint because he brought Christianity to what would eventually become the Russian empire.
The stories vary. But they agree, more or less, that Prince Volodymyr converted in 987 so that he could marry Anna, the sister of Byzantine emperor Basil II in Constantinople.
But the histories also agree that Volodymyr the Great considered at least four of the world religions of the time – Islam, Greek Orthodox, Judaism, and Latin Rite – before taking the plunge into Eastern Rite Christianity.
The rituals and practices of Constantinople appealed to Prince Volodymyr’s emissaries. Of an Eastern Rite liturgy witnessed in Constantinople’s Hagia Sophia, they wrote, "We no longer knew whether we were in heaven or on earth… nor such beauty, and we know not how to tell of it."
The Russian Orthodox Church that Prince Volodymyr founded now has roughly 100 million members in Russia itself, and about the same number outside Russia, of which 30 million or so are Ukrainian.
A statue of Volodymyr the Great, considered the founder of both Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church, stands in the main square of Kyiv.
Icons of opposition
But another statue of Volodymyr was erected in Moscow, in 2016 – a provocative challenge to the primacy of the much older Kyiv statue.
After all, one might reason, you can’t have the statue honouring the founder of Russia standing proudly in a nation that wants independence from Russia, can you?
Wanna bet on whether Volodymyr Putin allows the Kyiv statue to remain, if he succeeds in capturing Kyiv?
Or will he simply brag that he has re-united Volodymyr the Great’s original empire?
Coincidences like these must feel exceptionally galling to a fanatically single-minded patriot like Putin.
He’d love to go down in history as the second Volodymyr the Great. He has the same name as the man who founded Russia.
But – alas, cruel irony! – so has the man leading the opposition to Putin’s invasion.
Fanatic patriotism
Looking back a few years, I can see why Donald Trump got along with Volodymyr Putin. They may have had different goals, but they were both obsessed with making their country “great again.”
Both grew up in a time when their countries were undisputed world leaders – America for the West, Russia for the East.
No industrial upstarts like China or a united Europe challenged the supremacy – industrial, economic, political, and military -- of the world’s two superpowers.
But now?
To be a superpower again in today’s global economy, Volodymyr Putin knows he must have access to ocean transport. Moscow is essentially landlocked.
Putin does have seaports on the Arctic Ocean. Murmansk, ice free for most of the year despite its northern latitude, was a key port during World War II. But Murmansk could never be the export gateway for the whole of Russia.
Putin also has Vladivostok, 6500 km away on the Pacific. That’s as practical as trying to funnel the entire industrial output of central Canada through Prince Rupert in northern B.C.
But Ukraine does have ports. Big ports. Deepwater ports. On the Black Sea. Which connects to the Mediterranean. Which connects to the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
And Ukraine is right next to Moscow.
Russia started in Ukraine. Russia needs Ukraine to be great again.
I do not write these words to whitewash Putin’s actions. I despise them, and loathe him. I write this only to draw attention to some factors that might otherwise be overlooked in the daily crush of bad news.
St. Volodymyr is key to Volodymyr Putin today. And he’s why Putin’s war for Ukraine is no coincidence.
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Copyright © 2022 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups encouraged; links from other blogs welcomed; all other rights reserved.
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Your turn
The letters in response to last week’s column about the effectiveness of a “shunning” tactic in dealing with Vladimir Putin revealed that some of you have very strong feelings about him.
David Gilchrist: “I’m not a psychiatrist, so I can’t make an informed diagnosis; but Putin seems to me to have some type of mental disorder (‘insanity’?). I’m not sure whether shunning will work with him. He may be one of those people who would rather be left alone.
“But shunning might affect enough of his henchmen that they would turn against him. Killing him would really not be assassination or murder but self defence. He is hurting so many of his own people…
“I remember when my Dad was overseas for four years. No one dared make a sound when the news was on! Now thousands more families are thrust into that horror as their loved ones are embroiled in that Hell.”
Bob Mason: “I have been praying many times every day since it became clear that Putin intended to invade Ukraine, and I prayed for the leaders and people of Ukraine and for the majority of the Russian people. I absolutely hated Putin and wished that more and more of his people would rise up and depose him, or even assassinate him.
“Those thoughts changed after a powerful sermon a week ago last Sunday, when our Pastor reminded the congregation that, in spite of the many differences between us, we are all God's children. I decided that I must pray for Putin and his senior advisors, and for the last week I have done just that. Jesus had pity on the man possessed with demons, and I consider that Putin is such a man -- he isn't sane, just another madman possessed with his demons. I still hope that he will be overthrown by his own people, and that the madness in Ukraine will be over.”
Isabel Gibson noted the difference between shunning and punishment: “I think the reaction has been a mix of the shunning you describe, and attempts to inflict economic pain in a situation where we're not willing (perhaps wisely) to engage militarily.
“I understand the emotional attractiveness of the first reaction, although it's often misdirected. I understand the tactical attractiveness of the second reaction, but it's sure not clear that it's going to work.”
Some writers recalled their own personal experiences with shunning.
Clare Neufeld recalled his youth: “On one occasion, I was invited to table, but the husband did not join. He sat at a smaller table, somewhat removed. They explained that he was still under shunning order by the church. At the level of this particular shunning, it meant that his family could not ‘break bread in fellowship’ with him, until the shun had been removed.
“One relatively small group from among some Mennonites practice the shun. Most do not.
“I agree with your observation that shunning does not (often) work, unless the one being shunned WANTS to return/belong.
“I believe that’s true in most conflict situations -- parties don’t generally find ways to create peace, reconciliation, restoration, unless one capitulates, or both desire to restore/rebuild.”
Valentina Gal: “I share your skepticism about ‘shunning’. Not only is it too little too late, but also the shunnings are cherry-picking so the west doesn’t have to make any real sacrifices.
“The war that we are horrified by today did not start on February 24. It has been going on since the time of the tzars. My family starved to death in the Holodomor. If you like, you can read about how people suffered in my book: Philipovna: Daughter of Sorrow. It is the story of a young girl who grew up to be my mother and her struggle for survival.
“Today, we pat ourselves on the back for our sanctions, which do have some effect. However, unless we actually target their oil and energy exports, we won’t get anywhere. Do you really think that a culture that won’t walk to the corner store for a bag of milk or that go to the ATM for convenience rather than a bank teller to help keep her job will tolerate gas that costs over $2 a litre? I’m not convinced. Our collective greed fostered by big business has made us complacent.
“In the meantime, mothers and grandmothers huddle in cold basements or on platforms, children get sick and die, while Ukrainian men sacrifice themselves for a war they didn’t cause or want. As far as I’m concerned, their blood is on our collective hands.”
Eduard Hiebert: “I have a General Conference Mennonite background and know of no shunning during my lifetime, though I'm told it did exist earlier. From my studies, but no first-hand experience, I have been told that the Amish still shun. The Mennonite Brethren are much more ‘evangelical’; like former MP Vic Toews , they side with the anti-abortionists without having qualms about human rights after the babies are born. Being closer to God they [believe they] can judge who is and is not of the fold. Which in practice is a form of shunning.”
Bob Rollwagen: “Our mistake was trusting Putin. He drugged his athletes and tried to fool the global Olympics. So this was an early indicator. They pretended to have elections and start western style business practices and rich Russians travel the globe like members of a free society. Trust is the underpinnings of free economic and democratic society. We messed up on this call.
“Unfortunately, too many western economies have built their infrastructure on Russian support so it is hard to ignore them. Shunning works [only] when there is no other option. Putin still has lots of friends and lots of options. So far, no Russian has missed a meal or their Vodka.”
James Russell: “If we shun, it’s not because it changes the shunned but because it does something for us. What it does reliably is bolster our own sense of moral superiority, and promote in-group feelings among the shunners. Economic measures, though, raise costs, not self-satisfaction. It seems to me we are asking Russians to make an economic decision: how many billions will you pay rather than killing Putin? It’s not very Christian. Just business.”
Ruth Buzzard cut right to the chase: “I have one question: What would YOU do?
“Shunning, e.g. economic sanctions, will have a devastating effect on the average Russian citizen. Hopefully the sanctions aimed at Putin’s friends, like seizing their mega-yachts, will have the effect of a palace coup. We secretly hope that someone will take a shot at Putin, or slip something poisonous into his drink. (Hence the long tables that Putin favours!) Our Western leaders are too diplomatic to say this out loud, but they are all hoping that the sanctions will encourage a palace coup and that Putin will be replaced by someone more friendly to our side.
“I don’t think that Russian leaders [ever] get democratically voted out of office. They retire from old age or they die, but they don’t get voted out by the people in a free election. I think that any change in the Russian policy of bombing Ukraine will have to come from the inner circle of power, probably by violence since Putin won’t leave peacefully. Maybe overthrowing Putin would have no effect because he is only one man among the small group that hold power in Russia.
The TV news is heartbreaking. Most of the world is cheering for Ukraine. But Jim, my original question: ‘What would you do to end this tragedy?’”
JT: I have no answer. I don’t know what I would do, or could do, or should do. I am merely afraid that what we – in the broadest sense of “we” – are doing may not work the way we expect it to.
Steve Roney: “I share your skepticism that sanctions are going to work with Vladimir Putin. Sanctions have never worked with him in the past. On the other hand, what is our alternative? It seems unhelpful to object to a policy without suggesting any alternative.
“You misunderstand Catholic excommunication in thinking it is a form of shunning. To the contrary, the excommunicated remains a member of the church, and is expected to attend mass. They are simply not to receive certain sacraments.
“I also deny that Jesus was advising shunning when he told the disciples to ‘shake the dust from their sandals.’ This described a situation in which they were shunned, not shunning.
“The sanctions against Putin and Russia are also not shunning. The hope is to cause economic pain; it is a milder form of the traditional blockade.”
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TECHNICAL STUFF
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PROMOTION STUFF…
To use the links in this section, you’ll have to insert the necessary symbols. (This is to circumvent filters that think some of these links are spam.)
Wayne Irwin's “Churchweb Canada,” is an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. http://wwwDOTchurchwebcanadaDOTca. He set up my webpage, and he doesn’t charge enough.
I recommend Isabel Gibson’s thoughtful and well-written blog, wwwDOTtraditionaliconoclastDOTcom. She also runs beautiful pictures. Her Thanksgiving presentation on the old hymn, For the Beauty of the Earth, Is, well, beautiful -- https://www.traditionaliconoclast.com/2019/10/13/for/
Tom Watson writes a weekly blog called “The View from Grandpa Tom’s Balcony” -- ruminations on various subjects, and feedback from Tom’s readers. Write him at tomwatsoATgmailDOTcom (NB that’s “watso” not “watson”)
ALVA WOOD ARCHIVE
The late Alva Wood’s collection of satiric and sometimes wildly funny columns about a mythical village’s misadventures now have an archive (don’t ask how this happened) on my website: http://quixotic.ca/Alva-Wood-Archive. Feel free to browse all 550 columns