Andrij Sybiha, head of the Ministry of abroad Affairs of Ukraine, on 15 August at the 975th anniversary of the Peczerska Lavra wrote that the Christian civilization was going to the West through Kiev. It's not a insignificant anniversary formula. Kiev builds an argument about the European identity of Ukraine, and Poland must read this communicative soberly.
The jury as a political argument
Andrij Sybiha utilized the anniversary of 1 of the most crucial places of Orthodoxy to enter modern Ukraine into the communicative of European Christianity. According to Kresy.pl portal, the Minister of abroad Affairs of Ukraine announced on the occasion of the 975th anniversary of Lavra Peczerska that a 1000 years ago Kiev was the gateway through which Christian civilization reached the west of the continent.
This conviction matters far greater than the occasional entry. Sybiha combines the legacy of Rusi Kiev, the war with Russia and Ukraine's way to the European Union. Thus the spiritual symbol becomes a tool of state policy. This is how historical politics work: it chooses signs, gives them direction and builds an argument from them for today.
Poland's right has no reason to reject the fact that Kiev was 1 of the large centres of Christianity in east Europe. But he has a work to defender the proportion. Christianity of Europe has many roots: Jerusalem, Rome, Constantinople, the mission of Cyril and Methodius, the baptism of Poland and the work of the Latin civilization of the West. An effort to describe this vast heritage 1 gateway is always a simplification.
Kiev, Moscow and a dispute over heritage
Sybiha's entry was besides directed at the Russian communicative about the inheritance of Rusi Kiev. The Ukrainian minister argued that Moscow credited itself with the past and identity of its neighbours. It must be said clearly: Russian imperialism has long preyed on another people's history, another people's lands and another efforts. Poland knows this mechanics besides well.
Therefore, it is in the interests of Warsaw to reject the Russian thesis that Ukraine is only an addition to Moscow. Ukraine has its own past and its own statehood. Russia, which attacked Ukraine, remains a threat to Poland as well. There is no place in this case for sentimental blindness towards the Kremlin.
But national realism requires full sentences, not half sentences. Recognising Ukrainian subjectivity does not mean accepting all Ukrainian communicative without reservation. In the relations between Warsaw and Kiev strong principles are needed: common safety against Russia, but besides Polish historical memory, protection of economical interest and clear limits of political gestures.
Europe Without Christianity Loses Language
The most interesting thing about Sybiha's words is that Ukrainian diplomacy speaks of entering Europe in the language of Christian heritage. This should embarrass those politicians in Brussels who want Europe without a cross, without memory and without nations. Kiev, looking for a place in Europe, refers to Christian civilization. Western elites frequently pretend that this civilization is simply a troublesome museum exhibit.
There is simply a applicable lesson for Poland. Even if a state fighting for endurance knows that without past and spiritual memory it is impossible to build a political community, Warsaw should not apologize for its own Christian heritage. The Christian Formation of Europe It's not an ornament for the academy. This is the foundation of law, customs, families and work for the nation.
The dispute over the Pechersk Jury besides shows how powerfully religion, past and state intertwine in the East. Anyone who doesn't realize that will be condemned to interpretation. Poles must not let our safety, our memory and the place in Europe to decide on another people's stories, even in beautiful words.
Poland must keep its own compass
Sybiha has the right to build a Ukrainian narrative. Ukraine is fighting for the attention of the West, money, weapons and political future. There's nothing amazing about it. Countries usage past in war as an argument due to the fact that past gives them legitimacy.
The Polish answer should not be Moscow, Brussels or Kiev. It should be Polish. This means supporting the defence against Russian imperialism, the memory of our own Christian heritage and opposition to any communicative that wants to set us up only as the helper of another people's projects.
Polish subjectivity is at stake. If we do not tell the past of Europe ourselves from our own point of view, others will. And then in individual else's communicative Poland can again get a place besides tiny for a nation, which for centuries defended Latin civilization in the east rungs of the West.
