St John the Ukrainian Confessor:
Our historic relations with the Muslims

The great tragedy of September 11^th has brought to the attention of the West the religion and culture of Islam in a way that nothing ever has before.  Links between the "fundamentalist" terrorists who perpetrated this calamity and Islam as a whole seem to be assumed as theological questions are frequently raised during interviews investigating the motivation for such acts.  We ourselves have quite the historic relationship with Islamic peoples that could be consulted . . .

The fact of the matter is, however, that Ukrainians and others were locked in a life or death struggle with the Tatars even before they converted to Islam.

Religion is often looked to as the cause of conflict when, in reality, it only masks the real underlying cause(s) while also potentially providing the combatants involved with symbols and philosophic justification for what they are doing to one another.

The life of St John the Kozak is an interesting case in point.

A member of the registered Kozak Brotherhood, John was taken prisoner in battle by the Tatars and then sold as a slave into a wealthy Turkish family.

Such slavery under Muslim task-masters was the common lot for such as John and many others whom the Kozaks made it a priority to try and liberate.

The Kozak Hetman Bohdan Khmelnitsky waged five major campaigns against the Poles.  As the conventional military wisdom of his day dictated that one should only enter a battle with an ally, the Hetman chose the Tatars (?) as such.  

The price for such an alliance was the loss of each of the five campaigns since it was in the interest of the Tatars, no matter what their religion, to keep the Poles and the Ukrainians in a constant state of tension.  

An additional price was the more than 100,000 Ukrainian peasant slaves the Tatars helped themselves to as they retreated back to Crimea following each successive campaign . . .

The Kozaks too knew that they could be taken prisoner at any time.  This is why many of them memorized the Book of Psalms so that they could have with them a rich resource for the ceaseless worship of God and also for a spiritual reserve that would help them survive the entire, often life-long ordeal.

When in captivity, John the Kozak was obliged to do demeaning work and to endure repeated insults to his religion and nationality.

John took all this in stride and prayed humbly to God.  He would often stand in front of a boarded up Orthodox Church nearby to sing the Psalms he had learnt by heart.

God protected his servant, John, and the Holy Spirit poured out His choicest gifts upon him as a mighty witness to Christ and His Truth.

The father of the house was away from his family one day.  For supper, "holubtsi" or a special dish that was also popular with the Turks were served.  Everyone around the table expressed sorrow at the fact that the father could not be with them to enjoy such delicious food.

John was then inspired by God to perform a special miracle.  He took his master's personally embossed plate and loaded it down with food.  He told the family that he would indeed taste of their wonderful supper that evening.  He was derided, of course.

John went into his room and placed the plate on his bed.  He then prayed earnestly to God to make Himself and His Power known to the family he was with so that they, too, could believe in Him just as John did.

The father returned two days later and told everyone in his relieved family about how a plate with delicious holubtsi appeared out of nowhere.  To the doubters he showed his very own plate which he had with him!

John became such a well-known miracle-worker in the family and throughout the Muslim community there that it was they who helped build the first Church dedicated to his sainted memory following his repose at Prokopion.  Muslims come to pray at his Shrine in New Prokopion to this day.

The appearance of the Mother of God at Pochayiv, when She placed Her Veil of Protection or Pokrova over the cupola of the Cathedral and sent the cannon-balls of the Turks back on their armies, is another example wherein Turks converted to Christianity following the event and even became monks at the Lavra.

It was a Ukrainian merchant and soldier, Kulchitsky, of the same family that gave the Ukrainian Church St. Innocent Kulchitsky, who helped stop the Turkish advance on Vienna.

An expert at cannon warfare, Kulchitsky guided the Catholic armies under the Polish King, Jan Sobieski, in the great battle at Vienna's gates.  Following the victory, Kulchitsky received the first rights to the marketing and sale of coffee and began the tradition of coffee-houses throughout Europe.

When the Kozaks went into battle with their Muslim opponents, they would shout, "Glory to God!"  The Muslims, for their part, would say, "Allahuakbar!" meaning "God is great."

The Kozak "nickname" for the Turks and the Tatars was "Bisurmeny."  This was a play on the word "Musselmen" with the Ukrainian word for devils or "Bisy."

When the Kozaks heard the Muslims say "Bismillah Ar-Rahman Ar-Rahim" (In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Gracious) they thought they were somehow invoking demons ("Bis") and so derided them with their nickname for them.

All this shows what a lack of understanding of one another's faith and culture can do to increase animosity and hatred, quite apart from the perceived impact of public policy!

Christians are not called to "give back as good as they receive" from their enemies.

While military acts of self-defense against terrorism of any stated religious stripe are justified, Christians today must crusade on the basis of charitable love.

How this is to be done under the current conditions is something that remains a great challenge.

To its credit, the United States is carefully and thoughtfully considering how best to respond to the attack on its citizens of September 11^th.

By showing that it has no wish to respond in kind or to inflict the same kind of pain and suffering on the innocent citizens of other nations, America will have won the war against terrorism even before it formally begins.