The "Orange Revolution" happening right now in Ukraine has a distinctly religious component. Like the Poles and other oppressed peoples of Eastern Europe, faith in God has sustained the pro-freedom forces in Ukraine.
Ukraine's Orange Revolution (named for the color adopted by the country's reformist opposition), is a broad-based movement that brought millions of citizens into the streets to press for free and fair elections. Now it is on the verge of a dramatic victory. In just nine days, on Dec. 26, this nonviolent people-power movement will likely make pro-Western reformer Viktor Yushchenko the country's next president.On the surface, the Orange Revolution has had a secular look, with students, members of the middle class and workers rising up against corrupt rule.The movement has on its side the sexy Ukrainian girl group Via Gra, Eurovision song-contest winner Ruslana and the Klitschkos, Ukraine's boxing brothers. Not to mention Sting and Gerard Depardieu.
But there is another side to Ukraine's peaceful revolution. Interspersed with earnest youths, families and grandmothers who braved subzero temperatures at daily rallies for Mr. Yushchenko were nuns bearing orange sashes, proto-deacons and priest-monks.
The scene at Kiev's Independence Square was part political rally, part rock concert and part fireworks display. But it was also a religious experience....
Mr. Yushchenko, who typically ends his speeches with "Glory to Ukraine, Glory to the Ukrainian People, and Glory to the Lord, Our God," is a devout Orthodox Christian from northeastern Ukraine who regularly takes confession and communion. His faith is reinforced by his American-born wife, Katya Chumachenko, who last week told the Chicago Tribune: "We're strong believers in God, and we strongly believe that God has a place for each one of us in this world, and that he has put us in this place for a reason."
Tip via Outside the Beltway
At its root level, it is perhaps not unlike the Red State phenomenon we experienced here in November: people of faith choosing the hard road of liberty over the soft assurances of accomodationists. How appropriate during this season of Advent, when we re-experience how light entered the world to overcome, painfully, a profound darkness.
Posted by Alan at December 17, 2004 09:32 AM