Reflections on the 70th anniversary of Archpriest Dymytriy Sydor.
When a Rusyn turns 70, Psalm 83, verse 5, sounds new to him: “Tell me, Lord, when and how will my life end in old age? Tell me, Lord, how long will I live, and how much time do I still have” to complete the plans and works begun in old age?
Back in ancient times, Virgil said: “Old age should not be the end of life, but its crown,” and then, Christians say, and… a heavenly crown.”
I am grateful to God at my 70 years old that I was born into the family of an Orthodox Rusyn priest, went to school at the age of 6, went to church from childhood, and at the age of 9 read the apostle “for every petition.”
After high school and service in the army, he studied at Uzhgorod University, majoring in “electronic devices”, but increasingly thought about entering the Orthodox Theological Academy.
By the way, few people even today remember that our Uzhgorod University was originally a national Rusyn University, because it was opened in the fall of 1944, even before the Rusyn Republic of Subcarpathian Rus’ joined the USSR with the Stalinist name of only the administrative “Transcarpathian Region”.
But having suffered Soviet-Ukrainian communist persecution, we, the Rusyns of Transcarpathia, survived, preserving our historical memory, language, religion and traditions. And even today, the main goal of life for most of us is to remain God’s children – Christian Rusyns, who are waiting for a heavenly crown from God!
And the end of earthly life should be in the triumph of faith in Christ, because our Canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church is the same “Church – the Kingdom of the Son of God, in which we have redemption through His Blood.” (Col. 1:13).
So, the main finish of life is, by the grace of the Lord, to live earthly life in such a way as to deserve God’s mercy and to follow the eternal Kingdom of God in Heaven.
But my heart constantly called me to urgently go to the Theological Academy to prepare to preach the Word of God in the Church, and not somewhere in a foreign land, but to spiritually serve my native Rusyn people, who genetically remember the spirit, language and faith of Saints Cyril and Methodius.
We must realize the fact that for 1150 years our people-Rusyns in the Center of Europe, have uniquely preserved their national Rusyn language, culture and their Cyril-Methodius Orthodoxy in their Rusyn Cyril-Methodius Orthodox Church, which officially operated in our Land until the accession of our Rusyn Republic to the godless USSR.
So what can I say about my modest results at the age of 70?
First of all, – and most importantly: I, personally, my family, children, grandchildren, my family, my relatives, – in unity with Canonical Orthodoxy.
The second and equally important thing: just as our ancestors, the Rusyns, suffered persecution for their faith during the times of Austria-Hungary, so I am suffering for the second time for my human rights activities, groundless prosecutions from the authorities of Ukraine, which we ourselves proclaimed in 1991; I am suffering persecution for my peaceful activities, within the framework of the legislation, namely – for the protection of the rights and fundamental freedoms of the Rusyn people, – for the right to have Rusyn schools and higher education, state support for culture and the preservation of monuments.
And now I am again suffering persecution from the authorities – for the peaceful, again within the framework of the law, protection of the rights of believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
To the joy of the faithful, with God’s help we built a new two-story cathedral and the Temple of Christ the Savior in Uzhgorod, standing 65 meters high. The author of the project is the Lord Himself, and I am the Lord’s humble assistant – the architect. The building has become the dominant of the city of Uzhgorod, the oldest in Ukraine, its business card, and I think, and of our entire Land, as a symbol of our spiritual and national revival!
I am grateful to God that I am the author of the academic publication “Grammar of the Rusyn Language”, a translation of the Holy Scriptures into today’s, living language of communication of the Rusyns of Transcarpathia. I am the author of Rusyn dictionaries, editor of the Rusyn-language newspaper “Christian Family”, author of thousands of articles and scientific publications, and scientific reports at international conferences, dialogues at round tables.
Since 1994 I have been a journalist, missionary and human rights activist, a deputy of the Transcarpathian Regional Council, a frequent guest on Transcarpathian Television since 1991 and on the Internet. Since 1991 – as the head of the “Soyum of Subcarpathian Rusyns”.
It is important for everyone to know that I have retranslated the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament from the original ancient Greek text of the Septuagint into the current living Rusyn language in order to confirm and scientifically prove that our old Proto-Slavic- Rusyn language was indeed used as a matrix in the translation of the brothers Cyril and Methodius in 863.
Thanks to the works of St. brothers, most of the 100 thousand Slavic-Rusyn words they wrote down turned out to be preserved for 1000 years by all Slavic peoples, but, most completely, by us, the Rusyns.
The current living language of the Subcarpathian Rusyns, which still exists today, was officially codified by us in 2000 as the Subcarpathian-Rusyn language of the Uzhgorod tradition. However, in Ukraine, Rusynophobes are keeping this fact quiet and have forced some to spread the anti-scientific myth that the Rusyn language is just a dialect of Ukrainian and it is impossible to codify it, because supposedly each village speaks in its own way.
But we have proven that this is not so!
We, the Rusyns, have held 9 (nine) “European Congresses of Subcarpathian Rusyns” and several meetings of the “World Congress of Subcarpathian Rusyns” in Mukachevo since 2008. I have organized dozens of scientific and practical conferences and round tables with the participation of international representatives.
It is very important to understand the fact that for peaceful, namely for collective decisions of 100 delegates and 200 guests of the First and Second “European Congresses of Subcarpathian Rusyns” in Mukachevo in 2008, I suffered legal persecution from the Ukrainian authorities, politically incriminated by the SBU, who themselves spread the myth that they were trying me for separatism. However, it is easy to prove that the decisions of the Rusyns did not contain any calls for separatism, but were only peaceful reminders to the authorities by the “Memorandum” (French reminder) about unresolved issues of the rights and freedoms of the Rusyn people.
It is important to know that I was tried by the Ukrainian authorities during the time of President V. Yanukovych.
It was then that the Ukrainian authorities subjected me to judicial repression and a shameful, in fact anti-Rusyn court verdict, for my calls invented by the SBU to interfere in the transit of oil and gas, which, according to the decision of the court of Ivan Stan, are completely identical to “calls to change the borders and boundaries of Ukraine.”
If Ukraine had not allowed this trial, it would not have been stained with the crime of state-forced assimilation of the Rusyn people, with obvious elements of genocide of the Rusyn nation.
Today, as a priest and human rights activist, I am again enduring legal persecution, because, as the head of the human rights organization “Human rights protection of Transcarpathia” , I continue to defend the rights of believers of the UOC, instructing civil servants not to interfere in church affairs and not to change the religious calendars of citizens at the parliamentary level, because this will lead to interfaith conflicts in the country. And in my words and sermons, I called on my people to pray for peace in the country, for the government and for the military, for the displaced people, for mutual understanding.
However, in court, I can already hear again how crime experts from the special services are expressively and frantically shouting: He publicly called for peace, but he thought differently. And since he thought differently, this is identical to…calls for religious hatred!
Unfortunately, the paramilitary sect “Armavir” still operates in Ukraine, consisting of high-ranking officials, which has publicly started and is waging a religious war in the country.
However, for some reason, the courts have begun to try for crimes not the sect “Armavir”, but peaceful metropolitans and priests of the UOC, who allegedly “incite… the enmity that has already been publicly ignited by officials, which we have documented.
My sermon from December 3, 2022, for which I am being tried, has had four million views, and none of them heard calls for enmity there, but only calls for peace, for unity, for prayer for the government, for the military, for soldiers who are at war, for the displaced, for all our people who are forced to leave their native land and live and work in a foreign land.
When I stand in prayer at the Court, I often recall the words of Christ: during the persecution of the Church, “do not be afraid,” even “rejoice when you are reviled and persecuted for the name of the Lord,” for “your reward is great in Heaven.”
Lord, I thank You for my 70, for my thousands of faithful Church members, for my good and beloved mother-woman, who is only 65, for our good children and for our 4 grandchildren, for the faithful assistants of the curators and for the thousands of activists of our community, especially the youth, for the hundreds of thousands of our supporters in the Land.
I thank God that we in Transcarpathia and throughout the country are mostly in unity with Canonical Orthodoxy!
Praise God for the unique cathedral in Uzhgorod that we built, for the hundreds of thousands of people whom we have brought and continue to bring to Christ through our ministry through missionary service for hundreds of thousands of believers in prayer and in live broadcasts and sermons online.
Especially praise the Lord for the fact that at the age of 70 I have been honored to endure twice the persecution of the enemies of the Church for the Christian Orthodox faith and for human rights activities, for defending the rights of my disadvantaged Rusyn people.
But a miracle has always happened to our people!
The majority of our people have still remained Orthodox and Rusyn, with their already over 1150-year-old living and wonderfully rich language.
Despite the various uninvited newcomers to our Land, we, Rusyns, have remained a decent and law-abiding people.
When we have to talk about our labors, we speak in the way that the Lord recommended in one of His conversations, if we need to speak about our labors, then in these words: (Luke 17:10) “We, Lord, are Your worthless, unprofitable servants, we have done only what we had to do.” And now, Lord God, evaluate those works yourself, whether we are worthy of God’s mercy and heavenly reward!
Together with the psalmist, let us say: “Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for your mercy, which has been shown to us, and for your truth and faithfulness.” (Ps.113,9).
Praise God, and to all our people, the people of Transcarpathia, the peaceful ancient European people of the Rusyns of Europe, who have lived peacefully for 1000 years with their neighbors, the Magyars, Slovaks, Czechs, Poles, Romanians, and other European peoples, being a part of them, as a truly ancient and genuine European Carpatho-Rusyn nation.
Praise God for the honesty and humanity of our Rusyn people, for the fact that for the most part we, Rusyns, together with other Christian peoples of Europe, live peacefully, and walk a reliably tested narrow path, but one that will lead us all reliably to the Kingdom of God!