Require businesses to provide goods and services to the military when requested by the Russian government, and require workers to work nights and weekends without annual leave
Russian lawmakers approved two bills on first reading today that would allow the government to compel businesses to supply goods to the military and their workers to work extra hours to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported.
Deputy Prime Minister Yuriy Borisov told the State Duma (the lower house of the Russian parliament) that these initiatives were motivated by the need to support the army at a time when the Russian economy is suffering “colossal pressure” from the West, more than four months after the start of the so-called called “special military operation” in Ukraine.
“The burden on the defense industry has grown significantly. In order to guarantee the supply of weapons and ammunition, it is necessary to optimize the work of the military-industrial complex,” he pointed out.
One of the draft laws stipulates that the state can impose “special economic measures” during military operations, obliging businesses to provide goods and services to the military at the request of the Russian government.
An explanatory note to the draft law states that the army needs new materials and repair weapons to continue its campaign in Ukraine.
The second draft law would amend the Labor Code to give the government the right to regulate working hours, which could mean Moscow would be able to oblige workers at enterprises supplying goods to the military to work at night, on weekends and on holidays , without annual leave.
The two bills must pass second and third readings, be considered in the upper house of parliament and promulgated by President Vladimir Putin to become law.
Psychologists have confirmed the link between hunger and negative emotions. An experiment involving 64 volunteers who lived normal lives and filled out a questionnaire with questions about well-being five times a day showed that hungry people become irritable and angry, and their level of pleasure decreases. Previously, similar results were obtained in the laboratory. The results of the study are published in an article for the journal PLoS ONE.
Many people claim that they become irritable and aggressive when they feel hungry. In English, the word “hangry” even appeared to describe this state, which comes from the words “hungry” (hungry) and “angry” (evil). Although the connection between hunger and negative emotions may seem obvious, it remains largely unexplored. For example, attempts to link increased levels of aggression to low blood glucose concentrations have yielded mixed results. On the other hand, in a series of laboratory tests, it was shown that hungry people are more likely to perceive ambiguous images as negative and negatively evaluate the experimenters.
A team of psychologists led by Stefan Stieger from the Karl Landsteiner Medical University decided to study the connection between hunger and aggression in everyday conditions, that is, outside the laboratory. For this, the researchers selected 121 volunteers from Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Their average age was 29.9 years.
During the 21 days of the experiment, the subjects led a normal life, but five times a day they filled out a questionnaire in a mobile application with questions about their well-being. The authors asked participants to rate, on a scale of one hundred, their emotional state, as well as the level of hunger, irritation, anger, and arousal at the moment. In addition, it was necessary to report how much time had passed since the last meal. A total of 64 participants reached the end of the study. After that, they were asked to answer additional questions about eating behavior and tendencies to aggression.
After analyzing the results, Stieger and colleagues found that hunger does have a negative effect on the emotional state. Hungry subjects experienced stronger irritation and anger, and their sensation of pleasure was weaker. This pattern persisted even after the authors adjusted for participants’ age, sex, and body mass index, as well as their eating behavior and tendency to be aggressive. Moreover, it turned out that the level of negative emotions can be determined not only by daily fluctuations in hunger, but also by its average level for three weeks, which additionally indicates the reliability of the discovered relationship.
The researchers estimated that hunger was responsible for 56 percent of the differences in irritability among the subjects, as well as 48 percent of the differences in anger and 44 percent of the differences in pleasure. Interestingly, the desire to eat not only affects irritation, anger, and pleasure separately, but also affects a composite measure that takes into account all three of these emotions. At the same time, no relationship between hunger and the level of arousal could be found, although the authors expected that hungry people would be more aroused.
Stieger and his co-authors doubt that hunger automatically causes irritation and anger due to a drop in blood glucose levels. It is more likely that at first he simply reduces the level of pleasure. And if a person in this state is faced with an ambiguous situation (such as a conversation with a relative, hot weather, or a notification to complete a questionnaire), he is more likely to perceive it negatively and experience irritation or anger. So it doesn’t take long for a hungry person to get angry.
Earlier, we talked about how a young Canadian who was admitted to the hospital with a stroke completely lost her hunger for a year. The experts who examined her believe that the cause of such an unusual symptom is damage to the left insular lobe. This case highlights the important role of the insula in taste perception and appetite control.
According to scientists, the discovery will help us better understand how stars are formed
A team from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Germany discovered a cloud of propanol alcohol molecules located at the center of our galaxy. The largest alcohol molecule ever found in space was also discovered there – in the heart of the Milky Way.
According to scientists, the discovery will help us better understand how stars are formed, reported dir.bg.
The team found both isopropanol, best known for its utility in making hand sanitizer, and normal propanol, the other type of propanol alcohol
The clusters are not far from Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole lurking at the center of our galaxy.
The region where the alcohol cloud was discovered is also known as the “birthing room” because it is the birthplace of many stars.
The discovery of these chemicals in interstellar space is part of an ongoing effort to better understand so-called stellar incubators such as the Sagittarius B2 region.
It is very likely that alcohol is key to the formation of a certain type of star.
The Latin name of the flower comes from the Latin word “trophae” – a small trophy, because of the helmet-like shape of some parts of the flower and its thyroid leaves.
Garden nasturtium, nasturtium, Indian cress or monks cress, has been cultivated for so long in our country that we will be surprised at its American origin. It was brought from Peru, where it is a perennial plant.
In Europe, however, even the weakest frost affects it, and that is why it is grown as an annual plant.
Its seeds are large, self-sow and overwinter well.
It does not like excessively fertilized soil, there the Latina develops excessively lush foliage and blooms less. It likes even humidity and partial shade.
There are also climbing varieties, the stem of which reaches up to 4 m.
It is suitable for decorating walls, fences, walls, gazebos, and the low varieties – for curbs and alleys.
The genus consists of about 50 species; origin South and Central America. The Latin name of the flower comes from the Latin word “trophae” – a small trophy, because of the helmet-like shape of some parts of the flower and its thyroid leaves. Its flowers are simple or dense, with a pleasant aroma, yellow, orange, bright red, red-brown, pink, with a yellow or orange cup.
Garden nasturtium was brought from Peru, where it is a perennial plant, however, even the weakest frost affects it, and that is why it is grown as an annual plant.
A bright and heat-loving plant, it prefers moderately fertile and moist soils (but not calcareous), but does not tolerate either excessive fertilization (especially with nitrogen fertilizers or manure) or excessive watering, especially during flowering. Of them, it blooms worse, it grows only on leaf mass. It needs phosphorus fertilizers. Does not tolerate cold and frost.
Its seeds are large. It is sown directly in the garden at the end of April – the beginning of May, but it is also possible to grow seedlings. In this case, 3 seeds are sown in a pot, and when transplanting them to the permanent place in the garden, keep the soil around the roots.
There are also climbing varieties, whose stem reaches up to 4 m. Wrapping latniks are planted along fences, pergolas or gazebos. Shrubs – in a sunny place, in boxes on the balcony or hanging pots, and low varieties – for curbs and paths. The Latin flower is self-seeding. The seeds ripen 40-50 days after the flowers bloom.
Kinds
Tropaeolum majus – the most widespread species, Tropaeolum cultorum, Tropaeolum peregrinum – creeping (cascading) species – the stem reaches up to 350 cm, strongly cut small leaves, very small and bright yellow flowers with corrugated petals and green spurs. It begins to bloom late.
Compact varieties such as Strawberries and Cream, Peach Melba and Tom Thumb are suitable for growing in cache.
Alaska has medium green leaves with a marble pattern in cream and white.
Description
A beautiful annual flower with a trailing stem that adorns gardens and balconies from summer to frost. Its leaves are light green, thyroid rounded. The flowers have a long spike, are arranged on separate, long stems and are colored yellow-orange with dark purple spots. There are many different variants created. More famous are: Large pearl – with carmine colors. Edra from Nanjing – with orange colors; Chameleon – flowers with a light yellow and brownish red color are formed on the same branch. They are used to decorate terraces, balconies, for flower beds, and the low forms – for borders.
Also used as a cough herb, and its seeds have a laxative effect.
Caring for the Latin flower
It likes sunny and semi-shaded places and sufficient humidification. It also grows well on weaker soil, but with abundant watering.
Place
The homeland of the Latina flower is Central America. Propagation: Latina is propagated by seeds. They are large, three-part and burst when ripe. It is sown in April directly in the permanent place, because it usually does not withstand transplanting.
It starts flowering after about 40-45 days.
Gardener’s tip
The soil of the Latin plant should not be fertilized, because then it only develops leaves.
Flowers can affect our mood. Their color sometimes affects our health. The science studying and applying the healthy effect of colors is called color therapy (colorotherapy). How do flowers affect mood? The color red has a positive effect on the immune system, therefore it has a beneficial effect on those who are exhausted, those who have undergone surgery, those suffering from spring or chronic fatigue. The flaming scarlet bouquet has an invigorating effect, “mobilizes” the nervous system.
Under no circumstances should red roses, carnations, dahlias, etc. be served to people with hypertension, because red color increases blood pressure!
Violet has a calming effect, strengthens the inner balance. Those engaged in mental work put a vase with a purple bouquet on the table, as it activates the thought process.
The color yellow symbolizes the sun. It is credited with mood-enhancing and energizing properties. If you want people to always be sunny, “radiant” flowers are offered – yellow roses and tulips, daffodils, crocuses…
Considering all this, we could distinguish between warm and cool colors. Warm colors include yellow, orange and red (orange-red is the warmest). The cold ones are blue, green and violet. However, it is possible to make cold ones warmer by means of hues (for example, yellow-green is warmer than blue-green). In such cases, care must be taken that warm colors do not dominate (green dominates ultramarine, but loses to red).
With a combination of yellow and blue, to have harmony, the yellow should be less. Lighting makes a dark color more intense than a light color in the shade. If a cheerful mood is sought, warm tones are chosen, but for solemn occasions cold ones are preferred. A calm atmosphere is created by flowers of the same color. Combinations allow different shades of the same color in an ascending line – white colors are suitable for bright colors, they also harmonize with cold ones, and also with light violet, light red, blue, bright orange and yellow.
Change your mood and your surroundings with the color of flowers
How do flowers affect mood? Each of us prefers a certain color and this preference speaks for us. However, by choosing the right color, we can improve our mood, facilitate relaxation or, on the contrary, stimulate activity, namely, turn to a loved one with a flower. Colors simply affect us in a fundamental way, and this also applies to the colors of plants. And if we combine the colors of the decoration and the furnishing of the apartment with flowers, we can move to one or another part of the apartment according to our mood.
White flowers
How do flowers affect mood? The white color of flowers can relieve stress, depression and fear. If you are under pressure or the person you want to give a gift to is busy with work and care, duties, you are not up to date, white flowers will refresh you. White flowers create a feeling of freedom, purity, unrestrainedness. However, if it snows in the winter, you want something more colorful. And a little of the green. White also shows optimism, reliability, kindness, especially if you buy white lilies. Think of the spring atmosphere when the fruit trees are in bloom. A little pink will only enhance the effect.
Yellow flowers – how do flowers affect mood?
Yellow flowers stimulate thinking, improve communication skills, relax and radiate inner peace. They are ideal for solving important issues and for important meetings. However, the energetic yellow color also has its drawbacks. As a gift, yellow flowers can symbolize jealousy, self-infatuation and self-pity, confusion as well as childishness. However, if we don’t mind and need to brighten up the apartment, yellow is definitely ideal. Especially sunflowers have a strong energy impact.
Orange flowers
Orange flowers relax the atmosphere, support communication, encourage, show a desire for openness. So, if you are about to deal with something unpleasant or decisive and you are having a hard time gathering courage, don’t forget to give orange blossoms as a gift. You will help yourself and the other party. Orange gerberas are ideal as they symbolize truthfulness. On the other hand, orange gladioli are a symbol of patience and tolerance.
Red flowers
Red is an energetic, passionate and highly emotional color. People with a more exuberant nature (so-called hot heads) should avoid red flowers. But people who are softer, more reserved and looking for courage can use the power of this color. If we just need a burst of energy at any time and also courage, red flowers are absolutely perfect. If you even give red tulips as a gift, you will give your loved one the most curious flowers in life. Red roses, for variety, symbolize devotion. However, it is better not to give red carnations, because here the symbolism is completely different. Condolences.
Pink flowers – how do flowers affect mood?
Pink flowers symbolize loyalty, devotion, love, but also an apology in the form of orchids, also the desire for contact and affection, the desire to listen, to debate, to discuss.
Purple flowers
Purple flowers are calming, excellent for meditation, symbolize and instill spirituality and harmony. So if you want to clear your head, calm down, but also gain courage and strengthen your will, reach for purple flowers. Purple is also a sign of true emotion, of a big heart.
Blue flowers
Blue is not a common color for flowers, but blue flowering plants do occur. If you need to calm down, cool down your passions, but also get inspired. Blue evokes feelings of happiness, calm, but also kindness and modesty, reliability, honesty.
Through fictitious marriages with Bulgarian men from the Middle East, they manage to secure a legal stay on the territory of the European Union. For some of them, the Bulgarian investigators assume that they may be close to terrorist groups, writes TrafficNews.
In an action by the Ministry of the Interior, the Prosecutor’s Office and the State Security Service, five people were detained – three Bulgarians and two Turks. The scheme was led by a Turkish citizen, the owner of a bakery in Berlin, who used Bulgarians as intermediaries.
The middlemen mostly recruited girls from hamlets in some of the Pleven villages. The reason – the lack of work and income.
The criminal scheme mainly benefited men from the Middle East. According to the investigators, there is reason to believe that some of the “fictitious newlyweds” are involved in various criminal activities such as arms trafficking, drugs and terrorism. The whole procedure of organizing the fictitious marriages took about six months.
In the criminal scheme, girls without income and education were selected. For a fictitious marriage, the mediators offered between 3 and 5 thousand euros. The group has been active since 2020, mainly in several Pleven villages, and the victims were between the ages of 19 and 25. In the Pleven village of Petarnitsa, they have heard about the trafficking of girls from the neighborhood for a long time, says Mayor Yonko Danov.
The neighboring village also sent girls to Germany. In the hamlet, the BNT team welcomes dozens of children and young girls who live in extreme poverty and destitution. Here they admit that many people go abroad, but they don’t know if they get married there.
In Plevensko, the scheme was driven by two Bulgarians. They found the girls through their relatives and friends. Their work was supervised by a Turkish citizen who was a relative of the group’s Tartor, who was in Berlin. According to sources close to the investigation, who wished to remain anonymous, the organization had a high level of conspiracy. They only trusted their family members.
“Everything is based on personal contacts and acquaintances. Through a person until the right woman is reached. Her marital status is investigated – is she married.”
After the meeting with the mediator, the girl undertook for a sum of 100-200 euros to obtain documents for concluding a marriage abroad from the ESGRAON directorate. The traffickers then arranged several trips to Germany, where the victim registered at an address in Berlin together with the “future groom”.
Until the marriage itself, the girls did not know their future husbands. They were kept in quarters used as depots for brides. Usually no more than four trips were needed, and the whole process lasted about half a year.
“A part of them were threatened because they did not want to finish the procedure and return for the last stage. The stage in which the documents are submitted to the relevant German institution for the permanent residence of the Turkish citizens,” said Velislava Patarinska, an observer prosecutor in the case.
At the top of the pyramid stood a Turkish citizen, the owner of a doner restaurant in Berlin. He found the fictitious newlyweds. Mostly young men of Kurdish, Turkish and Lebanese origin. The legal stay in the territory of the EU cost between 15 and 20 thousand euros.
“At the moment, pregnant women are also being sought. The perpetrators recognize the children. Thus they acquire a specific status of parents of children who are citizens of a member country of the European Union. This allows them to acquire Bulgarian citizenship in a much faster and easier procedure.” added Vladimir Nikolov, district prosecutor of Pleven.
To date, more than 20 fictitious marriages have been established. According to the investigators, there are serious concerns that people with rich criminal pasts close to terrorist groups benefited from the scheme.
“This is also linked to schemes for the use of forged documents and penetrates even into the territory of the Schengen area. This is a loophole that the relevant perpetrators of crimes have learned and are using to penetrate the Western European world in this way. Obviously creates a risk for the entire united European space,” added Vladimir Nikolov, District Prosecutor of Pleven.
If convicted, the 5 people arrested could face up to ten years in prison, and the fictitious brides could face much more than 20.
Major Russian gold mining company “Petropavlovsk” plans to file for administration after sanctions against Gazprombank, its main creditor and sole buyer of the commodity.
Due to Western sanctions, the company is unable to pay its debts and became one of the first listed companies to face collapse due to the war in Ukraine, Reuters reported.
“Petropavlovsk” will request a hearing of the administrative appeal in the High Court in London in the coming days, the announcement, quoted by BTA, says.
After the news, shares of “Petropavlovsk” on the Moscow Stock Exchange collapsed by nearly 40% to a record price low. In London, the gold bullion company’s shares were suspended from trading at its request.
Petropavlovsk’s extensive commercial and financial relationship with Gazprombank made the mining company’s situation particularly challenging after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.
“Although Gazprombank in May allowed the mining company to sell its gold elsewhere, it appears that this decision came too little, too late,” Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Suzanne Streeter said in an email to Reuters.
In April 2022, Petropavlovsk said its main creditor Gazprombank had sent a notice demanding immediate repayment of about $201 million owed on a term loan from the Western sanctions-hit major Russian bank.
The invasion, which Moscow calls a “special military operation,” has led to Western sanctions that have made doing business in Russia more difficult. A number of Western companies have either left Russia or announced plans to do so, while others are facing difficulties servicing their debt due to Western sanctions.
In May, Google’s Russian subsidiary announced plans to file for bankruptcy after authorities seized the leading internet search engine’s bank account.
Meanwhile, Petropavlovsk is exploring the possibility of a sale and said it has received an offer from one party and an expression of interest from another party to buy its subsidiaries. However, the mining company did not name the interested parties.
Talks with both parties are continuing, Petropavlovsk said in a statement today, but it is “highly unlikely” there will be any return for shareholders if the sale goes through, given the heavy debt.
I began writing this post near the end of February 2022, on tenterhooks along with much of the world about the likelihood of a war being unleashed by Russian military forces on the sovereign territory of Ukraine. As I post it, this is Day 125 of Russia’s war on Ukraine and its people.
July 12 2021 First of all, I would like to emphasize that the wall that has emerged in recent years between Russia and Ukraine, between the parts of what is essentially the same historical and spiritual space, to my mind is our great common misfortune and tragedy…. But these are also the result of deliberate efforts by those forces that have always sought to undermine our unity….Hence the attempts to play on the ”national question“ and sow discord among people, the overarching goal being to divide and then to pit the parts of a single people against one another. Vladimir Putin, “On the historical unity of Russians and Ukrainians”
Feb 12, 2012 MOSCOW (Reuters) – The head of the Russian Orthodox church on Wednesday called the 12 years of Vladimir Putin’s rule a “miracle of God.”
I began writing this post near the end of February 2022, on tenterhooks along with much of the world about the likelihood of a war being unleashed by Russian military forces on the sovereign territory of Ukraine. At the same time, preparations were underway in Rome to facilitate a meeting between Pope Francis, supreme pontiff of the world-wide Catholic Church, and the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, perhaps as soon as June or July of 2022, although the venue had not yet been chosen. So I learned from one of the Google alerts that were popping up daily in my Inbox. Not only was I nonplussed and distressed by this development, I was taking it very personally.
Jan 24 2022 Peace is an aspiration Patriarch Kirill shares with the pope, a goal they should strive for together. During the Christmas service, on Jan. 7 in the Russian calendar, the patriarch thanked Pope Francis for a fraternal message and added, “Hopefully, these relations will translate into many and many kind joint actions, including those aimed at achieving peace where there is no peace today,” according to Tass, a Russian news agency.
As a practising Christian, I am a bundle of contradictions spiritual, historical, geopolitical and personal. As this blog – “What am I doing here?” – announces itself, I am a baptised and active member of a parish within the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada. From this fact all other affinities have developed – with Ukrainian Catholics, with the Patriarchate of Constantinople, with the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, with oblates and brothers of the Order of Saint Benedict and, God help me, with the Russian Orthodox Church.
Then Russian military forces invaded sovereign Ukrainian territory on February 24, 2022.
February 27 2022 “Religious exceptionalism, self-identification as ‘Holy Russia,’ ‘The Third Rome, and the Fourth cannot be,’ resided in the Russian religious consciousness as radical conservatism. And Russian religious nationalism is not the nationalism of a small nation that wants to survive. It is mainly imperial nationalism.”
I will try to be succinct.The Church into which I was baptised in 1944 was still called the Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church of Canada. The “Greek” is there not because its members and clergy were Greeks (although I did try to pass myself off as a Greek for awhile in elementary school) but because we were Greek Orthodox (as opposed to Roman or Latin Catholics). We were descended from that initial baptism of Kyivan Rus in 988 by its prince Volodomyr (Vladimir) who had accepted Christianity from Greek-speaking Byzantium. (The Moscow church would not get its first Primate until 1322.) Not only was Byzantium’s capital, Constantinople (now Istanbul) situated west of Rus on the Black Sea , it was the Second Rome, still draped in Imperial splendour compared to the ruined First Rome, now fallen to various barbarians and usurpers, and sacked, plundered, vandalized with many of its citizens enslaved. Who would not want to be a Byzantine? But then, catastrophe.
With the utter destruction of Kyiv by Mongols in 1240 and the massacre of its population (after its citizens had refused to surrender), the Mongols advanced unstoppably into Hungary and Poland. And the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and its spiritual leader the Metropolitan were not to return to Kyiv until late in the fifteenth century. For all the vicissitudes of history, however, Ukrainian Orthodoxy remained within the jurisdiction of Constantinople until – another catastrophe! – the Kyivan Metropolia was annexed by the Patriarchate of Moscow in 1685. It must be said, however, that Ukrainian bishops were powerful churchmen throughout the 18th century in the Russian empire, their superior education setting them apart from their Russian counterparts. And a century later, all the ancient Ukrainian dioceses had been incorporated into dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church, itself the product of missionary work from Kyiv, and all its spiritual leadership was occupied by ethnic Russians.
Early one evening in May 2018, days before the annual parade celebrating the Soviet victory in World War II, a convoy of military trucks carrying long-range nuclear weapons trundled to a halt on the Russian capital’s ring road.As police officers stood guard, two Russian Orthodox priests wearing cassocks and holding Bibles climbed out of a vehicle and began sprinkling holy water on the stationary Topol and Yars intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Meanwhile, another shock to Ukrainian Orthodoxy in central Ukraine had been administered by the Union of Brest in 1596 (an event of “tragic” proportions to some Orthodox even today). That region had been incorporated into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, a large and populous federation ruled by a single King of Poland. Ethnically diverse and relatively tolerant of diverse Christian and Jewish religious communities, its Constitution nevertheless acknowledged Catholicism as the “dominant religion.” At the time of the Union, the main concern of the bishops was the consequences to their episcopates of internal Polish affairs. The Moscow threat was not very strong in 1595/6 as it became later. Nevertheless, it is useful to be reminded in the swirl of disinformation that emanates from Moscow that not all Ukrainians have lived in the “spiritual realm” of the Moscow Patriarchate.
Thus was created the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Byzantine/Orthodox in its rites but in full communion with the worldwide Catholic Church.(As recently as 1995, the spiritual head of much of world Orthodoxy, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople -never of Istanbul, please – insisted that the “Eastern Catholic churches” should be regarded as “irregular communities.” For their part, the Roman Church post-Vatican Two no longer labels the Orthodox as “schismatic” although the accusation still finds purchase – online where I found it – “It would be very difficult to find the right name for this so-called Church. Heretic and schismatic ‘Church’ is highly fitting, however.”)
On Feb. 5, 2015, Crux noted: “During the Soviet era, no church produced more martyrs in percentage terms or suffered more vicious crackdowns. In light of that history, Greek Catholics become understandably nervous anytime they see Russian forces crossing their borders, or insurgents armed and supported by Moscow trying to slice off pieces of Ukrainian territory.” Therefore, it would be in the interest of the Vatican to take millions of Ukrainian Catholics under its wings.
(I become sensitive to a kind of tone-deafness on the pontiff’s part when, for example, on March 25 2022 Pope Francis “consecrated Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary with a prayer asking for peace in the world.” Right Rev. Fr Roman Bozyk, Dean of Theology at St Andrew’s College, University of Manitoba, would remind the Holy Father that Russians and Ukrainians are not one people – this is Putin’s line -and that “Kyiv has been dedicated to the Theotokos (Mother of God) since the 11th century” and his consecration is redundant.)
Embedded in Orthodox Christianity in Canada, I remained pretty much unconcerned with the vicissitudes of Christianity in the Old Country. As an undergraduate at the University of Alberta in the 1960s, I took a smattering of courses in Soviet Studies, understood that the Ukr/USSR was an atheist state, watched jerky and grainy newsreel footage of the toppling of church domes, and knew from relatives’ letters from Ukraine that the women in the village that Baba had left behind furtively fasted, taught their young children basic prayers, wrote pysanky and even went once a year to the village’s (Russian Orthodox) church although none of their grown children did such a thing. On my first visit to the village in 1984, that church was pointed out to me as the one “your Baba went to,” as a girl, although in Canada, ironically, she was an adherent of the pro-Soviet Ukrainian Farm and Labour Temple Association and I never saw her in church until my wedding in 1972.
On my father’s side of the family, however, “church” was a very different story. The Kostashes had emigrated in 1900 from a Galicia that was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire – that had earlier absorbed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth – and therefore Ukrainians in Galicia were historically, and remained, Ukrainian Catholic. This aspect of their identity – that in fact my Galician grandparents had been baptised in Dzhuriv and in Tulova as Greek Catholics – went unnoticed by me for a long time.
I had been raised in the city in a made-in-Canada Orthodox Church (the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada incorporated by an Act of Parliament in 1929) to which a great-uncle and some great-aunts and various others of the Ukrainian-Albertan intelligentsia had attached themselves, eventually carrying into it my parents. The founders of the UOCC not only seized the opportunity in Canada to return to the ancient faith of Rus: they decided also to bring it up-to-Canadian-date, so to speak, having been deeply influenced by the model of Protestantism (Presbyterians) in the immigrant settlements of western Canada. Uniquely in Orthodoxy, congregations of the UOCC act as trustees of their own church property, consent to the appointment and dismissal of priests, govern as a General Council of clerical and lay members, and manage their lay organizations independently of episcopal authority..(This is important for the women’s organizations: although the parish priest attends their meetings, he is ex officio and has no voting authority. He can however, request to be on the agenda.)
Yet, I was aware that there were Ukrainian Canadians of my generation in Edmonton who went to Roman Catholic not public schools, and I thought them anomalous. What were they doing at St Joseph’s Composite High School (only two blocks away from our Orthodox Cathedral) among Polish and Italian and Irish classmates under the scholastic supervision of nuns in medieval dress and, as I imagined, frequently on their knees, hands bound in ropes of rosary beads and chanting in Latin? (Even in the privacy of our parents’ homes or anywhere else, we Orthodox didn’t “do” rosaries, although many did adopt the Greek prayer rope as a substitute.) It’s true that the Ukrainian Catholic kids went to churches mounted with bulbous domes just as ours were and whose interiors were as gorgeously adorned with icons and embroidered altar cloths. Their parish priests were also married, and wore similar vestments ; and their liturgies and hymnals are practically identical. But not wholly. For here’s the thing: over them all loomed the figure of their supreme spiritual authority, the Pope.
May 9 2022 When Pope Francis visited the Russian ambassador to the Holy See Feb. 25, the day after the war started, this was widely perceived in the West as a diplomatic peace initiative…The repeated calls for peace in Ukraine by Pope Francis have hitherto been interpreted by the Russian Orthodox Church as support for the central Russian justification of the war that peace in the Donbas was threatened by Ukrainian extremists and has to be restored by the Russian special military operation.
When I once took part in a series of classes (in the company of Ukrainian Catholic friends) on the Catechism [summary of doctrine] of the Ukrainian Catholic Church and had been assured by my priest that this would not imperil my Orthodox soul, I was struck by the virtual interchangeability of our Catechisms, except for this inclusion (there are others) in their liturgical prayer: “Among the first, remember, O Lord, our most holy universal Pontiff [name] Pope of Rome.” In the Orthodox world, said Pontiff is the Bishop of Rome but never included in our corporate prayer. (News flash from 2007: “A joint commission of Orthodox and Catholic theologians has agreed that the Pope has primacy over all bishops, though disagreements about the extent of his authority still continue.”)
After a prolonged, by decades, absence from participation as a parish member of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada, I returned; and learned that while I had been busy as a professional writer who “dipped into” Orthodox worship only as a visitor when abroad in need of spiritual refreshment (I had never resisted the elemental allure of Byzantine interiors), the UOCC had
ended Ukrainian Orthodoxy’s long separation from the patriarchate of Constantinople through whom we had been baptised back in 988 AD. In 1990, Eucharistic Union was re-established (common sharing in the sacrament of Holy Communion), bringing us Canadians into communion with much of world Orthodoxy. On each of my visits to Hagia Sophia in Istanbul – that 6th century masterpiece of Byzantine architecture now a mosque – I stood in profound awe that in this very space I had a source and origin of identity. (An aside here for an observation I made of a listing on the Departures flight board in Athens airport in 2019: in English I was looking for the flight to Istanbul; in Greek, for Kωνσταντινούπολη/Constantinople. True story.)
It did eventually dawn on me as well that being in communion with “world Orthodoxy” also put me in communion with the Russian Orthodox Church, the most populous Orthodox jurisdiction in the world. This did not sit well with me.
May 4, 2022: “We do not want to fight against anyone. Russia has never attacked anyone,” said Patriarch Kirill of Moscow in his sermon yesterday, continuing his steadfast support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has caused the deaths of innocent Ukrainian Orthodox civilians.
With Ukraine’s independence as a sovereign state after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, it was inevitable that at least a portion of its Orthodox population under the authority of the Moscow Patriarchate would seek an equally independent Church. And so it came to pass. In 2019 Patriarch Bartholomew in Constantinople granted autocephaly (self-governance) to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) under its primate, Epiphanius, the Metropolitan of Kyiv and all Ukraine. Patriarch Kirill was so displeased with this “interference” by Constantinople that he dissolved the Russian Orthodox Church’s Eucharistic Communion with Constantinople and made a pivot to the Vatican.
May 4 2022 The week before his Zoom call with Francis, Kirill, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, described the war in Ukraine as a “metaphysical” struggle against a godless international order based on “excess consumption” and “gay parades.” Pope Francis said in an interview published Tuesday that he told Patriarch Kirill — the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church — not to “transform himself into Putin’s altar boy,” CNN reported Wednesday.
Also in 2018, I had become an oblate of the Order of Saint Benedict, about which I have written in an earlier blog post. I was accepted as a baptised Christian (an ObOSB is not necessarily a Roman Catholic) Over the years, because of retreats at the Benedictine Abbey of St Peter in Muenster, Saskatchewan, in the company of the brothers I became immersed in their daily cycle of prayers and psalmody, attended Sunday Masses, ate meals in the refectory and enjoyed convivial conversation with them all, especially the Abbot and Guest Master, and, very important, spent hours reading in the Oblates’ reading room choosing from a library of quite extraordinary Benedictine-inspired literature. I shared their enthusiasm (mostly) for the reinvigorated papacy led by Supreme Pontiff Francis. Looking back on my more recent visits (resumed post-Covid in 2021), I am struck by the equanimity, even serenity, of the community’s response to the very issues that agitated me – why can’t women be priests? how should we settlers establish relationships with Indigenous neighbours? do you think the Great Schism of 1054 that split the universal Church into East and West can be healed?
April 27 2022 By the wanton slaughter of innocents in Bucha, in Mariupol’, and throughout Ukraine, Vladimir Putin has stigmatized himself with the mark of Cain. Kirill has tried to mask that stigma. For the Bishop of Rome to have met with Kirill as if the Russian were a true religious leader would have bitterly disappointed Catholic and Orthodox Ukrainians, who would not unreasonably have regarded it as a betrayal; it would have depleted the Holy See’s moral capital in world affairs; and it would have contributed nothing to peace.
Well, that’s one way of looking at it. But the monks of St Peter’s live according to the sixth-century Rule of St. Benedict, in whose Prologue Benedict exhorts: “Never departing from [God’s] guidance, remaining in the monastery until death…so we may eventually enter into the Kingdom of God.” Not even the war in Ukraine seemed to disturb their composure as a community, to judge from their website. Do you suppose there is a lesson in this?
May 11 2022 Francis names this truth, and defends the other logic—God’s logic, the path of mercy—even after most of us have given up on it. God’s logic recognizes the depth of human relationship. It demands our mutual recognition as fellow creatures. The pope’s stance needs no clarification. It could not be clearer. Amidst the roar of weapons and cries of grief, he stands among the victims, their blood on his cassock, begging for peace, and ready to talk to anyone and to do anything to bring it about.
Photo: St Josephat Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral in Edmonton
About the author: Myrna Kostash is an acclaimed writer of literary and creative nonfiction who makes her home in Edmonton when she is not travelling in pursuit of her varied literary interests and passions. These have taken her from school halls in Vancouver, BC, to Ukrainian weddings in Two Hills, Alberta; from the site of the mass grave of Cree warriors in Battleford, Saskatchewan, to a fishers’ meeting in Digby, Nova Scotia; from the British Library in London, UK, to the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. She is inspired in her work by her childhood in the Ukrainian-Canadian community of Edmonton, her rites of passage through the Sixties in the US, Canada and Europe, by her rediscovery of her western Canadian roots in the 1980s, by her return to her spiritual sources in Byzantium and the Eastern Christian (Orthodox) Church, and, most recently, by her re-education in the history of Indigenous and Settler relations in western Canada.
Harvest – The Ukraine People’s Deputies registered in the parliament the bill No. 7548, which exempts the import of sacks, bags, and special equipment for grain storage directly in the fields from import duties. This is a chance, to save the harvest in conditions of blocked ports and overflowing warehouses.
Saving this year’s harvest is our first priority
Oleksandr Haydu
According to the bill’s author, Ukraine People’s Deputy, Chairman of the Committee on Agrarian and Land Policy Oleksandr Haydu, more than 1 million tons of crops have already been harvested and threshed in Ukraine. The expected forecast is about 50 million tons. However, the export rate of last year’s harvest is low – about 2.2 million tons in June. This means that the capacity of working elevators will not be enough to preserve the grain of the past and this year.
Голова Комітету @verkhovna_rada з питань аграрної та земельної політики Олександр Гайду:Зареєстровано законопроект про звільнення від оподаткування спецобладнання для зберігання зернових прямо на полях. Це шанс врятувати урожай в умовах заблокованих портів і переповнених сховищ. pic.twitter.com/8ErBkDHnzI
— Верховна Рада України (@verkhovna_rada) July 12, 2022
Diseases transmitted from animals to people in Africa have jumped 63 per cent in last decade, compared with the previous ten year period, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) analysis released on Thursday.
“And more than 75 per cent of emerging infectious diseases, are caused by pathogens shared with wild or domestic animals,” WHO Regional Director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti told journalists at a media briefing.
“They account for a substantial burden of disease, resulting in about a billion sick people, and millions of deaths globally every year”.
The analysis finds that since 2001, 1,843 substantiated public health events were recorded in the African region – 30 per cent of which were zoonotic outbreaks, as animal-to-human diseases are known.
While the numbers have increased over the past two decades, 2019 and 2020 saw a particular spike, with zoonotic pathogens accounting for half of all public health events.
Moreover, Ebola and similar fevers triggering blood loss from damaged vessels (haemorrhagic) constitute nearly 70 per cent of these outbreaks, including Monkeypox, Dengue fever, anthrax and plague.
Welcome drop
Although there has been an increase in Monkeypox since April, compared to the same period in 2021, the numbers are still lower than the 2020 peak, when the region recorded its highest-ever monthly cases.
Following a sudden drop in 2021, 203 confirmed cases of monkeypox have been recorded in the region since the beginning of the year, as the zoonotic disease has spread worldwide into many countries where it has not been endemic.
Available data for 175 of the cases this year in Africa, indicate that just over half the patients when averaged out, were 17-year-old men.
“Africa cannot be allowed to become a hotspot for emerging infectious diseases, said Dr. Moeti.
Urban pull
Rising urbanization, which has encroached on natural habitats, is likely responsible for this increase in the animal-to-human disease spike, along with a growing demand for food, which has led to faster road, rail and air links from remote to built-up areas.
“The West African Ebola outbreaks are evidence of the devastating number of cases, and deaths, that can result when zoonotic diseases arrive in our cities,” she observed.
Teamwork
According to the senior WHO official, Africa needs “a multisectoral response,” encompassing experts in human, animal and environmental health, working in collaboration with communities.
“Equally crucial are reliable surveillance mechanisms and response capacities, to rapidly detect pathogens and mount robust responses to quell any potential spread,” she added.
Since 2008, WHO has worked with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Organization for Animal Health to address zoonotic outbreaks across the continent.
Dr. Moeti credited an “all-hands-on-deck” response between the three agencies for ending the latest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, describing it as the kind of joint approach needed to counter the threat, “and give us the best possible chance of averting a new big health shock in Africa”.
COVID plateau continues
Turning to COVID-19, she said that while cases on the continent decreased marginally last week, the overall plateau continues, due to rapidly increasing numbers in North Africa, for the eighth consecutive week.
“The surge is being driven primarily by the escalating situation in Morocco and Tunisia, which spurred a 17 per cent increase in new cases in North Africa, compared to last week’s statistics,” said Dr. Moeti.
At the same time, improved rapid detection and response capacities have enabled Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, to reverse a recent surge in new cases – a turn that is expected to follow across North African countries with the same medical capabilities.
“The curve has already begun trending downwards in Morocco”, she said.
Vaccination still key
Although the current pandemic phase may be characterized by relatively low incidence and risk for hospitalization and death, the Omicron variant remains highly transmissible, and the pandemic is far from over.
The potential for surges highlights that “countries cannot afford to ease up” on vaccinating their populations against COVID-19, “especially their health care workers, the elderly and those with co-morbidities,” the WHO official upheld.
