Ukraine

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The Bahá'í Faith began in Ukraine during a policy of oppression of religion in the former Soviet Union. Before that time, Ukraine, as part of the history of Russia, would have had indirect contact with the Bahá'í Faith as far back as 1847.[1] Following the Ukrainian diasporas, succeeding generations of ethnic Ukrainians have become Bahá'ís and some have interacted with Ukraine previous to indigenous developments.

Contents

[edit] Pre-history

[edit] Outside Ukraine

The earliest relationship between the Bahá'í Faith and Ukraine comes under the sphere of it's own history with Russia. In that realm that history stretches back to 1847[1] when Russian ambassador to Tehran, Prince Dimitri Ivanovich Dolgorukov, requested the Báb's imprisonment at Maku be moved elsehwere, condemned the massacres of believers, asking for the release of Bahá'u'lláh, and offered him asylum.[2] Leo Tolstoy first heard of the Bahá'í Faith in 1884. Orientalist A. Tumanskim translated Bahá'í literature into Russian in 1899 in Saint Petersburg. In the 1880's an organized community of Bahá'ís was in Ashgabat and later built the first House of Worship in 1913-1918. In 1904 a play by poet Isabella Grinevskoy called "Báb" was presented in Saint Petersburg and lauded by Tolstoy and other reviewers at the time.

[edit] Soviet period

By the time of the October Revolution Bahá'ís had spread through Central Asia and Caucasus, but also in Moscow, Leningrad and Kazan with the community of Ashgabat numbering about two thousand people who had added a library, hospital, hotel and schools (including a school for girls), all open to all people regardless of religion. The property was nationalized, and strictly adhering to the principle of the Baha'is of obedience to legal government,[3] the Baha'is of the Soviet Union abandoned its administration. By 1938, after numerous arrests and a policy of oppression of religion, most Bahá'ís were sent to prisons and camps or sent abroad. Bahá'í communities in 38 cities ceased to exist. The temple building in Ashgabat was hit by a powerful earthquake in 1948 and the Soviet government finally demolished it in 1961.[2] Though Bahá'ís had managed to enter various countries of the Eastern Bloc through the 1950's, there is no known Baha'i presence in Ukraine from this period[1] though the head of the religion at the time, Shoghi Effendi, included Ukraine in a list of places where no pioneer has been yet in 1952 and again in 1953.[4][5]

[edit] Ukrainian descendents

There have been several Bahá'ís out of the generations descendent of the Ukrainian diasporas.

As early as 1954 Canadian Peter Pihichyn of Ukrainian decent did several translations into Ukrainian and by 1963 a Ukrainian Teaching Committee of the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada produced a bulletin, entitled New Word.[1][6]

Canadian Bahá'í Mary McCulloch was of Ukrainian decent. After becoming a Bahá'í in 1951 and joining the first Local Spiritual Assembly in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan she was the first pioneer to Anticosti Island in 1956 becoming a Knight of Bahá'u'lláh. In later years she lived in Baker Lake with her family and promoted translation of literature into Inuktitut. She also assisted with translations into Ukrainian. In the 1990's she attended the Observances of the Centenary of the Ascension of Baha'u'llah and the World Congress and went on Pilgrimage, and died in 1995.[7]

Brazilian-American Bahá'í Flora Purim's father is Ukrainian who settled in Brazil.[8]

[edit] Inside Ukraine

There is evidence of a Local Spiritual Assembly forming in Ukraine about 1977[1] and that the Baha'i Faith began a resurgence across the Soviet Union in the 1980s. There is an internationally traveling Bahá'í known to be in Kyiv for at least a few weeks between 1982 and 1985 who later became involved in transparency issues in Russian banks.[9] In 1991 a NSA of the Soviet Union was elected but was quickly split among it's former members.[1] In 1992 the Christian Research Institute conducting an informal survey including "Which of the sects are creating the greatest problems?" managed to find a trace of the Bahá'í Faith.[10] In April 1991, Ukraine, Bielarus & Moldavia formed a regional National Spiritual Assembly - in 1995 Bielarus established a separate National Assembly and in 1996 Moldova did.[11]

[edit] Modern community

In 2007 the numbers of the Bahá'í community in Ukraine totals about 1000 people[2] with 12 Baha'i communities in 2001,[12] 13 in 2004[13]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Momen, Moojan. Russia. Draft for "A Short Encyclopedia of the Bahá'í Faith". Bahá'í Academics Resource Library. Retrieved on 2008-04-14.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Statement on the history of the Bahá'í Faith in Soviet Union. Official Website of the Bahá'ís of Kyiv. Local Spiritual Assembly of Kyiv (2007-8). Retrieved on 2008-04-19.
  3. ↑ Effendi, Shoghi (1936-03-11). The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh. Haifa, Palestine: US Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1991 first pocket-size edition, pp. 64-67. 
  4. ↑ Effendi, Shoghi (collected letters from 1947-57). Citadel of Faith. Haifa, Palestine: US Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1980 third printing, p. 107. 
  5. ↑ Effendi, Shoghi (collected letters from 1922 - 1957). Unfolding Destiny. Haifa, Palestine: UK Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1981 edition, p. 318. 
  6. ↑ Effendi, Shoghi (collected letters from 1923 - 1957). Messages to Canada. Haifa, Palestine: Bahá’í Canada Publications, pp. 202-8. 
  7. ↑ McCulloch, Kenneth; includes letters from the Universal House of Justice and National Spiritual Assembly of Canada (1996-01-08). Obituary of Knight of Bahá'u'lláh Mary Zabolotny McCulloch. Essays and Internet Postings. Bahá'í Academics Resource Library. Retrieved on 2008-04-19.
  8. ↑ Flora Purim (bio). Melt2000. Good Web Marketing (2003-6). Retrieved on 2008-04-19.
  9. ↑ Bland, William (2006-08-01), "Promoting Bank Transparency with Baha’i Faith", The St. Petersburg Times, <http://www.sptimesrussia.com/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=18399>
  10. ↑ Carden, Paul, Miller, Elliot, ed., "Cults Gaining Ground in Eastern Europe, Former USSR", Christian Research Journal 1993 (Winter): p. 5, <http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/cri/cri-jrnl/web/crj0122a.html>
  11. ↑ Hassall, Graham; Universal House of Justice. National Spiritual Assemblies statistics 1923-1999. Assorted Resource Tools. Bahá'í Academics Resource Library. Retrieved on 2008-04-02.
  12. ↑ Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (2001-10-26). Ukraine International Religious Freedom Report. United States State Department. Retrieved on 2008-04-19.
  13. ↑ Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (2004-09-15). Ukraine International Religious Freedom Report. United States State Department. Retrieved on 2008-04-19.

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