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Ukrainians seek faith in Eastern mysticism

By Interns. Published April 24, 1997 at 1:00 am

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number of Ukrainians are seeking spiritual rather than financial
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Seekers of arcane knowledge at Kyiv's Petrivka book market can find one than a mistake  2549 Russian front
July 06, 10:59 am
stall offering a feast of esoteric delights. Here books on astrology,
Ukraine celebrates
shamanism, martial arts, Eastern medicine, and meditation rub
Ivana Kupala, and H&M to open first store in
shoulders in a cheerful democracy, deing classification and hierarchy.
recreates ancient Ukraine, announces …
Vladimir and Tanya, who declined to give their last names, have been
traditional rituals  644 June 12, 5:55 pm
running the stall for three years as a weekend job. They say that the
common link in their books is their high spiritual content.
Poroshenko aide
Vashadze says corrupt
'The cultural level in the whole world is rising,' says Vladimir. 'Our
will be jailed  323
country is receptive to this culture.' There is nothing ethereal in his
appearance, and browsers at the stall are indistinguishable from those
next door looking at pet manuals. Vladimir says specialists in esoterica
visit him from all over Ukraine

Fieen years ago, his weekend job would have been impossible. Literature on alternative philosophies and
life-ethics was forbidden or simply not printed. While the rest of the world was discovering seventies
psychedelia, Tibetan Buddhism and American native shamanism, only a few dedicated Soviet citizens,
prepared to read samizdat literature circulated underground, could follow these movements. Since
Perestroika, interest has blossomed. Ukraine now has 62 registered religious denominations and 17,643
communities, including 23 Buddhist communities, 28 Hare Krishna, and one Daoist communi, according
to the Culture Ministry's Committee for Religious Affairs. 'Perestroika advanced spiritual culture,' says
Vladimir. 'In the past only dissidents sold these books and read them. When the country opened, people
started to absorb these books. For us it was as necessary as bread.' Another bookseller of similar literature
agreed. 'People want to open their minds and choose a spiritual life,' says Volodya Kabakov. 'We would
have bought these books ten years ago if we could. In our country it is a necessi.' Kabakov said that
questions of his place in the cosmos have concerned him since his school days, and he turned to Eastern
religions in an attempt to find answers. Kabakov, 22, attends regular meditation sessions with a group of
like-minded Kyivites anxious to expand their spiritual knowledge and heighten their capaci for universal
love. The group, numbering up to 40 people of all ages and backgrounds, are tied together by their teacher,
Liana Musatova, who spreads her particular brand of mysticism as far as Odessa, Moscow and Prague.
The movement is not based on any specific doctrine, but is broadly Christian while drawing on Eastern
practices such as meditation. The group has been meeting for o years to watch esoteric films, talk about
mystical experiences, and meditate on global problems.

Meetings in Musatova's apartment are informal, with plentiful tea and biscuits; but the everyday
environment can quickly turn to one of high mystical intensi. At a recent meeting, one member
performed vaguely Eastern-looking 'spiritual dancing,' while another read poetry she had been inspired to
write. Conversation touched on heavenly teachers, the influence of the Archangel Michael on the citizens
of Kyiv, past lives, and the need for cleansing the earth. Group members are confident that now is a time of
great spiritual revival which will prepare people for a transition of consciousness that they foresee in an
undefinable future. 'People were asleep for seven years,' said member Mikhail Groysman, referring to the
Soviet rule. 'they just went to work and came back … now they have awakened and started to think.'
Many followers of esoteric movements suggest that Slavic Ukrainians and Russians occupy a unique
position beeen Eastern and Western patterns of thought, which renders them particularly prone to
mystical introversion. 'Slavs are a little bit closer to the East because of their reflective souls,' said Svetlana
Gavrilenko, commercial director of ANKH, a cultural foundation catering to the growing interest in
esoterica. 'They like to lie on the stove and meditate,' she added, not entirely seriously. Lyudmila Mazur,
vice-president of the Ukrainian Roerich socie, claims that Slavs are capable of plumbing spiritual depths
out of the reach of Europeans, and that they have possessed unique mystical knowledge as a result. Her
examples of Ukrainian devotion to movements and ideals include God, country, and even Stalin. 'In all this
is the mystery of the Slavic soul,' she declares. 'That's why this knowledge has been given to the Slavic
people.' Certainly Ukraine and Russia have given rise to their own brand of visionary, whose works
Ukrainians are now discovering along with seminal esoteric texts of West and East.

Dana Vereshchagina, an undergraduate in the department of Philosophy and Religion at the Kyiv Mohyla
Academy and author of articles on esoterica, said that it is common for countries in time of crisis to turn to
the past for a spiritual identi. There has been a revival of interest in Slavic mystical figures from the early
20th century, such as Nikolai and Yelena Roerich and Yelena Blavatskaya. Other new movements,
including the RUNviry sect, or Native Ukrainian Faith, identi Slavs with ancient Indian races in an
attempt to raise awareness of Ukrainian spiritual traditions. There were 32 RUNviry communities
registered throughout Ukraine in 1996, according to the Committee for Religious Affairs. Vereshchagina
felt that such beliefs were understandably popular as they aroused an enthusiasm for Ukraine
unconnected to any material difficulties. The populari of Roerich, a Russian painter and collector, is clear
from a recent exhibition of his paintings in Kyiv, which drew 20,000 visitors on one weekend, according to
Mazur. Roerich spent his life exploring the mystical significance of culture both in the East and in Russia,
while his wife Yelena wrote about ethics. Roerich and Blavatskaya are recognized as important exponents
of esoterica, who attempted to trace the common mystical roots of Orthodox and Eeastern faiths.

A truly home-grown visionary is Porphyry Ivanov, a miner's son from Lugansk region, who developed a
highly personal system of physical and mental well-being based on devotion to nature and a regime of
walking barefoot and bathing in cold water.

Followers of Uchitel (teacher) Ivanov, as he is known, claim that he was entirely self-inspired and devoted
to his country, and that his teachings therefore are especially valuable for Ukraine.

Admirers of Roerich have a similar view of him, who unlike Ivanov traveled widely and was steeped in
world cultures, but whose heart remained firmly at home.

'Roerich was international,' said Mazur. 'But if you believe in such a thing as the transfer of souls, you know
that souls always find a place in people of that nation which is ready to accept and carry their knowledge …
All Roerich's works and thoughts were directed towards Russia.' Nevertheless, the Communist state was
less approving of such errant patriots. Roerich le Russia in 1918 and was not allowed to return all his life;
both his and Blavatskaya's works were forbidden for many years. Ivanov spent years in prisons and mental
institutions aer he wrote a misguided letter to Communist par leaders extolling his health-care
proposals.

Now that there is officially free access to their ideas, new ideological police have stepped in where state
disapproval has lapsed. The Orthodox church is openly hostile to new religious movements, and observers
say that it is disapproving too of practices like yoga or martial arts, fearing their Eastern spiritual links.
Victor Chernichov, a teacher of Christian denominations at the Lavra Spiritual Academy, referred to
Eastern religions and sects as spiritual 'rivals'. He claims that they use unfair tactics to appeal to members
at Orthodox church gatherings. 'Many young people up to en years old come under their influence,
and even if later they return to the Orthodox church they have psychological problems.' Chernichov said
that Blavatskaya and her theosophist followers traveled to India and Tibet and underwent 'radical
changes of consciousness' and worked magic, and that the Orthodox church opposed their beliefs. He calls
the followers of Uchitel Ivanov members of a cult who worshipped Ivanov like a god or like Christ.
Chernichov feels that spiritual inexperience puts many young people in danger of being led astray by
similar cults, suggesting that the growth of interest in mysticism has taken a firm hold because, aer an
atheist upbringing, people seize indiscriminately on new spiritual ideas. Kabakov agrees. 'It's difficult to
sort out to whom you should belong. Young people try to find a spiritual path, but there are lots of
alternatives now, and a lot of confusion.' Kabakov is studying Orthodox Christiani, but has not accepted
it as his religion. He, like many other members of his group, feel that the essence of religion is not to be
found in any surface doctrine, and that the competition beeen alternative sects, whether Christian or
Eastern, hinders spiritual growth. 'All religions should be tolerant, because there is only one God.'

Proponents of alternative movements say that the Orthodox church has been weakened by schisms within
the Orthodox faith, such as the break beeen the Moscow and the Kyiv patriarch, and that the years of
repression have isolated and corrupted its hierarchy. According to Vereshchagina, 'People think that [the
struggle within the church] is … just politics, not religion, and that's why they search for something new that
seems to be true.'

Both the Orthodox church and 'New-agers' feel strongly that a spiritual vacuum has appeared in the wake
of the collapse of belief in the state, but they are at odds as to how to fill that gap. Chernichov says that a
natural desire for spirituali has filled Orthodox services and Sunday schools. Gavrilenko and Mazur
consider their alternative philosophies more relevant than the Orthodox faith because they embrace all
religions. 'Faith is always needed,' said Gavrilenko. 'It is human nature to be religious. In Communist par
times religion was separated from people, so people believed in Stalin or the Communist par. It was the
same faith but directed in the only possible way. People now need to believe in something, they can't
believe in the market economy … unfortunately Christiani is a bit behind people's demands. It's a bit
primitive, it doesn't satis educated people. A dramatic sermon is not enough for them, they want to have
a deeper understanding.' Gavrilenko is confident that esoteric knowledge is the key to global and cosmic
understanding for which she says so many Ukrainians are looking. 'We are used to seeing the world
through a narrow gap, and esoteric knowledge gives us the chance to widen this gap to a window.'

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