Sir, - While it is not my intention to detract from the reputation of Hubert Butler, I feel I must take up one point from Kevin Myer's article of May 29th.
The majority of the "Russian people of the Carpathian region are not Orthodox, but Eastern Rite Catholics. Under the Union of Brest Litovsk of 1595, great numbers of Orthodox in the Western Ukraine came into communion with Rome while retaining their Eastern rites and canon law. In spite of ceaseless persecution by Czars and of contempt by the Poles, there were still at the beginning of the second World War some 4,000,000 "Uniates" or Greek Catholics living in Polish Galicia, Ruthenia and eastern Slovakia.
After the war, most of these territories were incorporated into the Soviet Union. In March 1946 the "Uniate" church was declared by the Soviets to be dissolved and was forcibly incorporated into the Russian Orthodox church. Most of the bishops and priests were killed, imprisoned or deported, the churches and monasteries either secularised or given to the Orthodox. For 45 years the faithful could only worship secretly in forests or private houses.
This remained the situation until the fall of the Soviet Union. Since that time, these persecuted Catholics have recovered most of their 4,000 churches and are rebuilding their priesthood and church life. Needless to say, the Orthodox who in this case were on the side of the aggressors were not happy at the Catholics recovering their rights of conscience and repossession of their beautiful timber churches, for which they are just famous.
In a letter to the Irish Times some years ago, at the height of the persecution, Hubert Butler seemed to take sides in support of the Orthodox, accusing the "Uniates" of being in the wrong for demanding their right to live in accordance with their consciences. I took up correspondence against him in defence of the "Uniates" who, I thought, were being judged prejudicially. - Yours, etc.,
Stonehurst,
Killiney,
Co Dublin.