It was a bitter cold Saturday, November 21. In their poorly heated apartments,
thousands of Kyiv residents felt the cold which, as always, came all of
a sudden and caught everyone off guard.
Without no regard for rank or title, the cold also cut to the bones
of those who came to see firsthand the laying of a capsule and the cornerstone
in the reconstruction of the Holy Assumption Cathedral, and, a bit later,
to witness the placing of a 240-kilogram, gold-covered consecrated cross
atop the St. Michael's Golden Dome Cathedral's central cupola. The first
ceremony was attended by President Kuchma, who noted that "the revival
of the symbols of our faith, history, and people's soul itself is not a
waste of money."
This position deserves respect, but one can often hear "unconscious
citizens" express a diametrically opposite view: perhaps, it would be better
to first make our life more sensible and satisfied, and only then renew
our sacred places. Where is the truth here? Obviously, not in extremes,
although it stands to reason that, while rebuilding ancient monuments and
learning to make a new sense of life, we still have to restore our ability
not only to spend but also to count money, which we seem to have lost over
the years of worry-free living in a totalitarian state.
According to one version, the Holy Assumption Cathedral was mined and
blown up by the Soviet guerrillas rather than by the Germans. I am not
sure if it was merely a propaganda move or a remorse of conscience on the
part of Communists, but in the 1980s it was decided to restore the cathedral.
Following standard procedure, all the necessary paperwork was commissioned,
and a competition between projects was announced. Because of the poor drainage
system at the Kyiv Pecherska Lavra (Monastery of the Caves), it was finally
decided to drive piles into the foundation of the cathedral. The first
piles driven thunderously into the sacred soil caused a thick web of cracks
in the walls of other Lavra buildings that had survived the war virtually
undamaged. When no appropriate technical and economical solution to the
problem was found, the problem was suspended.
How many back wages and apartments cold as a morgue will this reconstruction
cost? Maybe, we really ought to count first, and do it openly. After all,
openness is just as important for the renewal of - to quote the President
again - "the broken link between times and generations."







