L'viv - September 2009, Part 3

One of the things that totally astounded me this time in L'viv was the prevalence of Catholic and/or Greek Catholic churches. I'm not sure we saw or went into an Orthodox Church at all, and I'm certain we saw no Baptist or Pentecostal (or other Protestant) Churches anywhere. Of course, we were in the city center, in the oldest part of the city, and the history of L'viv is Catholic - what with being a part of Poland for years, and the Austro-Hungarian empire, and so forth. Really, that part of Ukraine has been part of Western Europe much more than a part of Eastern Europe over the centuries. Mel was meeting with the other team leaders on Monday afternoon (a week ago! wow does time fly by fast) at a local coffee shop. I and the wife and 3 girls of one of the other team leaders met them there. The guys were still meeting, so she and the girls left to go rest, and I decided to go over to the church that was literally right beside the coffee shop and 'check it out' again. Photo found here.

I sat inside for a long time, probably half an hour. I watched tourists come in, look around, snap some photos they were not supposed to take inside, and leave. I realized after a few minutes that there were workmen very quietly doing repairs behind a couple of barriers in two of the side chapels. Five or six other people came in, crossed themselves, sat on a bench or knelt down and began to pray. A woman mopped the floor, finished and then went back behind the fenced off area, went into a little door and came back out a few minutes later dressed in very nice street clothes, and left. An elderly man brought out a step ladder, climbed up behind the altar and removed the tops of several huge candlesticks, placed them on a tray, climbed down and left.

All in all very peaceful and mostly very quiet. The outside world was left behind. Everything was centered within the church. Quiet. Peaceful. Cool. Other-worldly.

I sat and looked at the paintings on the ceiling - amazing artwork, done with a lot of pink here and there. I realized that the pink 'marble' columns were really just painted expertly to look like marble. I noted that the original artists were expert at perspective and shading to make painted vases and flowers look real. I stared at the statues located along the walls, high above the congregational area and back behind the fence that kept the public out of the most 'holy' area. I noted that most of the religious paintings had to do with Mary. There were huge statues of popes and bishops and other church people. Mary here, Mary there. Photos of Pope John Paul II, flags with beautiful Ukrainian embroidery and religious embroidery. And more stuff about Mary the more I looked.

I started to feel sick. Disgusted. Sad. I had hoped to experience quietness in the midst of the hustle and bustle of the city center. Instead I felt the weight of idolatry and heresy on my shoulders.

When I had looked my fill at what was really around me - I got up, stiffly from sitting on a hard wooden bench in a cool building, and made my way out the door.

It is hard to explain exactly what it was like. I have been in a number of Catholic and Orthodox churches here in Europe. In fact, I've been in this particular church before at least twice. This is the first time I have been so very aware of the 'wrongness' of my surroundings.

I think part of it is I have done some study on Mary worship and what is going on within the Catholic church. I've also seen and read reports on the apparitions happening all over the world (I wrote about that before just a bit) and I have recently learned that Pope John Paul II actually worshipped Mary above Jesus Christ.

The crucifixes have always bothered me just a bit, but they are so common I hardly even see them any more. I've never been offended by the religious paintings of Jesus, the Apostles or the other saints. But Mary worship - that offends me deeply. More deeply than I can say, actually. There is very little difference between Mary worship and the worship of Ashtoreth or Isis or a host of other female deities from ancient religions.

There is very little difference between Mary worship and making the character in a book a big black woman named Papa and saying that is "God the Father". Even the Protestant Church is beginning goddess worship.

It all makes me want to gag.

I left that church and walked through the streets of the city center for several more minutes.

Sadness.

Knowing the history, at least a bit of it, of the Catholic church in Europe and around the world. Knowing what is taught, at least a little bit. Seeing what is taught by pictures, statues and furnishings of the Church buildings. Old man begging outside of the church. He looked Jewish to me for some reason.
The last morning we were in L'viv we heard loud chanting and praying. At first we thought it was coming from the statue of Mary that is in the park across the street. I was actually glad to see that it was coming from the area of the cross with Jesus on it instead. I have no idea what they were doing. It went on a long time. My only hope is that they were actually worshipping Jesus Christ. Just recently, within the last three or four months, the group that put the statue of Mary up in L'viv has put one up here in Kherson in one of our parks. Goddess worship. Plain and simple - goddess worship.

It makes a true Believer ill. But it no longer surprises me. We live in the Last Days and I expect to see more and more of this kind of thing happening all over the world.

(As I look up the name of the church in our guide book, I understand why all the Mary stuff. Doesn't change my thoughts, feelings and opinions, however: Arch Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary)