COVER N. 357 - UKRAINE

Postmark: Odessa 16.10.2023

Posted on the 16th October; received on the 2nd November 2023

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Ukraine... 

The world has suddenly turned its eyes into another murderous conflict in the Mediterranean cul-de-sac (literally?) and the very next day the media almost leads us to believe that all is quiet in the eastern front.... unfortunately, that is not so!

The war rages on with no prospects of any eminent end... Ukraine enters its second harsh winter under the unjustified  and brutal aggression of its neighbour, and more suffering and hardship is the Christmas gift that many will again have under their tree this year.....

Tens of thousands of dead, hundreds of thousands of injured, countless displaced, localities raised to the ground, basic life support infrastructures destroyed, ecological disasters,..

Who will mend the wounds when it all finally comes to an end? 

Thank you so much Matthias, for  this cover sent from a city that is World Heritage. If only Peace, the Highest Value of Humanity,  was World Heritage too.....

Cultural identity cannot be destroyed easily, if at all. Ideas are not tangible; they linger in the minds of those that survive any form of oppression. And Cultural identity, as much as it is translated  into physical objects, is also an idea, the result of our upbringing in a given cultural context, which to a significant degree shapes the way we interpret and contribute to the world around us.

Hryhorii Skovoroda (1722-1794) was a philosopher, a poet, a musician and a teacher. Born in a village in what was then the Russian empire and is today Ukrainian territory, his legacy and origin are disputed by both sides of the present conflict.

In the place where he lived his final days and where he was buried, now called Skovorodynivka in his honour, located in the Kharkiv Oblast, a museum dedicated to his legacy was opened in 1972.

On the night of the 6th to the 7th May 2022, an artillery shell targeted the building, in another clear demonstration of the repeated claim by Kremlin authorities that Russia does not target civilian targets, setting it alight and destroying it. 

The collections it housed, however, survived because they had been removed as a precaution measure, should such a pointless deed occur.

Ideas cannot be set alight by artillery shells, nor determination. And the Ukrainian will rebuild their museum, but this will need funding, which the country is trying to find amidst other war induced pressing needs.

The souvenir sheet which Matthias used on the cover was issued by UkraPost on 22SEP2022

Under the legend "The Garden of Divine Songs (the title of a collection of poems by Skovoroda), on the occasion of  the 300th anniversary of the birth of Hryhorii Skovoroda" two stamps are included in it:

- a 45 hryvnia stamp, illustrated with a statue of the philosopher, which luckily survived on site the shelling that destroyed the building; 

- a 15 + 15 hryvnia stamp, depicting what is known as the fountain of unequal equality, a way of making clear a concept Skovoroda held dear and which in practical terms means, as I understood it, that we are but recipients of God's grace  and once full, once our capacity is attained, no matter how much grace the fountain with continue to pour, any that will fall upon us will overspill. Thus, we are all individuals that differ from one to another.

The 15 hryvnia surtax on this particular stamp is destined to the reconstruction fund of the Skovoroda museum.

Of note is also the envelope witch is illustrated with a rather unobvious hero of the Ukrainian war: Patron, a Jack Russell that to its credit has the detection of over 200 land mines and unexploded bombs, for which he was awarded by President Zelensky a medal for valour.

The canine hero was also honoured with an eight stamp set issued on 01AUG2022, the image on the envelope showing it dressed as a superhero, being taken to work by a member of the bomb disposal team.

The very nice pictorial postmark is illustrated with the coat of arms of the city of Odessa and  two of its landmarks: Vorontsov Lighthouse, and the obelisk of the monument to the unknown sailor.