Autocephaly to result in final establishing of Ukraine as a European nation, religious scholar

If there are citizens in Ukraine who want to be members of the Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, then this Church will continue to exist, as we are a democratic and pluralist state. Such an opinion was expressed in an interview with the publication “Ostrov” by a Ukrainian scientist and public figure, religious scholar Igor Kozlovsky, reports Religiyna Pravda.

He hopes that the Ukrainian Church will receive the Tomos this year.

“There is a high probability that we will get it this year,” says Igor Kozlovsky.  “However, the situation is complicated by the interference in this difficult process on the part of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian state. It should be understood that if there are citizens in Ukraine who want to be members of the Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, then this Church will continue to exist, as we are a democratic and pluralist state.”

According to him, we have a multi-religious civil society, that is, a wide range of religious organizations is represented.

“Only at the time of the collapse of the USSR, 50% of all religious organizations of different denominations of the former USSR operated in Ukraine, while in the RF only 25%. Ukraine is the largest Orthodox country in the world, even more than Russia. This worries our neighbor since, with the reception of the Tomos, the position of the Russian Orthodox Church will be significantly weakened,” said the religious scholar.

When asked about the risks of conflict situations with the Tomos, the scientist replied that the human dimension plays an important role in any religious phenomenon.

“Even in one and the same parish, believers can have different attitudes. Some are more radical, others are more liberal, others will resort to the Holy Scripture or church tradition, and some will go to national interests. And such a situation will inevitably give additional work to the local authorities, which must monitor the compliance with the law on freedom of conscience and religious organizations on the ground. On the other hand - these processes should be monitored by law enforcement entities,” Igor Kozlovsky said.

The scholar believes that we are entering a very difficult period of formation of our state and development of civil society.

“This period, like any tectonic process, breaks the usual system of things. We are already in a crisis (a trial, if translated from Greek) and, accordingly, must make some very important judgments about ourselves, the Ukrainian civil society at the moment in our common history. But in the end it will inevitably lead to consolidation, to renewal, until the final formation of a modern European Ukrainian nation,” concluded the religious scholar.