Ukrainian intellectuals turned to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew with a request to save Ukrainian people from the ‘Russian world’ and aggressive ‘political orthodoxy’ that the Kremlin imposes on through the ROC and the UOC (MP).
Ukrainian intellectuals turned to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew with a request to save Ukrainian people from the ‘Russian world’ and aggressive ‘political orthodoxy’ that the Kremlin imposes on through the ROC and the UOC (MP).
The relevant statement by the activists of Ukraine’s social and ecclesiastical association “For the One Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church” is available at Ukrinform news agency.
“During the last decade Orthodox believers in Ukraine have lived in hope to unite in a local church. But the Russian Orthodox Church, being at the service of the Kremlin, is interested to preserve the church schism in Ukraine. Thus, in order to prevent the union, the UOC (MP), which actually is a subdivision of the ROC, is unscrupulous to use means incompatible with Christian ethics and morality, sowing discord amidst the faithful of the UOC (MP) and the UOC-KP, and promote treating the UOC-KP as the illegal church devoid of grace”, reads the statement.
Intellectuals also asked to recognize the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate as the Local Orthodox Church in Ukraine, which will provide a platform for unification of all Orthodox Christians in our country.
“The Russian government provides arms and sends militants in Ukraine and pays them for the murder of Ukrainian citizens. The Russian Orthodox Church not only failed to condemn the terrorist organization “Russian Orthodox Army”, which operates in the Donbas, but supports it by sending the militants her blessing and miracle-working icons, thus recognizing their actions as ‘God-pleasing’. The priests of the UOC-MP in Donbas arranged warehouses in churches and military bases in the monasteries. Some priests in Donbas and other regions of Ukraine urged their flock to arm rebellions against the government of Ukraine, acting as provocateurs and saboteurs, and sometimes as armed militants. In Donbas the Russian-backed terrorists often place their artillery in the yards of churches, and arrange fire adjustment points at the bell towers to shoot at the Ukrainian Army to provoke artillery fire in response to be able to claim the destruction of churches by Ukrainian soldiers”, said the representatives of the group of scientists, experts and journalists.
“Nowadays the Ukrainian people need more than ever the coordinated and consistent unanimous prayer to God for victory over the enemy. But how this may be possible if the head of the actually largest Orthodox Church in Ukraine (UOC-MP) is Patriarch Kirill, who fully supports the actions of aggressor Vladimir Putin?” ask the signatories. “In his speeches, Patriarch Kirill speculates on the idea of spiritual unity of the Orthodox, operates with such artificial, manipulative concepts as ‘spiritual braces’, ‘historical Rus’, ‘Triune Russia’ (Russia, Belarus and Ukraine), which, as he says, ‘must be preserved’. So he is imposing on the country a political union with Russia. "
In the letter the intellectuals state: “Patriarch Kirill, as well as Russian President Vladimir Putin, has denied Russian aggression in Ukraine, fully supports the policy of Putin and hi geopolitical doctrine of the ‘Russian world’ which is the ideological basis of the current aggression of the Kremlin against Ukraine, occupation of the Crimea, terror in Donbas.”
At the end the signatories reminded that “historically the Kyiv Metropolis had been always subordinate to the Patriarch of Constantinople, and was accorded to the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate illegally.”
“To unite Ukrainian Orthodox Church the Ukrainians need support of Ecumenical Orthodoxy. We want a unified Local Orthodox Church in Ukraine, in which the prayer for Ukraine, for victory over enemies, peace and harmony in our land would be raised,” state the authors, “we are asking you to grant recognition of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as a national church Orthodox Church in Ukraine, which will provide a platform for unification of all Orthodox Christians in our country.”
The appeal was signed by third President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko, sociologist Yevhen Golovakha writer Oksana Zabuzhko, president of the Center for Global Studies “Strategy XXI” Mykhailo Honchar, Honorary President of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy Vyacheslav Bryukhovetsky, historian Alexander Paliy, writer Yevhen Yakunov.