There is no canonical territory of the Russian Orthodox Church outside the Russian state. This is nonsense.
This was stated by Serhii Shumylo, a Doctor of Theology and Candidate of Historical Sciences, on the YouTube channel Viche.
“What basis does the Russian Church have to claim these territories? The only reason is that these areas were occupied by the Russian Empire and subsequently by the Soviet Union,” Shumylo emphasized. “The presence of other Orthodox Churches was systematically erased, leading to a complete monopoly of one Church.”
According to the researcher, this approach was typical of Soviet policy. When Soviet troops arrived, repression accompanied them, and as a result, parishioners and dioceses were coerced into joining the Moscow Patriarchate.
“In Ukraine, a similar situation occurred. In 1946, both the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church were dismantled and forcibly merged into the Moscow Patriarchate. Those who resisted faced repression. For instance, in Transcarpathia, parishes under the Patriarchate of Constantinople were also destroyed and compelled to join the Moscow Patriarchate.”
A comparable pattern was observed in the Baltic countries, where autonomous churches within the Patriarchate of Constantinople were liquidated by Soviet authorities and incorporated into the Russian Orthodox Church. In Moldova, the local structure of the Romanian Orthodox Church was similarly dismantled and annexed to the Moscow Patriarchate.
“We see how the so-called canonical space, the canonical territory of the Moscow Patriarchate, was established. It was built at the point of the KGB's bayonets, at the point of the repressive authorities' weapons, with bloodshed and immorality.”
The historian pointed out that when the Russian Orthodox Church received the document regarding its patriarchate in the 16th century, its jurisdiction was limited to the territories of the Moscow Kingdom at that time.
“It did not extend to Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, the Baltic states, or Moldova.”
He also notes that no one in the Russian Orthodox Church has issued an apology for the past crimes.
“If the people in the Moscow Patriarchate were even somewhat religious and decent, they would have apologized on behalf of their organization for all the crimes, injustices, bloodshed, and deaths committed in its name, acknowledging they had been used. Furthermore, they would have simply allowed those affected to move on,” emphasized Serhii Shumylo.
Full video of the program: