To encourage support for the Ukrainians in the ongoing war, bloggers and social media influencers have been hitting all the hot buttons for their Western audience. We have been treated to the number of women serving in the Ukrainian armed forces. Pictures of Ukrainian women taking up arms to fight in the streets. We have also been reminded, repeatedly, that liberal Democracy equals LGBTQ rights, which will be destroyed if Putin wins. Never mind, of course, that Ukraine is a conservative country where the prevailing attitudes on gender roles and alternative lifestyles are not substantially different than nearby Russia, Poland, or Hungary.
While the average Westerner may not realize that, most people pushing those narratives certainly do. Their words indicate the kind of Ukraine they would like to build, not the one that actually exists. Which is why one human rights narrative is standing above all others as being in jeopardy – freedom of religion. This article from the Religious News Service called Putin is after more than land — he wants the religious soul of Ukraine is typical. Here’s the heart of this narrative:
Russian President Vladimir Putin has used the common Orthodox character of Russia and Ukraine in his arguments for closer alignment. Ukraine is unique in that several expressions of eastern Christianity are practiced there. On one side is the Russian Orthodox Church and its Ukrainian denomination, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate. On the other is the Orthodox Church of Ukraine-Kyiv Patriarchate.
These efforts came to a head in late 2018, when the Orthodox Church of Ukraine-Kyiv Patriarchate sought from the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Orthodox Church autocephaly. Afraid of Russian interference, the Kyiv Patriarchate believed attaining independence through autocephalous status would allow the OCU-KP to break free from the Moscow Patriarchate, removing itself from under its authority.
The Orthodox Church of Ukraine becoming free was a declaration of independence from foreign influence and achieved greater religious freedom. Then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko declared that autocephaly was another example of Ukraine pivoting away from Moscow and toward Europe. In response, the Russian Orthodox Church cut all relations with the Ecumenical Patriarch, threatening to split Orthodoxy.
Indeed, Russian control of Ukraine would be a humanitarian disaster and a human rights catastrophe. And the implications for religious freedom in Ukraine would be dire. The U.S. government has ranked Russia as one of the worst in the world for religious freedom at home.
If Russia’s military campaign is successful, Moscow would likely not countenance an independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine, possibly forcing it back into the family of the Russian Orthodox Church. Russia’s regressive treatment of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Muslims and proselytizing groups would likely be forced on the entire country.
Concerns about Ukraine’s Jewish community also exist. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum condemned Putin’s “exploitation” of the Holocaust as a pretext for war. “The Museum stands with the Ukrainian people, including the thousands of Holocaust survivors still living in the country,” said a statement released Thursday.
Hard to believe they could pack so many lies into just a few paragraphs. There is no such thing as a “denomination” in the Orthodox Church. There are local churches, but each one is in communion with every other canonically Orthodox Church. All canonical Orthodox Churches everywhere are “part of the family of the Russian Orthodox Church.” The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) is self-governing. It was already free of Russian influence as it runs its own affairs. It is a Ukrainian Church headed by a Ukrainian bishop – His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry. The OCU that was given a Tomos of autocephaly was formed by combining two non-canonical groups, neither of which had any status within Orthodoxy. The ordinations of their clergy were not even valid.
These two groups had no right to ask for anything, as they were not even Orthodox. The schismatic groups had been in existence long before 2018, and had been pointedly ignored by everyone, including the Patriarch of Constantinople. Prior to October 11th, 2018 the entire Orthodox world recognized only the UOC, headed by Metropolitan Onuphry. It was completely non-controversial. As late as 2016, His All-Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople said the following, “We all recognize that Metropolitan Onufry is the only canonical head of Orthodoxy in Ukraine.”
So what changed? Politics. It is weird that people who are hyperventilating over freedom of religion fail to notice that fact. The current religious situation in Ukraine is the result of the Ukrainian government suppressing religious freedom. On 16 June 2016, the Ukrainian parliament successfully voted a resolution to appeal to the Ecumenical Patriarch “to recognize invalid the act in 1686 as the one adopted in violation of the sacred canons of the Orthodox Church”, “to take an active part in overcoming the church schism by convening Ukrainian unification council under the auspices of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which would solve all controversial issues and unite the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.”
Yes, you read that correctly. The canonical situation in Ukraine had been the same since 1686. Why did Ukrainian President Poroshenko want to have a single Orthodox national church with no ties to Russia? Because he was trying to build an aggressive Ukrainian nationalism in opposition to Russia, and the existing canonical church seemed insufficiently supportive of that. Poroshenko needed a better vehicle for state propaganda, because Metropolitan Onuphry, despite being a Ukrainian himself, was too even-handed and too committed to peaceful co-existence. The new “Church” was much more committed, right down to its ultranationalist iconography.
Since 2018, the UOC has been viciously slandered and attacked. 70% of Ukrainians belong to the UOC. The UOC has 12,064 active parishes, making it still the largest church in Ukraine. The UOC has never asked for autocephaly, being content to remain self-governing but with an association to the Russian Orthodox Church. The UOC has 110 bishops, 53 dioceses, 12,456 clergy, 4,548 monks, and 255 monasteries. The OCU (Ukraine’s “national” church) has 4,807 parishes. Even after years of “autocephaly”, only a few hundred parishes have left the UOC for the OCU. By any fair assessment, it appears that the vast majority of Orthodox Christians in Ukraine have rejected OCU. Internationally, all but a few self-governing Orthodox Churches have also rejected it, continuing to honor Metropolitan Onuphry as the hierarch of Ukraine.
If you only read mainstream media, you could be forgiven for believing the situation was the reverse. The schismatic OCU is intentionally portrayed as being the bigger, native presence. The globalist media seems to a have vested interest in obfuscating the religious situation in Ukraine. Besides exaggerating the size and importance of the OCU, the media routinely frames this as a conflict between Russia and Ukraine or the Russian Church and the “Ukrainian” Church. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is a conflict between Ukrainians. It is precisely the need to hide this fact that causes everyone to pretend that Metropolitan Onuphry does not exist, while shifting all focus to Patriarch Kirill of Moscow.
The OCU was brought about by Ukrainian government policy and the support of the United States, which arranged for the help of a compliant Patriarch of Constantinople to further the scheme. Far from an exercise in “religious freedom,” this was a total violation of it. As a result of these actions, the true, canonical Church in Ukraine has been subject to bitter persecution. Churches have been seized, worshippers have been assaulted. Slanderous lies have been published by “official” sources, including that the UOC worships a different God than that of the Ukrainians. The Ukrainian government has proclaimed that the Ukrainian Church has no business being in Ukraine and that its representatives should return to Russia, despite the fact that the majority of believers are actually Ukrainians. For the Ukrainian government, Ukrainian citizens become little more than Russian invaders if they don’t hold to the right ideology and belong to the “right” church.
Whereas the UOC does not claim any rights to the parishes belonging to the OCU, the reverse is not true. Metropolitan Epifaniy, the “primate” of OCU, said in an interview with Radio Svoboda’s Inna Kuznetsova that, per the terms of the Tomos of Autocephaly for the OCU, all of the Orthodox parishes on the territory of Ukraine belong to the OCU. Metropolitan Epifaniy went on to say that he eagerly awaits future legislation that will enable his complete takeover of them all.
Where are those who routinely attack “Christian nationalism” and why are they silent on the suffering of the canonical Orthodox Church in Ukraine? Why is government-sponsored seizure of churches wrong everywhere, in their opinion, except in Ukraine?
Nevertheless, despite the ongoing persecution, the canonical Ukrainian Church perseveres in the name of Christ. Even today, in the middle of a war, it is to Metropolitan Onuphry and his UOC that most Ukrainians turn to for spiritual support.
Even if Putin wins this war, the UOC will still be self-governing, and will still be run by a Ukrainian Metropolitan. The idea that it will become a puppet church is laughable. Metropolitan Onuphry is one of the most respected Orthodox bishops on the planet. Whatever else may happen, the Russians will leave him and the UOC in peace.
What will happen to the OCU? Most likely – nothing. The Razumkov Center in February 2022 presented the results of a large-scale study of the religious situation in Ukraine. In the study, it was noted that 42% of the UOC had a positive attitude towards the OCU. The percentage of OCU that had a positive opinion of the UOC was only 29%. Commenting on this situation was Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich of the UOC:
“I think this is also the result of the work of our local priests. It is nice that a Christian attitude is being brought up (or at least there is no hostility) towards people of other faiths, even though representatives of other faiths have a different attitude towards us,” writes the priest.
In his opinion, the problem of the negative attitude of the faithful of the OCU and the UGCC towards the UOC lies in the information war in the media and the pitting of confessions.
“I think that the media, in general, need to reduce the degree of hatred so as not to turn people against each other. Although not the last factor is the attitude of the clergy of those confessions towards the UOC, namely what they say to their faithful,” sums up the spokesman of the UOC.
The UOC, led by Metropolitan Onuphry, are actual Christians. They are not going to support Russian forces abusing their neighbors in the OCU, even if it is a schismatic organization formed more to promote Ukrainian nationalism than the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
But isn’t Russia an abuser of religious liberty? Russia is officially a multi-confessional state. Russian law identifies Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism as the country’s four “traditional” religions while recognizing the special role of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). Some religious groups, such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, are banned. How widespread is religious persecution in Russia? The US embassy claims that 228 persons were persecuted for their religious beliefs or affiliation in 2020. What about Jews? Russia’s chief rabbi has stated that anti-Semitism is at a historic low. Putin was the first Russian leader to visit Israel. He is reputed to have Jewish ancestry. Putin has had a reputation as being a “pro-Jewish” leader.
The Jews in Ukraine will be fine if Russian forces win. In fact, it is unlikely that the religious situation in Ukraine will change at all, regardless of the outcome of the war, with the exception that persecution of the UOC could be ended. Since 70% of all Ukrainians belong to the UOC, that is something of a big deal.
Vladimir Putin is a secular leader of a multi-confessional state who worries about Ukraine for purely secular reasons. While the persecution of the UOC was certainly an annoyance to him and his government, on its own that would never have led to more than diplomatic protests. Nor does Putin care much about the religious situation that will exist after the war. The UOC, with its close ties to Russia, can help foster peace between the nations. However, trying to force recalcitrant Ukrainians to join it will be counter-productive, and the Russians know that. Anyway, as noted, 70% of Ukrainians already belong.
It is actually of great concern what could happen to the UOC if Russia loses. That is something all Christians everywhere should consider, given the recent track record of Ukrainian government persecution.
Putin has stated quite clearly that the Russian war aims are a neutral Ukraine that is demilitarized with no NATO troops on its soil. We should take him at his word, instead of pretending that this is some kind of Christian crusade to retake the religious cradle of the Kievan Rus. Not listening to Russia’s security concerns is exactly how we got into this situation in the first place. Now is the time to judge the situation soberly, and not through a film of propaganda.
Vassily is a member of the OCA with mixed Ukrainian and Russian parentage
For an excellent overview of how we got to this war and an understanding of Great Power politics, please watch the video below.
If I would be younger, I will certainly go to fight there. Guess who’s heads I would see in a crosshairs of my sniper rifle? Слава Украине!
Sergio,
How much time in your life have you spent in the armed forces?
When I was in the armed forces (still mandatory military service back then), an officer told us that those who have the biggest mouth will be those you are the first to wet their pants when they see real action.
I also wonder if any officer would ever assign anyone as a sniper who displays the level of maturity that you display with your comment.
Thanks. I’ve met Jim Jatras and have great respect.
I’ve been in a Greek Orthodox parish for 17 years. Every year I have to suffer through the Patriarch’s Paschal letter, in which he excoriates us over the fact that there is still sin in the world, using pseudo-intellectual gnostic formulations that sound like something generated from a freshman poli-sci seminar at Swarthmore. Not to mention his neo-pagan environmentalism and his unscientific edicts regarding covid. The current Patriarch is a disaster for Orthodoxy. When he comes to the U.S., he bows the knee at every left-wing shrine. His appointment of Elpidophorus is equally a disaster. The Archbishop wants us to become more like the Episcopal Church, which I left 29 years ago. He has embraced the LGBT agenda, though he denied/evaded that with me in personal correspondence. He also stated that any criticism of his positions means that I must be unaware of contemporary theologians. Where are the Apostles and Fathers with these people? These two are incapable of making a Christian statement, let alone a statement as to why anyone should become Orthodox. The Archbishop explicitly sees himself as serving the “Greek Diaspora,” as that Greek diaspora in America dramatically declines in numbers. With this Hellenistic supremacy dogma, no wonder a number of native clergy in East Africa have welcomed the Russian Excarchate.
My dear brothers and sisters: i must confess, I operate with a different set of presuppositions than most all Christians, Orthodox and otherwise and here is why.
Immediately following the fall of the Iron Curtain, I was deep in prayer contemplating before God that event (1991-2): And this is what I believe I saw regarding that event in the light of God’s presence; this is important to get: IT WAS ALLOWED TO STAND (communism) BECAUSE GOD’S People gave it respect.
“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.”
From that time forward, I decided to stand on God’s side and laugh with Him. Do you hear what I hear? I hear laughing because He that is in the heavens laughs. God is laughing at the enemies of the Church. And when I take my place in the heavenlies (Ephesians) with God, there is nothing to do but laugh.
When God laughs it is important that we laugh with Him. Those of you that know me, know I have been very deriding of some bishops and this is why; if God is laughing, then i will laugh with him. In laughing at them, is Christ reestablished through the Church (v. 5-8)
If you have noticed my derision of some bishops, it is because, to whatever degree they are compliant with the new world order (the vaxx, masks etc), I am to laugh at them because God laughs. (Truth be told, my most derisive comments have been censored even on this site, which is only a part of what was in my heart, some times I am rolling with laughter). But notice, many bishops and clergy are in derision and many of you have derided them as well.
What evidence do we have, and what motive would be behind it, that the U.S. Government pressured the Ecumenical Patriarch to declare autocephaly for the OCU? thanks
Jim Jatras, a personal friend of ours, wrote this piece:
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/440230-orthodox-church-ukraine-poroshenko/
Jim was kind enough to be on our COVID webinar panel. He is a former State Department insider, and we highly recommend following him on Twitter. We highly recommend going here and using the timestamp guide to listen at least to what Jim has to say about the recent pandemic, as many of the players are the same with the new crisis. https://orthodoxreflections.com/webinar-resources/#time-stamp
Cooperation between the EP and the US foreign policy establishment is extremely well documented, and dates back to the Truman Administration. Metropolitan Jonah has been very critical of this lately.
https://blogs.goarch.org/blog/-/blogs/truman-athenagoras-and-world-orthodoxy-an-historical-alternative-to-current-us-relations-with-constantinople-part-two
We should note that Athenagoras and Truman were both Freemasons. A problem that the EP seems to have had for some time.
https://orthodoxreflections.com/freemasonry-and-the-rise-of-ecumenism-in-the-orthodox-church/