Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the former leader of the radical extremist organization “Right Sector” * Dmitry Yarosh on his page on the social network on Facebook called for the persecution of clergymen of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.
“The hunt for Moscow priests who faithfully serve Putin and (the patriarch. - RT ) Cyril is a matter pleasing to God and the Motherland,” the Ukrainian politician said.
According to Yarosh, the reason for such a statement was the position of the majority of the UOC-MP hierarchs who refused to participate in the so-called “unifying council” on December 15 under the leadership of Petro Poroshenko.
“The hierarchy of the so-called UOC-MP, which did not find national courage, forces and arguments to go to the Ukrainian church, is also not servants of God, but an agent network of the FSB and Putin, which means enemies of Ukraine,” Yarosh did not stint on epithets.
According to the results of the meeting held on December 15 at the Sofia Cathedral in Kiev, it was announced that a new autocephalous church structure headed by the "Metropolitan" of the non-canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate (UOC-KP), Pereyaslavsky and Belotserkovsky Epiphanius, was announced. In early January 2019, this organization should receive a tomos about autocephaly signed by the Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew, a letter confirming that the “church” is self-governing.
Of the hierarchs of the UOC MP, Poroshenko’s “cathedral” was attended only by the metropolitan of Vinnitsa and Bar’s Simeon (Shostatsky) and the metropolitan of Pereyaslav-Khmelnitsky and Vishnevsky Alexander (Drabinko), who were close to the Ukrainian president. In response, the Synod of the UOC-MP gathered on December 17, dismissed them "for evading a split." Metropolitan Simeon was also freed from the administration of the diocese.
Uniate dreams
Dmitry Yarosh, who called for persecution of the UOC-MP, as he himself declares, is not Orthodox. By confessional affiliation, the deputy of the Rada is a Uniate, a parishioner of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, subordinate to the Pope of Rome. And it is precisely the union of the Orthodox with the Greek Catholics that the nationalist deputy considers the next "epochal step in the development of the nation and the state."
“The future of Ukraine as a Christian state is in the unification of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the recognition of this association by both Constantinople and the Vatican,” said Yarosh.
Earlier, the head of the UGCC, Svyatoslav (Shevchuk), supported the holding of a “unifying council” among the Orthodox and called for “overcoming what separates us.”
- Head of Ukrainian Uniates Svyatoslav (Shevchuk)
- Reuters
- © Max Rossi
“From now on, we go together to history, to unity, to truth,” the head of Ukrainian Uniates stressed.
As the head of the Association of Orthodox Experts, Kirill Frolov, noted in an interview with RT, Yarosh revealed the true purpose of creating an “autocephalous church” in Ukraine.
“Yarosh’s statement demonstrates that the project of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Church is not Orthodox, but Uniate. For the first time, the Uniate Metropolitan Iosif (Veniamin) of Rudskiy made the idea of the Kiev Patriarchate in 1624 and developed the Uniate Metropolitan Andrei (Sheptitsky) in the 20th century, ”the expert noted.
At the beginning of the First World War, Sheptytsky proposed to the Austrian emperor Franz-Joseph a plan of alienation of Ukraine from Russia, where a special place was occupied by the separation of the church.
As conceived by the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholics, the new Ukrainian church was supposed to be outwardly Orthodox, but essentially Uniate. Now, according to Frolov, Ukrainian politicians are acting in the spirit of this plan a hundred years ago.
Assault preparation
According to experts, the words of Yarosh about the “hunt for Moscow priests” should be regarded as part of the information preparation for the campaign of persecution of believers and clergymen of the UOC-MP.
“The hunt for Moscow priests” is a call for persecution of the canonical church and Orthodoxy, ”says Kirill Frolov.
On December 17, the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Andrei Paruby, announced that on Thursday, December 20, the Ukrainian parliament could vote for two bills introduced back in 2016, which can seriously affect the activities of the canonical Orthodox Church in Ukraine.
According to the bill number 5309 of the UOC-MP as an organization, "whose center is outside Ukraine, in the state, which is recognized by law to have carried out military aggression against Ukraine" will be renamed the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine. " The re-registration and change of the name will have to be carried out by each church parish at its own meeting, which, as experts note, opens up opportunities for nationalists to seize churches.
Cases where assemblies instead of parishioners were organized by visiting militant groups, which led to the transfer of temples into the ownership of Ukrainian Uniates or the UOC-KP, and were previously not uncommon, especially in Western Ukraine.
Another law, which Parubiy said can be passed on Thursday, is registered under number 4128. It also facilitates the seizure of temples, since it establishes that a simple majority of votes is required for a religious community to go from one church to another.
Back in October, Dmitry Yarosh announced the withdrawal of subordinate formations of the Ukrainian Volunteer Army (UDD) from the front line in the Donbass in order to focus on actions inside Ukraine. According to experts, these forces can take part in forceful seizures and provocations against the canonical church in Ukraine.
- Militants UDA
- © UDA Training Center Facebook Page
Waiting for provocations
The country's leadership intends to force the transfer of churches from the Moscow Patriarchate to the new Ukrainian church, says a RT source in the Petro Poroshenko Bloc party.
“The power methods that nationalists are ready to use can turn against the country's leadership. Imagine if the radicals attack defenseless worshipers? It is not excluded that many will come out to defend their churches, ”the source said.
“We should expect new provocations, they are possible on the New Year,” Oleg Bondarenko, director of the Foundation for Progressive Policy, said in an interview with RT. “Now Poroshenko is interested in this, so that he can give the green light to various nationalists, including Yarosh, to commit sabotage, we cannot also exclude attempts to capture not just churches, but Pochayev and Kiev-Pechersk Lavr”.
According to the expert, there is a high probability that attempts at seizure will escalate into bloody clashes, "because the congregation will not be indifferent to such seizures, and nationalists will strive to demonstrate strength."
The nationalists of the “Right Sector” can threaten and exert physical pressure on the ministers of the church, a spokesman for the Batkivshchyna Party said in an interview with RT.
“They can take any step in the alleged struggle for the Ukrainian church. There is practically no one to protect the priests. Law enforcement agencies are not likely to intervene. Priests can only rely on themselves and their parishioners, ”he notes.
The church plays an important role for the population, so the fight against it and the violent transfer under the patronage of the new Ukrainian church can lead to problems, according to a RT source in the self-help party.
“People have been tied to priests for decades, they go to the same church. And now they will be told that the church is not the same. Yes, and come aggressive nationalists. Imagine the reaction of ordinary people. If the authorities do not want to do something stupid, they don’t have to touch the church, ”the source said.
Possible answer
According to Kirill Frolov, the UOC-MP will probably wage an uncompromising struggle against attempts to seize churches, and in order to protect the rights of believers, it will also apply to international institutions. Oleg Bondarenko, however, notes that after the US embassy in Kiev supported the creation of a “new church,” Western human rights activists are unlikely to intercede for Orthodox in Ukraine.
“There will be no such thing,” the political scientist states. - Americans are interested in further maintaining tensions in Ukraine and even in point escalation. Do not expect that someone in the West will put Poroshenko in place. ”
According to Kirill Frolov, a great deal currently depends on how the UOC-MP can organize work at the parish level.
“Everything depends on the canonical church. If she turns to active priests, the people will follow them, and not a new denomination, ”Frolov said. “It is very important now that bishops who did not betray, and such an overwhelming majority, convene diocesan meetings and meetings of communities, so that believers become more active, communities become alive and not allow the communities to organize a new split.”
In addition, as the expert noted, the fact that the head of the new religious structure was not one of the bishops of the canonical church, but the “metropolitan Epiphanius”, from the canonical point of view, the ordinary layman Sergei Dumenko, is not in the hands of the official Kiev.
- Poroshenko and Epiphanius (Dumenko)
- Reuters
- © Gleb Garanich
“When a simple layman, who calls himself Metropolitan Epiphanius, is at the head of the new confession, the transition to this structure means not just a change of jurisdiction,” notes Kirill Frolov. - This is a renunciation of Orthodoxy itself. And for millions of Orthodox Ukraine, this consideration will be the decisive motive. ”
* “The Right Sector” is a Ukrainian association of radical nationalist organizations, recognized as extremist and banned in Russia (decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated 11/17/2014).