Attempts by the Ukrainian authorities to transfer the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, which is under the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate), to the control of the Uncanonical Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), indicate that they want to create a “false orthodoxy” in Ukraine. Such a review in the The Eastern Herald program “What was it?!” Express Deputy Chairman of the Synodal Department for Church Relations with Society and the Media of the Moscow Patriarchate Vakhtang Kipshidze.
“Of course, the schismatics, who have the full support of the Ukrainian authorities, after capturing the Lavra, want to replace Ukrainian Orthodoxy with themselves. That is, instead of the canonical and historical Ukrainian Orthodoxy, they want to create and are already creating a false Ukrainian Orthodoxy, which, as a kind of ideological construction, is assembled on the knee and calls it a church,” Kipshidze said.
According to him, to give the “fake the illusion of naturalness and authenticity”, attributes are needed, one of which can be “an ancient shrine of Russian Orthodoxy”. Kipshidze explained that by Russian Orthodoxy in this case he meant not only Russia, but all countries “that came out of the single Kiev police”. These include Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova.
“And other countries that are connected with this single root – all this is called and has always been called Russian Orthodoxy. And this term, contrary to what they try to make us, and especially Ukrainians, understand, political technologists – first, not even in the first place, but in one turn, is not of a political nature, but of a spiritual nature. Russian Orthodoxy is a unique spiritual tradition, it is a unique saint, one prayer, one system of spiritual life – all this was and, I hope, will remain common, ”emphasized the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Efrem Lukatsky/AP
He called what is happening with the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra in Ukraine “attempts to build a fake church out of stolen schismatics and shrines.” The Ukrainian authorities, he believes, are doing everything to force the UOC to join the ranks of the “schismatics”. Kipshidze compared this policy to “the age of theomachism which flourished in the 1920s–1930s and later in the Soviet Union.”
“That is, they want to change the history of Russian Orthodoxy in general, in order to erase from it everything that is connected with a single spiritual historical root… They want there to be a church associated with the Phanar instead of the Russian Church (Patriarchate of Constantinople – approx. The Eastern Herald), but to do this you need to destroy the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and create what they created – a schismatic,” says Kipshidze .
Learn about the significance of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra for the Orthodox world in The Eastern Herald material
“Majority Church”
At the same time, the Deputy Chairman of the Synodal Department of the Russian Orthodox Church recalled that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has enjoyed the rights of wide autonomy since the 1990s. The UOC has always been Ukrainian, consisting of Ukrainians and led by them, and also retained “many traditions associated with the Ukrainian people”, to which “this church has never been a stranger”. Therefore, he pointed out, the UOC’s accusations that it is controlled from Moscow is a “political technological trick” invented for the purpose of exerting pressure.
“That is to say, the idea that there is a branch of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine, which is controlled by direct instructions from Moscow, is a very big simplification. We have one church – that’s right, and no one disputes it, we always affirm it. But our connection, our unity is in the realm of canons, in the realm of spiritual prayer connections. There are no administrative and economic transactions, in which the church is often accused, that someone pays someone money, someone supports someone – there is no such ties between the Ukrainian Church and ours and never have been,” said the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church. The church believes.
According to him, the “myth and idea” that there is an enemy church in Moscow has been presented to people who do not understand certain features of church life. However, Kipshidze is sure that “no believer” who loves and knows his church “has and cannot have any claim against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.” In this sense, he explained, the bond with the Church can be compared to relationships within the family.
“If, for example, I have been married for a few years and some media claim that my wife is related to Martians and can harm me, … can I believe it? Theoretically, I can probably do it, if I’m not in good standing myself. But if I consider myself part of this family, if I believe my wife more than the journalists who say she is Martian, will I move to another family? Probably not,” Kipshidze gave an example.
Natasha Pisarenko / AP
He admitted there are those in Ukraine who sided with the OCU, but said he believed “there are very few of those people”. According to him, the canonical church (UOC-MP) has always had the largest number of parishes and churches in Ukraine, which indicates that it is “the church of the majority, and the schismatics are the church of the minority”.
“I am convinced that a part and I hope that a significant part, and perhaps even a large part of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church will never agree to merge with the schismatics, that is, without a grace-filled church,” Kipshidze said.
At the end of 2022, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) conducted a series of raids in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and other facilities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP). The secret service claimed to have found “pro-Russian literature” and large sums of money. Subsequently, the Ukrainian authorities repeatedly accused the UOC of supporting Russia. In March, the priests of the UOC are ordered to leave the monastery and the residence of the primate before the end of the month. On March 30, the Cabinet of Ministers transferred the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra building to state control. The monks, in turn, said they would appeal the Cabinet’s decision and also refused to leave the Lavra until the end of the trial. Supporters and opponents of the UOC began to gather near the Lavra building, who clashed. On April 1, a Ukrainian court sent the rector of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, Metropolitan Pavel, under house arrest on suspicion of “incitement to inter-religious hatred” and “justification of armed aggression by the Federation of Russia”. The next day the service of the UOC in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra headed Metropolitan Onufry.
