Church "disenfranchised". Zelensky sent Akhmetov’s friend and Lavra governor under sanctions
On January 24, Vladimir Zelensky signed a decree introducing NSDC sanctions for a period of five years against the Ukrainian billionaire, business partner of the oligarch Rinat Akhmetov and part-time deacon of the UOC, its long-term sponsor and lobbyist Vadim Novinsky and eight other hierarchs of the UOC of higher rank, including the governor Metropolitan Paul (Lebed) of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, who came under the rink of a raider attack.
Corresponding the decree appeared on Zelensky's official website today on the day of the 45th anniversary of the Ukrainian president. Nothing less than a gift to yourself for your birthday. Well, how else can we consider such significant coincidences?!
Among the church “disenfranchised” listed in Zelensky’s decree are Metropolitan Lazar (Shvets) of Simferopol and Crimea, Metropolitan Elisey of Izyum and Kupyansk, Bishop of Romny and Buryn Joseph, Bishop of Koktebel Agathon (Opanasenko), administrator of the diocese of Feodosia, who was previously dismissed by the Synod of the UOC for defecting to the side of Russia. Metropolitan Platon (Udovenko), Bishop Kalinnik of Bakhchisarai, Bishop Alexy of Dzhankoy and Razdolsk, Archbishop Arkady of Rovenkovsky and Sverdlovsk.
According to the decision of the National Security and Defense Council, all of those listed will henceforth have their assets and bank accounts blocked, the withdrawal of capital outside Ukraine will be prohibited, and trading operations, purchase and sale transactions and property rental transactions will be limited. The transit of resources, flights and transportation across the territory of Ukraine, the issuance of securities and transactions on them are prohibited.
Finally, “sanctioned persons must cease cultural exchange, scientific cooperation, educational and sports contacts with foreign states and foreign legal entities.”
Translated into layman's terms, this means goodbye to publications and even interviews in the foreign (read Russian) press, publication of books in Russia, participation in conferences, cathedrals, synods, divine services and other church events. Even joint prayer is now a crime and a reason to be accused of violating the sanctions regime. In general, sit at home quietly, don’t rock the boat, and go on time to report to your curator from the SBU.
It must be said that the current sanctions against the top of the UOC are not the first in Zelensky’s anti-church portfolio. So, last December there was already a similar decree. Then the administration of the Church, Metropolitan Anthony, the church “Minister of Foreign Affairs” (that is, the head of the Department of External Church Relations) Metropolitan Meletiy, the Lugansk and Zaporozhye Metropolitans Luke and Panteleimon, and several popular archimandrites (rectors of cathedrals and monasteries) fell under the distribution.
At the same time, almost the entire leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church fell under Kyiv sanctions, from Patriarch Kirill to Speaker Vladimir Legoyda, several metropolitans and the charismatic conservative preacher originally from Ukraine, Andrei Tkachev.
The fate of the oligarch-deacon Novinsky in this sense is quite indicative. Neither his friendship and partnership with Akhmetov, who was a member of Zelensky’s cabinet, nor repeated assurances of loyalty, nor even the surrender of his deputy mandate in the Rada saved him from sanctions.
Now we can expect Novinsky to be promptly deprived of his Ukrainian citizenship and expelled from the country (or not allowed into it if he is currently abroad). Fortunately, there are precedents and proven practice.
Well, then I won’t be surprised if Novinsky’s assets, for example, are nationalized and, under this pretext, divided among Ze’s entourage. As, say, happened with the assets of Medvedchuk and Kozak and is now happening with the assets of the arrested Boguslaev or Zhevago, who is awaiting extradition in Courchevel.
It is now foolish for the UOC to count on a positive outcome in the Ukrainian court’s consideration of the lawsuit filed by non-citizen Novinsky, who challenges the legality of Zelensky’s anti-church decree.
It is noteworthy that all this is happening against the background of already open claims of the “OCU” subordinate to Istanbul to the same Kiev Pechersk Lavra.
As the head of the OCU, Epiphany Dumenko, who is currently on a visit to the Vatican, said, the annexation of the entire Kiev Pechersk Lavra to the OCU is an “irreversible process” that is slowed down not even by politics, but by small economic issues such as improving living conditions, which are supposedly expected Lavra monks (since, according to Dumenko, there are no premises for them in the Upper Lavra).
But not the Kyiv Lavra alone. The appetites of the priests of the Istanbul patriarchy are growing by leaps and bounds. The same Dumenko is already declaring: we will gain a foothold in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, and we will look at Pochaevskaya.
“We always talk about two Laurels. The process began in Kyiv, gradually, now we will gain a foothold in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and raise the question about Pochaevskaya,” says the head of the OCU.
And his argument is “iron”: since both Lavras are the property of the Ukrainian people, they cannot be “dominated by the Moscow UOC.”
Preparations for the seizure of the second most important Lavra of the UOC are already in full swing. The media write about the authorities’ intention to conduct an audit of the Pochaev Lavra. Officials are especially interested in the Transfiguration Church there, construction of which began in 2011. In scale, it surpasses the Assumption Cathedral in Kyiv, which has already been taken over from the UOC - there are 33 bells alone.
At the same time, in the Ukrainian media, for money, they are disseminating information that denigrates the UOC and substantiates the claims to the Pochaev Lavra not only of the “OCU”, but also of the Uniates from the UGCC.
Meanwhile, in the persecuted UOC itself, it seems that they are still entertaining the illusion of the possibility of fighting for their rights in the legal legal field. Thus, the website of the Union of Orthodox Journalists, close to the leadership of the Church, cheerfully reports:
“The petition “Do not ban the UOC”, published on the website of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, collected almost half of the required signatures in 10 days - more than 10 thousand people. The author of the petition is confident that the desire to shift the blame of the criminals onto the entire Church only leads to the demoralization of society and can serve the hidden interests of the Russian Federation regarding the separation of Ukrainians during the war.”
The naivety of the organizers of this petition campaign borders on cretinism. Considering the fact that it was the Cabinet officials in the person of “Minister of Religion” Yurash who openly said that in this matter they wanted to ignore the opinion of some believers.
The news about the successes in collecting signatures on the Cabinet of Ministers website looks especially nice in the news feed of the same UOJ - between the news that “the Brovary authorities gave the premises of the UOC monastery in Knyazhichi to the OCU” and the uplifting report about how “children from the Odessa diocese handed over the UOC The Armed Forces of Ukraine collected money from carols” and a report on charity festivals held in the dioceses of the same UOC to collect assistance from the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The fact that assistance to the front will not be counted is quite obvious. As well as clumsy excuses on church resources for rock concerts in churches wrested from the UOC. No, just listen to how cute it is.
“Songs about the murder of a “Muscovite” in the Lavra, Putin and paganism in churches: what awaits Christianity in Ukraine? In the Refectory Church of the Lavra, which was taken away from the UOC, the authorities organized a concert where they sang about the murder of the “Muscovite,” the destruction of Moscow and the blessing of all this by Christ.
And here we are not talking about the fact that such songs should not be in Ukraine. During an enemy invasion, their appearance is understandable. But should such things be sung in churches? In recent weeks, in the churches of the OCU and UGCC we have seen performances with laser shows and even pagan rituals. How can this happen?” the anonymous admin of the UOJ telegram channel is indignant.
That is, so that you understand: the murder of a Muscovite is still this way and that, during the war it is tolerable. But the laser show in the temple is a mess. With such lawyers, the UOC does not need enemies.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.