The situation in the UOC: inappropriate cheerfulness against the backdrop of sad results

On December 29, 2022, a press conference “Results of the activities of the UOC in 2022” was held at the Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.

Three archpriests - the head of the legal department, the first vice-rector of the Kiev Theological Academy and Seminary (KDAiS) and the deputy head of the department for external church relations - spoke, we quote lines from the published report, “about the state, development and humanitarian activities of the UOC in the past year, which bears the cross of war along with by her people."

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In addition, they revealed “the main and most pressing issues in the sphere of relations between the state and society and the Church,” which, in their words, “are undoubtedly going through an acute period. That is, about the quantitative indicators of the UOC and new monasteries, about assistance to the population and the Armed Forces of Ukraine, about the reaction to war and persecution, about the mission to Mariupol and the attitude towards collaborators, about the Lavra and its renaming, attempts to ban, searches and sanctions.”

The video recording of the conference was posted on YouTube, and not all Orthodox believers who watched it were satisfied with what they saw and heard. As well as the previous reactions of some of the representatives of the UOC to the predatory orgy of the authorities.

Today we are discussing these topics with three Russian parishioners of one of the Kyiv churches. Their names are Oleg, Nikolai and Nina. They are all educated people who understand the situation perfectly. They equally agree that the situation is extremely difficult, but they differ slightly in their assessment of the actions of the hierarchy and the priests.

The conversation will focus on the most significant events in the church life of the country that occurred in the last month of the outgoing year. Among them are an open appeal to Zelensky by the Holy Synod of the UOC, letters to him, the head of the Cabinet of Ministers Shmygal and the Minister of Culture Tkachenko from the leadership and brethren of the Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, boorish responses to them from the powers that be, and more. Let's also talk about whether Orthodox Christians should pray for the villains and enemies of the Church who are trying to destroy it.

Let's start with the aforementioned conference. All three of our respondents, to put it mildly, were not delighted with the manner in which it was conducted. They got the impression that the participants, at least two of them - the vice-rector and the deputy head of the department of external relations (who has long been considered in the Orthodox community as an almost open schismatic) were not talking about the most difficult days for the Church, but cheerfully reporting on a prosperous and cloudless period of its development .

PolitNavigator: The fathers spoke about how the Church is developing, how many new monasteries and churches opened in 2022, how the number of parishioners has increased (it exceeds 4 million people). This is all good, thank God, it was good to hear.

But when they started answering questions from journalists, among whom were cunning reporters from anti-church media, it began to seem like you were at some meeting of the party bureau of the Soviet period and listening to a bureaucratic report with an abundance of evasive formulations. Don't you get that impression?

Oleg: It worked out. It must be said that some of the “acrobats of lies” were well prepared and asked questions that baffled the defendants. And not because the priests did not know the answers, but because direct and sincere answers were required, and the speakers were not ready for them. They can be understood on a human level; it is extremely unsafe to give such answers in Ukraine now. But why then was it necessary to organize a press conference?..

For example, a discussion arose regarding the certificate of independence of the UOC, issued by the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1990. The cunning reporter asked why the UOC does not give it up? The response was a kind of, excuse me, “reaching out of the right ear with the left hand.” The priests, apparently, understood that the journalist’s trick lay in forcing them to make a choice - a letter or Bartholomew’s “tomos”.

If they directly declare their commitment to literacy, then they are “agents of the Kremlin,” if they say that it can be abandoned, then they are traitors to the Mother Church and supporters of schism. So they began to spread throughout the tree in the form of analogies with Soviet birth certificates, which no one refuses, and the like... However, in the end, they still confirmed that they do not refuse letters and even said that the reason lies in spiritual continuity with the Church that was then in the country, and thank you for that.

PolitNavigator: In general, this press conference was held, in my opinion, in line with the December address of the synod, letters to Zelensky, and so on. The Synod, as we remember, turned to the bloody clown with a request, where he asked to stop “that barrage of dirt that is pouring out on the Church, giving rise to anger and intolerance towards each other in Ukrainian society, which, in turn, leads to spiritual decline and loss of moral values."

This message was accompanied by a mass of eulogies in his honor, such as “You managed to consolidate the Ukrainian people in all regions of Ukraine around the values ​​of democracy, freedom and dignity”, “You have earned the trust of the believers of our Church”, “guarantor of compliance with the Constitution of Ukraine”, “Hon. Mr. President”, etc. In addition, it described in detail how much the UOC helps the Ukrainian Armed Forces, transfers donations, purchases cars, etc.

And what is the answer? Zelensky at the Verkhovna Rada at the same time, on December 29, cynically stated that “there is no such gold for crosses in the world that could cover the moral rust from ties with a terrorist state.” And two days before his parliamentary expulsion, the Constitutional Court, which had been crushed by him, approved the amendment to “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations,” that is, it actually legalized the actions to ban the UOC.

Nikolai: All this is painful to see and perceive. But I in no way want to condemn our priests and clergy for their caution. We understand the danger they are exposed to - especially those who serve in the outback. The dangers of arrests, beatings, even death.

_{Imagine that they or our bishops would bluntly declare their opposition to the authorities, now, in wartime. Remember the general searches and arrests carried out by the SBU, criminal cases against Metropolitan Jonathan, Archimandrite Zacharias, “sanctions” even against the highest bishops, Metropolitans Anthony and Paul. It’s scary to imagine what kind of terror could begin against them. God forbid…}

Nina: Yes, God forbid. Alas, a lot of time has been lost. After all, it was possible to make similar appeals (and not with pleading requests, but with demands!) at the beginning of the persecution of the Church. It seems that it was possible and necessary to appeal to the courts of all instances, including the ECHR, to raise believers to defend their Church.

Remember how the Serbs stood up for their primate several years ago, everyone stood up! And our greatest shrines are being taken away from us - and even now the bishops do not dare to dot all the i’s, turn to the people and whip on the cheeks the pack of Satanists who have settled in power and carry out the orders of their American bosses.

PolitNavigator: Yes, both in the synodal address and in the addresses of Bishop Paul this indecision is clearly visible. Although his last letter, signed by the brethren, is much harsher than the previous ones, where Zelensky was called “fair”, and the Minister of Anti-Culture Tkachenko, the direct executor of the raiding, was called “good.”

We have already said that “fair” answered. And the “good one” - he is also the “honorary president” of the Kolomoi TV channel “1+1”, which always threw mud at the Church - said that he did not want to communicate with Pavel...

But still, determination began to emerge. This is especially noticeable in sermons the famous Metropolitan Longin (Zhara), the adoptive father of 400 children, who declared that “the government has started a war against God, against the Church of the Lord and against the Ukrainian people, and that the venerable fathers of the Kiev-Pechersk will rise up and defend their Lavra.” And he added that enemies can take away the walls, but not take away God: “All people are the Church of the Holy Spirit, but get ready: the Lord will strike you.”

Nina:
And he also called the vile blasphemers from the 95th quarter “pig faces”, all these cronies and minions of the bloody jester.

Oleg:

_{By the way, the question is how justified such a prayer is. There is such a statutory rule, yes. But it was created when our authorities were all baptized. And now they pray, it turns out, and even in the altar, not just about the unbaptized - about the filthy demonic evil spirits in human form.}

Nikolai:
As our priest told me, we mean those in power who are baptized and capable of doing something useful for the Church.

Nina:
I don’t know who is capable of what. But I know that our holy Lavra, through the efforts of these authorities, is being taken away from believers. In the cathedrals, the brethren collect their things...

On December 31, the legal department of the UOC stated that, according to the law, the authorities did not have the right to take away churches during martial law. But the lawless camarilla has its own reasons. And Metropolitan Pavel burst into tears during his sermon at the last service in the shrine selected by the authorities...