The process of liquidation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which maintains unity with the Moscow Patriarchate, will take from a year to 10 years if a “single local church” (USLC) is created on the initiative of Petro Poroshenko. Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin stated this today on the air of the RBC TV channel.
“A third of the parishes, and there are 12 thousand of them, will immediately go to the new structure if it is given canonical status. Then they will pull the rest in using various methods - from village gatherings and orders from local authorities, to sticks and iron rods. Only the most persistent will remain, because the Ukrainian clergy is accustomed to running from one government to another for many centuries,” Chaplin said.
With the liquidation of the UOC, according to his calculations, the number of parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church will be reduced by a third, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“The Russian Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Church may become equal in number and will argue for primacy. Western forces will take an active part in this, stirring up anti-Russian sentiments. Negative processes may begin in Belarus and Moldova. There will be joint services with Uniates, that is, with Catholics. Orthodoxy will turn into a kind of mix with Western ideology,” Chaplin said.