Weekly digest of church news from Raskolam.net. Week 05.07-10.07.2021
1) A delegation from Athos and Turkey visited the Phanar stavropegia in Ukraine
Our comment
Alas, this news causes nothing but regret. And if earlier someone could say that representatives of the monasteries of Athos are making contact with the OCU and recognizing this structure under pressure, now it is obvious that Athos, for the most part, fulfills the agenda prescribed in the Phanar. Of course, one cannot say that everyone on Athos recognized the OCU, but, as we can see, voluntary contacts of the “Athonites” with the OCU and their lobbyists are becoming more and more frequent. And although in Ukraine reverence for the Athonite monasteries is still preserved, however, on the holy mountain, once beloved by many Orthodox Ukrainians, there are fewer and fewer places available for visiting. No, they are not physically closed. They, due to the recognition of the Ukrainian schism and complicity in the atrocities of Patriarch Bartholomew, have lost their spiritual value.
2) Gay Pride Canceled: What to Learn from the Georgian Church?
Our comment
The question about the experience of the Georgian Church in the struggle for traditional family values is asked by the telegram channel “Labarum. Sim pobedishi”. The colleagues stressed that “the Georgian Church has challenged the enemies of the liberal community, which it will clearly not be forgiven.” This statement was not long in coming, and already the TG-channel “Pravblog” reported that the “Soros” media criticized the Georgian Church.
As for the influence of the Georgian Church in society, it is no secret to anyone, that it is based on the authority of Patriarch Elijah II. Feeling the weakness of this person due to old age and illness, the opposing forces of the GOC have already repeatedly tried to bring confusion into the environment of the Church itself. Partially they succeeded, as we reported earlier. And although the situation looks definitely not in favor of the GOC, nevertheless the situation with the gay parade in Tbilisi became a “shot in the foot”, which the liberal forces in Georgia did to themselves. And the point here is not just the churchliness of the Georgians, but the fact that society itself has demonstrated its rejection of new “values”, and the Georgian Church simply took the helm of this process in time, successfully seizing the moment. Thus, the GOC spearheaded a protest against the “values” imposed by the West and, at the same time, blocked the previous internal scandals and turmoil. And now, no matter how hard every BBC and Radio Liberty try to tarnish the reputation of the Church in Georgia, they will not get the desired result.
The situation is instructive indeed. The rest of the Local Churches, while it is still possible, need to learn from the GOC not to be afraid to defend the Gospel and traditional social values, which often coincide with church values. As practice shows, the exchange of evangelical ideology for temporary “handouts” from the authorities of states leads such Local Churches to oblivion and complete loss of authority in society.
Our comment
The statement about the flooding of the complex of caves in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra was published relatively recently by the abbot of the monastery – Metropolitan Paul (Lebed). Everything would be fine, but at this moment the “vultures” from the OCU camp drew attention, who decided to use this opportunity to further discredit the UOC monastery and, as a result, to evict it from the territory of the Lavra. The former People’s Deputy of Ukraine Igor Lutsenko was the first to announce this, and later the same idea was taken up by one of the propagandists of the Ukrainian split – Alexander Sagan. Of course, it is unlikely that their information attempts will be crowned with success, however, from a purely strategic point of view, not giving a reason to those who are looking for it seems like a much better idea than talking about your problems in the media with absolutely no result, hoping that you will be heard and you. will help. Obviously, not all news feeds are useful. Moreover, additional information has recently appeared that the British embassy is trying to persuade the Ukrainian authorities to take the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra from the UOC, promising support from London and Washington.
4) Church of Greece is going to put under trial the hierarchs who did not recognize the OCU
It is characteristic that this message appeared approximately at the same time with the accompanying statements of the heads of Greece and Cyprus Churches. Both threaten the hierarchs of their Churches who disagree with the course of Patriarch Bartholomew with some administrative bans. I wonder, of course, how far this situation can go. But even more interesting is the synchronicity with which Jerome and Chrysostom attacked the dissenters. Most likely, the Phanar decided to finalize the issue of recognizing the OCU in Greece and Cyprus, because, as you know, not all the hierarchs of these Churches agreed with the requirement of their primates to commemorate Epiphany at Divine services and to receive members of the OCU in their dioceses. Most likely, in the near future we will witness new church battles in the Hellenistic church environment.
5) Messages about the “growth of the OCU” are published with the label “Advertising”
Our comment
Another attempt to tighten the ratings “to order” is observed in the media space of Ukraine in relation to the OCU. Earlier we wrote that the head of the OCU, Dumenko, on the pages of the absolutely loyal newspaper Novoye Vremya, took only 43rd place in the ranking of influential Ukrainians. So now, bravura messages about the “high rating of public confidence in the OCU” are forced to advertise, and not just be published. That is, as it is correctly determined in the expert environment, the interested forces “tighten” the rating of the OCU in the akurat for the arrival of Patriarch Bartholomew in Ukraine. Colleagues from the Pravblog Telegram channel absolutely correctly denote the manipulative nature of these “polls” themselves. We want to add that since the results of such a “brilliant” sociology have to be advertised, then everything is not as good as they are trying to convince us.
6) “Support by the UOC believers” of the arrival of Patriarch Bartholomew to Ukraine is absurd
Our comment
An authoritative and important statement by the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanich), which must be attributed to the characteristics of the same social polls. Interestingly, according to the obtained sociological survey data, it turned out that 49% of the UOC believers expect the head of the Phanar to come to Ukraine. As Metropolitan Anthony said, the purpose of these statistical manipulations is simple – “to create the appearance of support for the Patriarchate of Constantinople and its head in the Ukrainian church environment. Allegedly erroneous statements about the Phanar aggravating the split in Ukraine.”
