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  5. Weekly digest of church news from Raskolam.net. Week 2.08-8.08.2021

Weekly digest of church news from Raskolam.net. Week 2.08-8.08.2021

1) The UOC continues to “illegally assign” its name to itself, – the speaker of the OCU

Our comment

The speaker of the OCU Evstratiy Zorya once again demonstrates the high level of populism that is inherent in the representatives of the Ukrainian schism. This time, commenting on a bill in defense of the rights of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which appeared on July 30 for consideration in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, a OCU rep functionary infringed upon the self-designation of the canonical Church. Recall that during the creation of the so-called OCU, the schismatics decided to appropriate themselves the name of the canonical Church, but they did not succeed. In this regard, their lobbyists in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine have submitted a bill suggesting the forcible change of the name of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to “Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine”.

Unfortunately for the schismatics, their initiative was blocked in the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, but this precedent created a legal collapse, in connection with which the UOC has been unable to register new dioceses, monasteries and communities for three years. It is for this purpose that a bill was submitted to the Verkhovna Rada that aims to change this state of affairs.

It should be noted that not so long ago the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine provided a response to the appeal of the believers of the UOC for the same reason. It, in particular, says that the law on renaming was provoked by “destructive and provocative manifestations on the part of representatives of certain religious organizations operating in Ukraine”, and the seizure and forcible “transfer” of churches of the canonical Church by representatives of the “OCU” began to occur because of ” ideological split among the UOC ”. In other words, legislators make it clear that the UOC will continue to succumb to pressure at the legislative level.

Analyzing the new bill in defense of the UOC, the authors of the Pravblog telegram channel quite reasonably described it perspectives. Indeed, for its adoption in the Verkhovna Rada there may not be enough votes, because even in today’s situation, few of the deputy corps are ready to stand up for canonical Orthodoxy.

2) The religious procession in Kiev demonstrated: the UOC is the most numerous confession of Ukraine, – Metropolitan Hilarion

Our comment

Summarizing the results of the All-Ukrainian Religious Procession, the head of the DECR ROC Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev) emphasized that the UOC is the largest confession in Ukraine. Vladyka Hilarion also emphasized the peculiarities of the status of the UOC, assuring that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is self-governing, administratively and financially independent. Moreover, She herself, without agreement with Moscow, elects her Primate and her bishops.

In general, although the large number of the UOC is a self-evident fact, in the secular media this issue is questionable. In this regard, we highly recommend a study by political scientist Daniil Bogatyrev regarding the objective statistics of participants in the Religious Procession in particular and the UOC – generally.

3) Will the Patriarch of Alexandria also come to Kiev?

Our comment

The Telegram channel Pravblog publishes information about the possible visit of Patriarch Theodore to Kiev on the Independence Day of Ukraine. According to the channel, the visit was refused by the heads of the Greek and Cypriot Churches due to their unwillingness to be registered in the events, as the retinue of Patriarch Bartholomew. However, there is one more detail that went unnoticed. If the primate of the Alexandrian Patriarchate comes to Kiev, then he will not only have to accompany Bartholomew, but also take part in the Crimean platform, which is organized at the Office of the President of Ukraine. The prospect of the participation of the head of the Alexandrian Church in such an event may discredit him. It is obvious that neither Patriarch Bartholomew nor Patriarch Theodore have any direct relation to the political life of Ukraine. Imagine a picture in which, for example, the head of the OCU takes part in the political events of the Republic of Cyprus dedicated to the occupation of the northern part of this country by Turkey. This decision can hardly be considered successful.

At the same time, representatives of the Local Churches that supported the OCU are already traveling all over Ukraine. For example, on August 1, the hierarch of the Church of Cyprus was brought to one of the villages of the Rivne region, where the local ” Bishop of the OCU Hilarion Protsik performed a “divine service”. Reportedly, the foreign guest did not concelebrate with Protsik, but actively posed for the photographers. Meanwhile, the Exarch of Phanar in Ukraine, Bishop of Coman Mykhailo Anishchenko has already performed a full-fledged divine service in St.Andrew’s Church was finally transferred of the astropegia for permanent and full use. All these cases testify to the weak, but still – successes of Constantinople in the Ukrainian direction.

4) The Patriarch of Jerusalem declined the invitation of the head of the Church of Constantinople

Our comment

Meanwhile, the foreign policy of the Russian Orthodox Church can be considered much more successful today. It is reported that on August 13, on the Turkish island of Imbros, events are to be held dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the ordination of Patriarch Bartholomew to deacon. The corresponding invitations on behalf of the head of the Phanar were sent to the leaders of the Hellas, Alexandria and Cyprus churches, as well as the leader of the “OCU”. The Primate of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem received an offer to attend the celebrations orally.

According to the publication Romfea, Patriarch Theophilus declined the mentioned invitation of Patriarch Bartholomew, citing the situation with the pandemic. Also, Archbishop Jerome and Archbishop Chrysostom will not come to Imbros. They will send their representatives. Thus, Patriarch Bartholomew will meet the memorable date only surrounded by the Patriarch of Alexandria and the head of the OCU.

It is not completely clear what kind of game they started in the Greek and Cypriot Churches, but it can be unequivocally judged that the Patriarch of Jerusalem very successfully took on the role of a pan-Orthodox pacifier. His consistent position on the issue of recognizing the Ukrainian schism gives hope for the possibility in the near future to convene such a long-awaited for the entire Orthodox world “Amman-2”.

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