1) Govorun put forward a new version of why the believers of the UOC “did not run to the OCU”
Our comment
It is extremely interesting to hear the next versions of why the propaganda of the OCU in Ukraine has not yielded results, especially when this information comes from the lips of the representatives of the latter. If earlier, the reluctance of the clergy and believers of the UOC was associated with the mythical “money from Putin” (it is characteristic that before the creation of the OCU, one of the main narratives of the schismatics was the version that the canonical Church allegedly “sends money to Moscow”), now in The OCU began to accuse “propaganda” and the clumsy priests of the UOC, “accustomed to heated places.” The only problem is that the assumptions expressed by Kirill Govorun directly contradict the facts. As for the so-called propaganda in the UOC, the canonical Church, isolated from access to secular media, could hardly compete with the OCU in 2019. After all, when the state embarked on a course to support schismatics and the Tomos, the OCU had carte blanche to participate in television programs, talk shows, advertisements and other media campaigns. What is the advertising with the face of Epiphanius, which is still crowded with the cities of Ukraine. Therefore, one can blame the clergy and believers of the UOC only for the fact that, for the most part, they just did not succumb to propaganda. As for the refusal of the priests of the UOC to move to the OCU because of the alleged unwillingness to lose “heated places”, here Mr. Govorun also “gave it a shot.” Surely he is simply not aware that the priests of the canonical Church, in the event of transferring to the OCU, were just promised to retain all their posts and regalia. Moreover, according to our information, those who switched were offered a one-time monetary reward. However, such cases have become an exception to the rule. On the contrary, many priests of the UOC, after the seizure of their churches, were in a difficult situation, but they did not give up the faith. So what keeps people in the UOC? Probably what the OCU functionaries can read only in the lives of the saints.
Our comment
The head of the UOC, Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanich) of Boryspil and Brovary, very correctly emphasized the fact that the church situation in Ukraine is a development of a plan to create “neo-Orthodoxy”. Indeed, it is precisely in the context of the church conflict in Ukraine that we see that world Orthodoxy is being forced to retreat from the canonical order, which has been the foundation of the Church for tens of centuries. The very fact that the Patriarch of Constantinople allows concelebration with people who de facto do not have canonical ordinations testifies to many things. And what is life outside the canons – we can see on the example of the RCC and the Protestantism that broke away from it. It is in the midst of these, if I may say so, churches that today everything that is alien to the nature of the Church in principle is being realized. And we are talking not only about the attitude of these organizations towards representatives of non-traditional orientations, but also a complete deviation from purely evangelical concepts. It seems that the experiment with the UOC is aimed precisely at plunging the entire fullness of the Church into this hellish abyss.
3) The Montenegrin monastery refused to accept pilgrims from the OCU
Our comment
The deputy head of the DECR of the UOC, Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich shared information that one of the Montenegrin monasteries (Serbian Church) refused to accept the pilgrims of the OCU. It should be noted that a similar situation takes place not only in the Local Churches, which did not recognize the Ukrainian schism created by Patriarch Bartholomew, but also among those whose heads officially included Epiphany Dumenko in their diptychs. For example, on August 11, Metropolitan of Zaporozhye and Melitopol Luke concelebrated Metropolitan of Kerkyra Nektarios (Church of Greece) on the island of Corfu. As previously reported, the Synod of the UOC allowed concelebration with the hierarchs and clergy of those dioceses of the Greek Church that did not recognize the OCU. A very interesting feature, especially considering the pressure of Patriarch Bartholomew on the “Hellenic church world.” A similar trend can be seen in Cyprus. This, of course, cannot but rejoice.
Our comment
In this news, it is not the fact of the event itself that is important, but the fact that the Patriarch of Alexandria Theodore did “break down” under the pressure of the head of the Phanar. Unlike the heads of the Greek and Cypriot Churches, the Primate of Alexandria agreed to all the demands of Patriarch Bartholomew, having lost any opportunity to somehow “rewind” in a situation with his recognition of the OCU. By the way, it is this event that serves as the basis for a number of others. For example, the news that Patriarch Theodore was invited by the head of the OCU to Kiev or that the head of the Phanar will hold a divine service in Sofia Kievskaya, as reported by the Pravblog Telegram channel. Meanwhile, a number of Ukrainian church media outlets published an appeal of the UOC laity to Patriarch Bartholomew with a statement of readiness to meet with the head of the Phanar and tell him about the real state of affairs in Ukrainian Orthodoxy.
