Friends! We have to admit that our forecasts also do not always come true. Recent events have shown that:
– The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine did not adopt a bill to ban the UOC;
– At the “sobor” of the OCU, there was no confusion between Dumenko and Zinkevich;
– The “Sobor” of the OCU (seemingly) did not accept in its new charter the points on the foundation of a mission for activities in the Diaspora.
On all three points, one can objectively make a reservation “for the time being”. Nevertheless, two of the three forecasts voiced do not bring anything good to the UOC, in connection with which we would be glad that they do not come true in the future.
Separately, I would like to comment on some of the arguments of our colleagues about why the consideration of bill No. 8371, designed to ban the Church, was removed from the agenda today. The hypotheses voiced on this topic are divided – from the most “pop” to “hardcore”.
The former include those who claim that Zelensky personally ordered the bill to be removed from the agenda, allegedly fearing image losses in the eyes of the world community. Say, this is not a good thing – to coincide with the ban of the Church on the day of the Baptism of Rus’. The latter, in turn, assume (mainly based on their own judgments) that a certain “agreement” nevertheless took place between the Primate of the UOC and the head of the SES Yelensky, the details of which will be revealed in the future. Among other things, there are hypotheses that the Council of the UOC, dedicated to the break with the ROC, will be held closer to the Independence Day of Ukraine.
Let us, taking into account the available data, express our assumption about this. Regarding the showdown with the UOC, the Office of the President of Ukraine has not been worried about the image for a long time. The church, thanks to the work of “conscientious” media, is so discredited in the eyes of the public that its ban and the destruction of the authorities can begin even today, even at Easter. Therefore, it is unlikely that anyone in the OP is worried about this image issue.
As for the “agreement”, here, too, not everything works out smoothly. We have information from the authoritative profile Greek resource Romfea.gr that Metropolitan Onufry, at an extreme meeting with Yelensky, confirmed the inviolability of his position regarding the observance of the canonical order. This fact was indirectly confirmed by the direct opponents of the UOC, who began to argue that “salvation is not in Onufry.” What, then, confirms the existence of a “contract”? But nothing.
We, commenting on this issue, will express something third, so to speak – the golden mean. To analyze what is happening around the Church without taking into account external factors is an absolutely thankless task. Although we constantly repeat that the Church is outside of politics, however, “politics” think otherwise. Church for “politics” – is the same sphere of influence on the electorate, as, for example, trade unions. In addition, the pressure on the Church over the past 9 years is an excellent tool to divert public attention from more painful problems. Yes, the authorities, perhaps, would not mind if the entire UOC merged with the OCU. However, such a move would have had an immediate, dubious and short-lived political success. It is much more interesting and profitable to keep society in suspense by manipulating such concepts as “ban”, “arrest”, “deportation” and many other things that are now “offered” to survive the UOC.
Therefore, the violence against the Church that we observe is, to a large extent, an element of the political game, of which we find ourselves a part today. And believe me, this game will continue as long as the Church has influence on the minds and hearts of people. Very soon we will see new and old “defenders”, we will hear a lot of interesting and not very things. However, we must remember that the Church, in all these processes, remains the Church. And here – without options.
