WITH ITS OWN PRAYER BOOK. CONSTANTINOPLE PREPARES DOCUMENT FOR UNCANONICAL CHURCH IN UKRAINE
by Elena Loria, Valeria Nodelman
A draft of a constitutional charter of the Ukrainian church has been prepared in Istanbul, in essence, a rough draft of a charter of the unified religious structure. Such was the outcome of the session of the Synod of the patriarchate of Constantinople that occurred from 27 to 29 November. It is one of the final steps on the path to granting autocephaly to the uncanonical church in Ukraine. Simultaneously, in Kiev the Ministry of Culture of the country has continued an inspection of the holy place and inventory of the property of the Kiev caves lavra of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UPTs). In the assessment of experts, an "epoch of persecutions" is beginning for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and there may appear in Ukraine yet another schismatic formation under the auspices of Constantinople.
The fact that a rough draft of a charter of the new church structure in Ukraine has been prepared was reported on Thursday by the Greek church news agency Romphea, citing its own sources. The charter itself may be adopted at the founding council whose date has still not been announced.
But it is already clear that Constantinople intends to grant autocephaly to the new church structure in Ukraine. And difficult times await the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
"This is the sad ending of a tragic situation. Metropolitan Onufrey, the head of the Russian church in Ukraine, said that we are experiencing the start of an epoch of persecutions. So it will be," theologian and professor of the Moscow Ecclesiastical Academy, Aleksei Osipov, told Izvestia. He said, the inventorying of the property of the Kiev caves lavra is "one of the steps of squeezing the Russian church in Ukraine."
"The atmosphere is being created for an internal rupture in Ukraine," Aleksei Osipov thinks. "What will happen if the property of the lavra is given to the new structure? You know, I like what Ignaty Brianchaninov said that wolves' weapons are unreasonable for sheep. We can win with a different weapon, but not by means of external physical struggle and force. Here we will achieve nothing; the state machine is too heavy for people to achieve anything."
Meanwhile, the Phanar does not intend to make any compromise. On Thursday the president of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy, Russian State Doma deputy Sergei Gavrilov, met with Patriarch Bartholomew and members of the Synod of the patriarchate of Constantinople.
"We remained in our own opinion, unfortunately, despite the civilized forms of dialogue, and in my view the disagreements only worsened," Sergei Gavrilov to Interfax. "The patriarch thinks that the rupture of eucharistic communion with the RPTs is a temporary measure and that relations of the RPTs and Constantinople will be restored."
The deputy suggests that Patriarch Bartholomew "does not have complete information nor understanding and responsibility for the multi-ethnic nature of the Ukrainian flock."
And Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko declared yesterday evening that "this was an historic day. The ecumenical patriarchate confirmed the imminent creation of a Ukrainian local Orthodox church and the granting to it of a tomos concerning autocephaly." He called the tomos "a document concerning the spiritual independence of Ukraine."
Meanwhile the UPTsMP is already feeling the pressure of which Professor Aleksei Osipov warned. Since Wednesday the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture has been conducting an inventory of the property of the Kiev caves lavra by the efforts of employees of the Kiev Caves Reserve. The UPTsMP declared that such an inspection is being conducted for the first time in the thirty-year history of the restored lavra. Monks submitted to the orders of the Ministry of Culture and granted access to the Far and Near Caves.
The vicar-abbot of the Kiev caves lavra, Meropolitan of Vyshgorod and Chernobyl Pavel, speaking yesterday with news media, stated also that he is feeling pressure on the part of government authorities.
"There is pressure on me personally; they are uttering threats and various kinds of attacks. What is the reason, I do not know," the vladyka said.
He reported that several cases had been opened against him as a citizen of Ukraine, although he never acted against the sovereignty of his own state.
A church historian, theologian, teacher at the Moscow Ecclesiastical Academy and Sretenie [Presentation] Ecclesiastical Seminary Archpriest Vladislav Tsypin thinks that the actions of Constantinople will lead to the appearance on Ukrainian territory of yet another schismatic formation.
"But I do not think that this will somehow exert substantial impact on the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which unites a substantial majority of believers in the country. It is another matter that this may give a new occasion for authorities to take repressive measures and try to take away church buildings, lavras, and monasteries. If they dare to do this, then they will still face resistance on the part of believers," the priest said.
Speaking about plans by Constantinople to conduct a unification council, Vladislav Tsypin noted that the hopes of the Phanar to draw the UPTs into schism are baseless. At most they will manage to win over a few bishops to their side.
"Of course, some waver, but these are the fluctuations of those people who place their own personal fortunes above everything or people who are politicized. For them, considerations of a political nature and nationalistic ones are higher than religious ones," the priest thinks.
The director of the secretariat for inter-Orthodox relations of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow patriarchate, Archpriest Igor Yakimchuk, told Izvestia that problems will arise with the unification council.
"Even schismatic groupings have still not been able to agree among themselves about the format of conducting this council. Without saying anything about the canonical UPTs' categorical refusal to participate in this meeting, and even those hierarchs who originally were inclined toward such participation have now let it be known that they have not made a final decision," the priest said.
In Igor Yakimchuk's opinion, what is happening now in Ukraine with the lavras and with the bishops who are being summoned to the security service for interviews is a manifestation of totalitarian pressure on the UPTs. This is necessary in order to encourage, if not all of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as a whole, then at least a few of its representatives to participate in this council. (tr. by PDS, posted 30 November 2018)
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