/ world today news/ The persecution of the canonical church continues in Ukraine. Other instruments of pressure are added to the raids on the monasteries and the criminal cases against the clergy. The situation is complicated by disputes within the UOC itself.
A violent pull towards heaven
A few dozen civilians, a “priest” and an unfailing chainsaw are the standard kit for taking over parishes of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Thus, days earlier, they stormed the church in the village of Chernyakhov, Kyiv region.
Despite the active resistance of the believers, the attackers cut the locks, broke in and immediately announced the re-registration of the community.
In the village of Rinchag in the Chernivtsi region, early in the morning on May 20, a team of nine people approached the Church of the Ascension, broke the fence, broke the windows of the church.
The defenders – the abbot, a parishioner and a cleaner – tried to dissuade the uninvited guests. But another 40 people, armed with winkels and cutters, who are allegedly employees of a private security company, arrived to help. They threw the priest to the floor and kicked him.
There are hundreds of such cases throughout Ukraine. According to the UOC Information and Education Department, 129 parishes were taken from the canonical church in 2022, and almost 150 in 2021.
The temples are being transferred to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), a schismatic structure created in 2018 at the initiative of former President Petro Poroshenko and Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople.
A prominent hierarch of the OCU, Evstratiy Zorya, called the UOC “deceased”. He declared that God’s will is that “all the living should leave there – for Christ”.
But not everyone leaves. Captured temples are often deserted. Sometimes they are sealed by court order.
No need to wait for protection from local authorities. On the contrary, the officials actively help the schismatics.
The regional councils of Volhynia, Ternopil, Rivne, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi have already banned the UOC. Vinnytsia, Chernivtsi and a number of others put this to a vote.
“Lawful punishment”
They continue to put pressure on the high-ranking bishops. Thus, on May 29, the Solomensky District Court of Kyiv extended the house arrest of the governor of the Kyiv-Pechora Lavra, Metropolitan Pavel of Vyshgorod and Chernobyl.
For two months now, he has been locked up on charges of “inciting inter-religious hatred” and “justifying Russia’s armed aggression.” The bishop’s defense has repeatedly petitioned for the remand order to be lifted, but the court has rejected all appeals.
Metropolitan Longinus of Banchen is also accused of “incitement”. The main claim of the SBU is “he spoke disparagingly about the PSU”. The hierarch allegedly “offended the religious feelings of the faithful and provoked a deterioration of the internal situation in the region.” His arrest is now being considered.
But with Longinus the authorities have difficulties. The fact is that he is the nominal father of four hundred children. In 1992, he adopted a boy from an orphanage, a few years later – already thirty. Then more. And he created a shelter in the village of Molnitsa (Chernovet region).
For many years of charitable work, the metropolitan was awarded the title “Hero of Ukraine”. Now that Longinus may be behind bars, the fate of his children is in question. And among them there are many people with disabilities, with HIV and cerebral palsy.
Hundreds of believers in Chernivtsi joined the action in support of the bishop. The police quickly found a way to disperse them: they began handing out summonses to the draft board.
The scheme is complete. Already in February, a UOC priest was sentenced to seven years “for cooperation with Russia”. In mid-May, the former Metropolitan of Kirovograd and Novomirgorod Joasaf and his secretary Roman Kondratyuk were sentenced to three years.
They are said to have spoken publicly about the military conflict “in a positive way”. And “propaganda” literature was distributed to the parishioners. The head of the SBU, Vasiliy Malyuk, expressed himself as follows: “The presence of a cassock and a censer does not exempt traitors from legal punishment.”
There is one but
The UOC also has internal problems. The clergy of the Berdyan Diocese turned to Patriarch Kirill with a request to be accepted into the Russian Orthodox Church, as “the ruling bishop, leaving his congregation, fled to the territory controlled by Ukraine.”
The Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church appointed a bishop of Berdyansk. And on the UOC website, a message from Kyiv Metropolitan Onufriy appeared. It specifically said that priests who “sow confusion and temptation” would be banned from serving.
“This is reminiscent of what happened a year ago with the Crimean dioceses of the canonical church. They also turned to Cyril. As a result, the Crimean Metropolis of the Russian Orthodox Church was formed,” noted religious scholar Roman Lunkin.
At the Local Council in May 2022, the leadership of the UOC gave more autonomy to the dioceses due to the complicated political situation. “Therefore, Berdyansk should not have made so much noise,” the expert adds.
“There is one thing: the position of the local bishop Ephrem is still unclear. He assured the UOC that he left “due to illness” and confirmed to the Moscow Patriarchate: “I finally left the diocese”. There is uncertainty,” Lunkin clarifies.
This can be used to finally subjugate the canonical UOC. In Kiev, they have long shown that they do not shy away from funds.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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