RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS


Moscow Ukrainian church denies surrender to Russia

UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH OF MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE LEGALLY RECOGNIZES ANNEXED CRIMEA AS PART OF RF

Turns over all property of two Crimean dioceses to Russian church's account

UNIAN, 8 March 2015

 

This was stated in a broadcast of a program on TSN.Tizhden. People's deputies have already prepared a collective statement on this matter to the leadership of the government and law enforcement agencies.

 

The broadcast says that UPTsMP cannot determine with whom it is associated—with the Ukraine or with Russian Patriarch Kirill. During the war in the Donbass, the leadership and the new primate of UPTsMP, Onufrey, never expressed in words support for the Ukrainian army and they never spoke words about Russia as the aggressor country. "I am not a politician, and I am not able to answer this question for you," the primate of UPTsMP, Metropolitan Onufrey, justified himself. (tr. by PDS, posted 9 March 2015)


 

LEGAL DEPARTMENT OF UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH REGARDING PROGRAM OF TSN.NEDELIA OF 8 MARCH 2015

Ukrainian Orthodox Church, 9 March 2015

 

On 8 March 2015 on the television channel 1+1, in the program "TSN.Week," false information was disseminated regarding the supposed transfer of "some of the rights and property of two dioceses of UPTsMP in Crimea to the Russian church."

 

In connection with this, the Legal Department of UPTs officially states that this information does not correspond with reality, since no decision concerning a change of the subordination and transfer of property of dioceses of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, located on the territory of the autonomous republic of Crimea, has been made by the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

 

The charters of the Simferopol and Feodosia dioceses of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church follow the patent of Patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus Alexis II of 1990 "Concerning the independence and autonomy in its administration of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church" and the "Charter regarding the administration of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church."

 

The dioceses, located on the territory of the autonomous republic of Crimea, even in the future, will be members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and they are directly subordinate to the metropolitan of Kiev and all-Ukraine.

 

We call attention that the documents whose text was cited in the broadcast "TSN Week" have not been adopted by the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. And therefore it is regrettable that in preparing the broadcast of the program, the 1+1 channel has used, as is already typical, false, unconfirmed, and provocative information.

 

We also note that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has not received any appeals regarding the reports about the adoption of charters of the dioceses of UPTs in the autonomous republic of Crimea.

 

Despite this, we demand a refutation of the incorrect and unreliable information which was broadcast on 8 March 2015 by the 1+1 television channel in the TSN Week program. (tr. by PDS, posted 9 March 2015)

 

UPTs DOCUMENTS OBTAINED INDICATING LEGAL RECOGNITION OF CRIMEA AS PART OF RUSSIA WITH TRANSFER OF TWO DIOCESES TO IT

Religiia v Ukraine, 9 March 2015

 

The editorial office of the portal Religiia v Ukrainae has received the text of a new edition of the charter of the Simferopol diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow patriarchate). It is this document that became the cause of an uproar yesterday, 8 March, in the program TSN Week, where it was said that the UPTs has legally recognized Crimea as a part of Russia and transferred two diocese to it.

 

The issue regards the Simferopol and Fedosia dioceses of UPTs. The minutes No. 93 of the session of the Holy Synod of UPTs of 23 December 2014 state the blessing of the adoption of a new edition of the charter of one of the above-mentioned dioceses, Fedosia, and the blessing of the adoption of a new edition of the charter of the Simferopol diocese given then in the session of the synod of UPTs under the chairmanship of the locum tenens Metropolitan Onufrey on 19 June 2014 (blessing was also given to the registration in new editions of charters of the Kiev, Sumy, Lvov, and Konotop dioceses of UPTs). At that time nowhere in the UPTs was there official information about just what changes were included in the indicated charters.

 

Today on the official website of the press service of UPTs there appeared commentaries regarding the spectacular broadcast of TSN which specifically said: "We call attention that the documents whose text was cited in the broadcast 'TSN Week' have not been adopted by the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church."

 

We cannot be sure whether the document that we have in our possession of the charter of the Simferopol diocese of UPTs has been registered, although we know that this document is the very same one that the journalists who produced the program on TSN had. We hope that the publication of this document will be able to bring some clarity to this topic of this discussion. . . .  (tr. by PDS, posted 9 March 2015)


[two paragraphs added to the original article on 10 March 2015:]

 

According to some reports, this version of the charter was created in Moscow without the knowledge and participation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. And apparently it was the Simferopol diocese that submitted it for registration in the Federal Tax Service of the RF in December 2014. This charter was registered there on 30 December 2014, about which there is information on the website of the tax service.

 

Previously an official representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Public Chamber of the Russian federation, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, stated the intention to provide assistance in the transfer of Crimean confessions into the legislative field of Russia. (tr. by PDS, posted 10 March 2015)

 

[Tr. note: in the original article there follows a full text of the charter of the diocese whose very great length does not justify translation and publication by RNN. The following are translations of excerpts from that text published by UNIAN]


Charter of the Orthodox religious organization: Simferopol and Crimea Diocese:

(version of the charter confirmed 3 December 2014)

 

. . . The diocese is a canonical subdivision of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. . . .

 

. . . The diocese conducts its activity within the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church in accordance with the charter of the Russian Orthodox Church. . . .

 

. . . The location of the standing executive body of the diocese (the diocesan council headed by the diocesan bishop) is within the Russian federation, the republic of Crimea, and the city of Simferopol. . . .

 

. . . In their activity, the diocesan bishops are subordinate to the patriarch of Moscow and all-Russia, the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, led by the metropolitan of Kiev and all-Ukraine. . . .

 

. . . Property belonging to the diocese and its canonical subdivisions  . . . is the property of the Russian Orthodox Church. . . . (tr. by PDS, posted 9 March 2015)



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