WHAT WAS THE METROPOLITAN SITTING FOR?
We are publishing the point of view of a member of the Union of Orthodox Journalists, Vasily Ladyzhensky, on the action by the head of UPTsMP, Onufrey, in parliament, which has evoked in society resonance and criticism.
On 8 May at a solemn session of the Verkhovna Rada, Metropolitan Onufrey of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church did not stand when Petro Poroshenko began reading the names of heroes of Ukraine, who were awarded this title for the war in the Donbass. The whole hall, including foreign guests who understood little, rose, but Onufrey and another two Orthodox priests stayed in their places.
The disgraced metropolitan sat with a distracted look and was thinking his own thoughts. Why disgraced? Because he was uncomfortable. And also because in the name of his church sometimes the word "Moscow" resounds. And it resounds from alien lips. Now this is enough for you to be hated and persecuted for your faith. And for your own church to be seized by force and for you to be called a separatist.
You know that now in western Ukraine about 30 UPTs churches have been seized. The UPTs that is recognized by the entire Orthodox world. The Kiev patriarchate, along with the Right Sector, has started a genuine ecclesiastical war in Ternopol, Rovno, and Volyn provinces. The Right Sector writes unashamedly about this on its official website.
Filaret has justified the civil war several times. He declared that the murder of residents of the Donbass is not a sin. And now neither the government nor journalists notice the crimes committed by representatives of the Kiev patriarchate.
I am sure that if Onufrey, like Filaret, were to speak out in support of the war, then the seizures would instantly be stopped. Disputed churches would be returned. And chaplains of the Right Sector would cease going to villages and describing for naïve villagers how their priests are financing the Russian troops.
However, for the Christian pastor, the summons to war, and even more so a fratricidal war, is unthinkable. I know for sure that the UPTs (the real UPTs) has helped and is helping Ukrainian soldiers who have been wounded in military actions. Orthodox priests actively participate in exchange of prisoners of war. Sons, fathers, and brothers are being returned to Ukrainian families.
The church gives no less attention to refugees and people who have been left in territories not controlled by Ukraine. I am sure: even separatists who attend church in Donetsk or Luhansk are not left by UPTs priests without comfort. But not because they support them. But because in the eyes of a real Christian all of them—both soldiers on either side of the front and refugees—are simply people who are suffering. There are no "Russian patriots" and "Ukrainian patriots." There are no separatists and unionists. There are Ukrainians who, as if in a daze, are killing each other. There is a war in which there will never be winners; only losers.
Onufrey spoke out against the war, as befits a normal Christian: briefly but genuinely. On the day of reconciliation and memory, among politicians, who talk continually about war, he alone genuinely called for peace.
And when the outraged Ukrainian public murmured, ready to once again declare parishioners and priests of the UPTs to be traitors, Onufrey issued an appeal, part of which I cite below.
"The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has always advocated and will advocate the unity of our country and our people. This unity can only be founded on Christian love for one another and also on the capacity of this love to cancel out and to neutralize all that leads our motherland to strife, hatred, and collapse.
Even in times of the greatest emotional and social tension it is necessary to speak the truth. Even if it is not inscribed in the list of immediate political or ideological priorities. A war is going on now within Ukraine. It has divided Ukrainians into hostile camps. Former relatives, neighbors, and friends view one another through the sights of machine guns. And with each day and with each new shelling the chasm between us grows.
Not only bullets are flying. Tons of shells are falling on Ukrainian cities and villages. Civilians are perishing and, what is most horrible, children are too. Sometimes whole families are carried in caskets to the cemetery.
It is necessary to put an end to this. Here and now. For preserving the unity of our people it is necessary to transcend the political expediency and propaganda which is creating for each of the contending sides their own history, their own heroes, and their own mythology." (tr. by PDS, posted 10 May 2015)
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