NEW UPTs BISHOP: "WE HAVE EFFECTIVELY LEFT THE MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE"
Religiia v Ukraine, 22 May 2015
The ruling bishop of the Ivano-Frankovsk and Kolomyia diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow patriarchate), Bishop Tikhon, gave an interview to the Ivano-Frankovsk newspaper Western Courier in which he described how he found a common language with local confessions and authorities and why in a number of instances he has not commemorated the head of the RPTs in the liturgy, and he also spoke about the differences in views between Patriarch Kirill and Metropolitan Onufrey.
At the start of the conversation, the journalist noted that before the interview the press secretary of the diocese, Father Vasily, asked that he not use the attachment "Moscow patriarchate" when referring to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church since this offends the clergymen (similar requests have been expressed also in the neighboring Chernovitsy diocese—ed.). To this Vladyka Tikhon, who became the bishop of Ivano-Frankovsk and Kolomyia by decision of the UPTs Holy Synod in December 2014, replied: "The fact is that before the separation from the Kiev patriarchate, this attachment did not exist at all. And it does not now. Not in any document. The attachment "MP" was given to us artificially in order to distinguish between the Kiev and Moscow patriarchates. The late Patriarch Alexis II granted independence to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The UPTs has its own Holy Synod, it has its own primate, and it decides all issues independently. Bishops are also elected independently. The only thing may be that when the primate of the church is in Moscow he may inform the patriarch about decisions that have been adopted.
Bishop Tikhon also acknowledged that the lion's share of parishes of the Moscow patriarchate are located in Ukraine. "The Russian Orthodox Church is considered to be huge, but territorially all the principal parishes are actually in Ukraine. Russia is large but . . . Well this is why Kirill is trying to expand Orthodoxy particularly by opening new dioceses in Siberia," he explained.
Describing his appointment to the Ivano-Frankovsk see, Vladyka Tikhon said: "I admit: I came here with great feelings. I was warned: 'Oh it will be hard on you there.' But praise God, I have been here five months now and I cannot complain that anybody has infringed me in the Carpathians, or that there have been some attacks, or that somebody says 'you are a Muscovite.' There has been nothing of the sort! Recently I was invited to Burshtyn where an event was occurring in a college. I know that several people said 'Indeed they are from the Moscow patriarchate there; nobody goes there.' Why don't I go? I will go! I went. Priests of other confessions were pleasantly surprised. They came up to me for a blessing and I was pleasantly surprised. It was a rather good atmosphere, which one should not let pass."
As it turned out, the UPTs in the Carpathian region before Vladyka Tikhon's arrival did not participate in joint events with other churches. "Much depends on the person, on the bishop," Tikhon explained the situation. "Today (the interview was held on 8 May, on the Day of Memory and Reconciliation—ed.) it was pleasant for me to stand next to representatives of other churches and to perform together a memorial service. I want for us to have reconciliation and understanding."
The journalist nevertheless recalled that in several UPTs dioceses, priests have blessed the weapons of pro-Russian separatists and this divides the church. The bishop responded: "Before Pascha, the clergy of various confessions in the Carpathian region met with the chairman of the provincial government administration, Oleg Goncharuk. Somebody who attended also began in his speech talking about blessing weapons, but the chairman of the provincial government administration interrupted and noted absolutely correctly that it was necessary to have proof in order to talk like this. I do not rule out that possibly there have been such incidents. It's unfortunate. But I am sure that to a substantial degree this is black PR tactics. We don't speak on television and we don't boast of how much help the Ivano-Frankovsk and Kolomyia diocese of the UPTs has sent to our troops in the ATO zone. That is our Christian duty, and we fulfill it."
Turning to the topic of overcoming the schism in Ukrainian Orthodoxy, Bishop of Ivano-Frankovsk and Kolomyia Tikhon responded to a question about UPTsMP's possibly joining the unification process between the Kiev patriarchate and the UAPTs: "We'll see how their unification process ends. We know perfectly well that Patriarch Filaret will not yield his primacy. Just as the UAPTs also has a list of its demands. We will see how events will unfold. It's not our fault that the schism occurred. Let them return to the bosom of the united church."
At the same time, the bishop emphasized: "We have effectively left the Moscow patriarchate. We talked about this at the start of our conversation. The UPTs is an autonomous church. We have in the church a primate. Not the metropolitan of some territory, but a primate! Just like all the other local churches.
The head of the Ivano-Frankovsk diocese was surprised by the journalist's question that "on the official website of the UPTs alongside peace-loving sermons . . . it is possible to find a whole series of harsh articles that are more like some political orders" (in all likelihood he is talking about the website of the press service of UPTs "Orthodox Ukraine" by Vasily Anisimov—ed.). "That cannot be," the bishop responded. He also displayed ignorance about the public statements of the vicar bishop of the Chernovitsy diocese, Longin Zhar, in which the leaders of the country are called "cursed" and "servants of Satan." "I had not heard that the bishop spoke that way, however harsh he might be in his convictions," the ruling bishops of the Ivano-Frankovsk diocese said. "It is not necessary to say that. It is enough that politicians inflame strife. The church should not intervene in political discussion. Or to call for some actions. If a priest wants to express his civic position, then he should do this tolerantly. Actually, Vladyka Longin has condemned the bloodshed and the deaths of people, but possibly sometimes he expresses himself too emotionally."
Next Bishop Tikhon discussed features of church life after Metropolitan Vladimir. "Metropolitan Alexander now does not play a weighty role. Under His Beatitude, yes, he had influence. However it is not right to say that Vladyka Onfrey is pro-Moscow minded. That is not true. He and Patriarch Kirill also have divergent views. There are several differences."
What these differences consist of, the bishop did not want to specify. "His Beatitude does not talk about this. He is a huge boulder that you read but do not read to the end. But I will speak about this incident: when Kirill came to Chernovtsy it was not at Onufrey's invitation but at Vladyka Longin's, whom you have mentioned. The visit occurred back in Yanukovich's time. At the time, a magnificent church was being built in Chernovitsy province with the help of Boiko and Firtash. By the way, there are in Chernovitsy diocese many parishes where Patriarch Kirill is not commemorated during the divine liturgy.
Editorial disclaimer: RRN does
not intend to certify the accuracy of information
presented in articles. RRN simply intends to certify the
accuracy of the English translation of the contents of the
articles as they appeared in news media of countries of
the former USSR.
If material is quoted, please give credit to the
publication from which it came. It is not necessary to credit
this Web page. If material is transmitted electronically, please
include reference to the URL,
http://www.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/.