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Moscow patriarchate tries to resolve Ukrainian church disorder

RPTs PATRIARCHATE EXPLAINS STATUS OF UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH

RIA Novosti, 30 November 2017

 

The Bishops' Council wrote into the charter of the Russian Orthodox Church (RPTs) that the center of administration of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UPTsMP) is located in Kiev. At the same time, the patriarchate itself explained that the UPTs remains, as previously, a self-administering part of it.

 

"The adoption by the Bishops' Council of changes in the charter has more of a technical character, inasmuch as the position of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is located in the general chapter on self-administering churches, and because of this there were created several inconveniences connected with the correct understanding of its situation," Patriarch Kirill's press secretary, priest Alexander Volkov, told RIA Novosti.

 

He said that the provision concerning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was placed in a separate chapter, although this does not affect its status.

 

Special status

 

Metropolitan of Kiev and all-Ukraine Onufrey requested that the special status of the UPTs be emphasized in the Bishops' Council.

 

"Recently several public and political forces have been activated that are undertaking attempts to discredit the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the eyes of Ukrainian society, which are claiming that it has a "non-independent" status. They ignore the special status of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church that was established by a decision of the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1990, and at the same time they cite the current charter of the Russian Orthodox Church," he said.

 

The metropolitan said that it is necessary to emphasize the special status of the UPTs in order to avoid "subsequent speculations aimed at undermining the authority of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the eyes of millions of Ukrainians."

 

Changes in the charter

 

In the current charter, the status of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is stated in point 18 of chapter XI under the title "Self-administering Churches." Onufrey noted that this point "does not fully reflect the decision of the RPTs Bishops' Council of 1990 granting to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church independence and autonomy in its administration." The Kiev metropolitan suggested creating a separate chapter under the title "Ukrainian Orthodox Church." The metropolitan's suggestion was adopted unanimously.

 

There was also introduced into the charter a specification according to which a general church judiciary has jurisdiction in the entire Russian church except for the UPTs. From this time on it will be called "Supreme Church-wide Court." Now decisions on cases of representatives of the clergy of the UPGTs who violate church canons will be made by the leadership of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and not the patriarch of Moscow, as previously. At the same time, the final appellate instance remains the Bishops' Council of the RPTs.

 

To inhibit anti-church laws in Ukraine

 

In the opinion of the chief academic researcher and director of the Center for the Study of Problems of Religion and Society of the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Roman Lunkin, the changes will help to avoid the adoption of the anti-church draft laws in the Rada.

 

"Certainly, this does not change the administrative structure of the UPTs. Everything remains as it was. But the perception of the UPTs changes; at least such an attempt has been made. In addition, this may help avoid accusing the UPTs that its center is located in 'the country of an aggressor,' as indicated in the Rada's bill. This is a reasonable political step in order to avoid this," Lunkin notes.

 

In his opinion, the changes in the charter ameliorate the difficult situation of the UPTs in the country. At the same time actually "there is no evidence" that the Moscow patriarchate actually interferes in the internal affairs of the Ukrainian church.

 

In mid-May the Supreme Soviet planned to consider two controversial draft laws about the status of religious organizations. The first of them proposes that religious organizations whose administrative centers are located in a state that Ukraine has recognized as an "aggressor country" will be able to appoint metropolitans and bishops only with the consent of government agencies.

 

The second draft law proposes to grant parishioners the right to change the jurisdiction of religious parishes, whose centers operate in Ukraine and beyond its borders. The vice-chairman of the "Petro Poroshenko Bloc," Aleksei Goncharenko, later declared that parliament still will not consider these bills, since there is not the necessary number of votes for their adoption.

 

Bishops' Council

 

The Bishops' Council is a council of bishops that is convened for discussing and deciding issues and matters of doctrine, religious life, moral questions, and also the structure of church life. Usually it meets once every few years.

 

At the opening of the Bishops' Council in the Moscow church of Christ the Savior, Patriarch Kirill made a programmatic report. He summarized the activity of the church in the past years and identified topics for further discussion.

 

The council was attended by bishops from all Russian and foreign dioceses of the RPTs. It had a record number of participants: according to information from the patriarch's press service, 347 bishops were registered for it. The council coincided with the centennial jubilee of the great local council of the Russian Orthodox Church of 1917-1918, which was conducted during the height of revolutionary events and preceded the start of massive repressions against the clergy. The chief decision of the local council 100 years ago was the restoration of the patriarchate in Rus after more than 200 years of the synodal period (when the church did not have a leader in the person of a patriarch and was subordinate to state authority).

 

On Friday, President Vladimir Putin will address the Bishops' Council for the first time. (tr. by PDS, posted 30 November 2017)


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