UPTsMP METROPOLITAN: PRIESTS
THREATENED BY "DPR" AND "LPR" FLEE TO UKRAINE
Religiia
v Ukraine, 22 June 2015
Metropolitan of
Pereiaslav-Khmelnitski and Vishnev Alexander Drabinko, a vicar
bishop of the Kiev metropolia, described the situation of
dioceses of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow
patriarchate in the parts of the Donbass and Crimea that are not
controlled by Ukraine, Religiia v Ukraine reports, with
reference to an interview of the bishop in the publication
Glavkom.
"Dioceses, bishops, and clergy
are fulfilling their responsibilities to the extent the military
conditions permit it," Metropolitn Alexander said. "It is
especillay difficult for them now since the front line divides
their dioceses and the moods on different sides are diverse.
Some priests who are patriotically minded have left the
territory of the so-called Luhansk People's Republic [LPR] and
the Donetsk People's Republic [DPR] because there were threats
against them. One such priest is ministering temporarily in our
church. He arrived several days ago and asked whether he could
worship with us. I said that if his documents are in order, then
he may, subject to clarification from Metropolitan of Luhansk
and Alchev Mitrofan whether this priest has any canonical
impedments. This priest had wound up on the 'shoot lists' of the
terrorists since he gave spiritual nourishment to fighters of
the Aidar battallion."
It is noteworthy that as of the
present the Moscow patriarchate in its official documents has
been stressing the exclusively one-sided character of the
threats against clergy of UPTsMP on the part of the Ukrainian
siloviki.
Speaking further about the
ministers of the UPTs who nevertheless have supported the
separatists, in particular the Holy Dormition St. Nicholas
Vasiliev monastery, founded in the 1990s by Archimandrite
Zosima, the spiritual director of Viktor Yanukovich,
Metropolitan Alexander said: "The ideology of merger with Russia
and separation from Ukraine and rejection of Ukrainianism and
the Ukrainian church on the religious plane comes from this
so-called Elder Zosima. One should read his testament and
everything will become clear. On the whole, nobody has condemned
his position. The monastery is on territory not controlled by
Ukraine. The director of the monastery is Metropolitan of
Donetsk Ilarion. So the question applies more to the Donetsk
diocese and not to me. The attitudes in this monastery are known
to the hierarchy of our church."
In the metropolitan's opinion, if
in the self-proclaimed republics they refuse to recognize the
jurisdiction of the Kiev metropolitanate, then it is unlikely
that the ruling bishops of these republic will agree to adopt
such a decision. Although the barrels of machine guns are
capable of everything," Vladyka Alexander noted. "There isn't
such a question. They serve in dioceses of the UPTsMP, which is
a part of the RPTs, and the locals think that this is a Russian
church and they consider them the churches of the DPR and LPR."
The bishop said that in its
official documents, the UPTs advocates the territorial integrity
and sovereignty of Ukraine. "However the historical process is
continuing and winners are not judged. When the occupied
territories and Crimea are liberated, then it will be possible
to assess how they (separatist clergy—ed.) behaved and to make a
decision. If they are not dismissed they will be heroes to the
local separatists. Especially considering the religious
overtones of this war," the metropolitan suggests.
As regards annexed Crimea,
canonically the local dioceses belong to the UPTsMP, but their
property has already been transferred to the Russian state, with
the consent of the UPTs synod. "Russia declared that it is its
territory. Vladyka Lazar came from Crimea to Kiev and brought
documents and reported to the Holy Synod that he had to
reregister the charter of the diocese in accordance with the
requirements of Russian legislation. The synod adopted the
corresponding decision," Vladyka Alexander explained.
He thinks that the synod could
have not taken such responsibility onto itself. "We are talking
about the sphere of Vladyka Lazar's responsibility. It turned
out that in adopting the corresponding order in accordance with
Vlladyka Lazar's request, the Holy Synod made a decision
blessing the alienation of property of the Ukrainian state. This
evoked sharp criticism on the part of the public and the
government. In my opinion, the synod did not need to take such
responsibility onto itself but could leave it in the purview of
the ruling bishop," the bishop said.
"Sure, there were alternatives,"
Metropolitan Alexander maintains. "If UPTsMP talks about the
integrity of the state, then it thinks that Crimea is Ukraine
and it should issue an order that recognizes that it (Crimea) is
termporarily occupied territory. From this temporarily occupied
territory the leadership of the dioceses could transfer into
Kherson or Nikolaev. It should temporarily move the canonical
administration beyond the borders of occupied territories until
the resolution of the situation. Of course, a juridical problem
would remain—the status of parishes, land, church buildings,
which they could resolve independently. There are no problems
that cannot be solved. There simply needs to be a will to defend
our own church and canon laws, in keeping with Ukrainian
legislation." (tr. by PDS, posted 22 June 2015)
May 27, 2015
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/.