U.P.Ts. EVALUATES ZELENSKY'S VISIT WITH BARTHOLOMEW
A meeting between Ukrainian President Zelensky and Constantinople Patriarch Bartholomew, which was held on Friday, was dictated by a desire to fix the situation in the Donbass, the chairman of the synodal Department of News and Enlightenment of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UPTs), Metropolitan of Nezhin and Priluki Kliment, told RIA Novosti.
Earlier Zelensky's press service reported that during his visit to Turkey, the Ukrainian president participated in a prayer service for Ukraine, viewed the church of St. George in Istanbul, and held a meeting with Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew, at which "the situation in the Donbass was discussed in detail." According to information of the press service, Zelensky thanked Bartholomew for "unconditional personal support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine." The office of the president explained that Patriarch Bartholomew may visit Ukraine for Independence Day on 24 August 2021.
"Today the Ukrainian president is seeking various ways, including unconventional ones, for overcoming the crisis in the Donbass. The press has included information about recent contacts by Ukrainian officials with the Vatican. Perhaps now these officials have prompted the president to try to talk with Patriarch Bartholomew also," Metropolitan Kliment said. He noted that the influence of Patriarch Bartholomew in the Donbass is minimal.
Metropolitan Kliment suggested that the meeting in Turkey is an "informational occasion in the period of the election campaign in Ukraine." In this regard, he recalled ex-president Petro Poroshenko, who "with regard to the largest confession in the country (the Ukrainian Orthodox Church—ed.) was guided not by the constitution but by recommendations of political operatives." "Everybody knows the political results of this, and it would be strange if the current team of the president stepped on the same political rake," the representative of the UPTs explained.
Speaking of a possible visit to Kiev by Patriarch Bartholomew, the metropolitan noted that for the people of Ukraine, the patriarch of Constantinople is "a strange and puzzling person." "Bartholomew himself was convinced of this. He came to Ukraine several times. Despite the attempts of Ukrainian politicians to create diplomatic pomp for his visits, the ordinary people did not understand much at all, who he is, where he is from, and what he needs here" the news agency's interlocutor summarized.
In his turn, a member of the synodal biblical and theological commission and inter-council representation of the RPTs, Arkady Maler, suggests that after Zelensky's visit with Patriarch Bartholomew, one may expect a strengthening of support for the uncanonical "Orthodox Church of Ukraine" (PTsU) on the part of the president.
"The invitation to Patriarch Bartholomew to the 30th anniversary of the independence of Ukraine is an explicitly political step toward a rapprochement with the Phanar (the district in Istanbul where Bartholomew's residence is located—ed.). One can be sure that now Zelensky will support more and more the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, whose creation was initiated earlier by Bartholomew. Sooner or later one may also expect repression against the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church," Maler said.
At the same time, he noted that thus far increased pressure on the UPTs on the part of the Ukrainian authorities has not been observed. He also recalled that before his presidency Zelensky acted as a "peace candidate who wanted to overcome all conflicts in Ukrainian society," and thus he has earlier distanced himself from the church topic. Maler said that at the time Zelensky still "had a negative attitude toward Poroshenko's flirtation with Bartholomew and toward the Ukrainian church schism."
"But when Zelensky became president, his position began to change, and this was an objective process. He understood that it was necessary to take somebody's side. If the president wanted 'to befriend everybody' and be a consistent liberal politician, as he positioned himself, he would have to distance himself equally from all religious leaders and not meet with anybody nor support anybody," Maler emphasized. He recalled that in 2019, Zelensky met with Bartholomew.
Regional elections will be held in Ukraine on 25 October and oblast and district councils will be elected. The presidential election will occur in 2024.
In 2018, on the initiative of the former president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, and the Constantinople patriarchate, an "autocephalous unification council" was held in Kiev, at which two schismatic organizations created one schismatic structure, the so-called Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which received from the Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew a tomos concerning autocephaly. In October 2018, the Russian Orthodox Church severed eucharistic fellowship with the patriarchate of Constantinople.
Because of the recognition of the Ukrainian schismatics by the Constantinople patriarchate, pressure on the canonical church in Ukraine increased substantially. The UPTs reported open discrimination and persecution on the part of authorities, members of nationalist groupings, and schismatic structures, and also about an informational campaign against itself in the Ukrainian news media. Seizures of church buildings of the canonical church, persecution of priests, and seizures of land where UPTs monasteries are located occurred. After Petro Poroshenko left the office of president of the country, persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church decreased. (tr. by PDS, posted 18 October 2020)
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