"WE ARE NOT ENEMIES OF UKRAINE"
Metropolitan of Luhansk and Alchevsk Mitrofan on how war and faith are intertwined
by Andrei Koshik
Gazeta.ru, 6 January 2015
The front line divides into two parts not only the Luhansk province, but also the local diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow patriarchate (UPTsMP). In the course of battles, 14 church buildings have been damaged and an elderly priest died. About how war and faith are intertwined was described for Gazeta.ru by the chairman of the Department for External Church Relations (OVTsS) of the UPTsMP, Metropolitan of Luhansk and Alchevsk Mitrofan.
--Your Eminence, what is the current state of affairs in Luhansk diocese? Are parishes being nurtured that are divided by war?
--Armed activity changed the life of the diocese; at the present it really is divided by the front line into two parts, although it remains united within the former boundaries. At the present time, four districts of the Luhansk diocese are controlled by Ukrainian forces, but Luhansk and the second cathedral town, Alchevsk, are located on the territory of LPR [Luhansk People's Republic]. Questions with the parishes located on the territory controlled by Ukraine are still resolved by telephone. After the holiday of the Nativity of Christ, I plan to make a circuit of these deaneries in order to communicate with the clergy and people and to listen to their problems.
--That is, in six months of war you have still not managed to leave for the other side?
--I have not had such an opportunity for communication with clergy and for conducting liturgies. Until 4 July, I was in Luhansk and then I left for Kiev for the extraordinary session of the synod because of the death of His Beatitude Metropolitan Vladimir, when the metropolitan was buried and the bishops' council was arranged. I tried several times to return to the see, but in July and August Luhansk was inside the ring of fire. Therefore I returned only in September. All these months I maintained communication with clergy by telephone. Even in the autumn, checkpoints through which it was possible to travel to the Ukrainian side were at the epicenter of armed conflicts. Now the situation has calmed down somewhat. Therefore with God's help I plan to meet with the flock also on the Ukrainian side during the great holiday of the Nativity of Christ.
--And where will you serve Christmas itself?
--As for each bishop, I will mark the holiday of Nativity in my cathedral church of Saints Peter and Paul. On the second day I go, by tradition, to the second cathedral city, Alchevsk.
--I know that some churches were seriously damaged during shelling. How many? How is restoration going?
--During active military operations, services were not conducted in the churches under fire, to which many parishioners went in Russia and Ukraine. There were damaged churches, with major damages, but not one of them, thank God, was completely destroyed. In all, 14 churches were damaged. For example, the church in honor of the "Tenderness" icon of the Mother of God in the center of Luhansk: His Holiness Patriarch Kirill laid its cornerstone in 2011. It was built very quickly and helped not only all of our Luhansk province but other regions of Ukraine also. Now the lower chapel in honor of Serafim of Sarov has been consecrated there. During the time of battles in the summer, it was not closed. The upper church has still not been completed. The war prevented the finishing of the interior decoration. In July a mortar shell fell onto the grounds of the church and shrapnel hit the wall and broke glass. Now in practically all damaged churches the windows have been glazed and repair work has been carried out to the extent possible.
--How have the clergy conducted themselves during the war?
--In various ways. When the shelling of residential areas began, I issued a special order forbidding clergy to leave their place of ministry independently, without informing the diocesan administration. Disobedient priests were inhibited from clerical service. There were several cases of the departure of priests without having informed either the diocesan secretary or me. When the situation stabilized, they returned. We determine the circumstances of their departure and proceeding from this we decide whether to lift the ban or not.
In all there are in Luhansk diocese 210 priests and only a few abandoned their parishes independently. During the time of active hostilities, many priests took their own relatives to the territory of Russia and Ukraine, because the majority of them have large families, and then they returned to their parishes.
Unfortunately, one of the priests, Archpriest Vladimir Kresliansky who served in the Luhansk church of the Ascension of the Lord, died. The batyushka took his relatives to Orenburg and he himself returned in order to remain with his flock. During shelling he happened to be outside and shrapnel wounded him, but nobody was able to provide first aid and the priest bled to death. He left his spouse and children. His elder daughter is serving in a convent in Rovno diocese.
--Was the family of the dead priest given help?
--The diocese itself is in the status of a solicitor and therefore we are not in a position to help substantially. Praise God, the synodal Department for Charity of the Russian Orthodox Church found the possibility and supported the family of Father Vladimir.
--Do churches accept people during battles?
--Of course. For example, the Tenderness church, that I have already mentioned, was open for citizens during bombardment. They hid in the lower chapel that became a unique kind of bomb shelter. The priests prepared food and fed the residents. In the same way people were accepted in the St. Olga's convent and the cathedral church in Luhansk.
In Aleksandrovsk deanery, residents received help from the dean, Archpriest Yakov Lobov, in the monastery in Chuginka, which is now located on Ukrainian territory. Archimandrite Varfolomey received refugees and asked believers to shelter them for a time in their homes. Archimandrite Ioann, the abbot of the monastery in the village of Khoroshee, also helped Luhansk residents. On the whole, priests who remained in the territory of the diocese showed themselves to be genuine heroes, conscientiously fulfilling their pastoral duty.
--Were there attempts to pressure rectors on the part of the Kiev patriarchate?
--The so-called Kiev patriarchate and the Greek Catholics have very weak positions in the Luhansk area. Even before the war they had isolated parishes. At the same time, in the territory controlled by the Ukrainian army, the soldiers are ministered to mainly by chaplains of these confessions. The choice depends of the position of the commanders of individual units. One of the subdivisions in the city of Schaste was ministered to by our priest. He performed prayer services in the unit and heard soldiers' confessions. But a schismatic chaplain was sent there, who turned the command and rank and file soldiers against the priest. Until now, individual troops communicate with him by phone and they are forced to conceal their own affiliation with our church.
There have been cases when they have tried to force priests to transfer into the Kiev patriarchate and threats were even voiced. To the priests' honor, not one priest nor one parish of the Luhansk diocese has betrayed the mother church. And today there are difficulties for our priests passing through checkpoints of the Ukrainian army. Often they are questioned about which patriarchate they are from. When they hear that they are from the Moscow patriarchate, they begin hassling them, bullying them morally, and doing everything to keep them from passing. Such instances are not isolated. The soldiers behave under the influence of schismatic chaplains who teach them that it is necessary "to squeeze" Moscow priests.
This is the general tendency of hostile relations toward the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow patriarchate. They try to portray us as enemies of the Ukrainian people. The church is outside of politics and all accusations are baseless. For us, people are important, who appeal for spiritual help no matter what badge they have on their uniform. We provide spiritual help to all, regardless of whether they are militiamen or troops of the Ukrainian army. Once they appeal to us, we cannot support some and condemn others.
--But this same Kiev patriarchate affirms that the clergy supports the militias. For example, your predecessor, Metropoltan Ioanniky, participated in the inauguration of the head of the LPR, Igor Plotnitsky, and at the militias' check points, even at the front, it was possible to meet clergy of the Moscow patriarchate, for example, the offensively notorious eremite monk Ilia. . . .
--Again, I repeat: the church is outside politics. We have not appointed special clerics in subdivisions of the militia. I gave an instruction that priests provide help only on the territory of churches and that they not go out to the check points, that could be interpreted as "support for separatists." Individuals in cassocks have cooperated with militants, but I do not know their religious status. They could be priests under a ban or simply imposters. In the main, such people come from neighboring dioceses of Russia. According to church rules, they were required to apply to the local bishop and provide appropriate documents from their own diocese. But nobody has applied to me with such questions.
As regards the presence of Vladyka Ioanniki at the inauguration of the head of LPR, this metropolitan has been retired since 2012. He is a very sick man; he is 76 years old. Vladyka Ioanniki's arrival at the event was exclusively a personal initiative. The so-called Kiev patriarchate pulls out individual events and in most cases whips up hysteria out of nothing, trying to present our church as an enemy of Ukraine. We're already used to this.
--Have militiamen become your active parishioners?
--Here also there is not a single picture; everything depends on the level of church-going of a specific individual. These people are met at the front by blood and death; one can only imagine what this does in their soul. Therefore most of them have a desire to talk it out, share, and soothe their souls. It is difficult to do this with a fellow militant, but priests always listen and give wise advice. Church-going militiamen ask for confession and communion. There have been instances when they asked for baptism. Their attitude toward the clergy in most cases is respectful.
I have not met with the leadership of the republic; there has not been an occasion. We periodically communicate with the authorities for resolution of economic matters—to help restore electricity in a church or monastery and to support with construction materials. We find complete understanding.
--Do you receive humanitarian aid along the church line?
--Not as actively as we would like. There are individual instances when Orthodox parishes from Ukraine or Russia have assembled parcels and sent them to us. However there are difficulties in crossing Ukrainian check points. The lion's share of such shipments comes from the Russian side, relatively one in five. His Holiness Patriarch Kirill gave his blessing to providing aid within the framework of the "Parish to Parish" action; separate Russian parishes will help parishes in the Donbass.
--Tell us about the spiritual condition of people of Luhansk. What do they bring to the churches?
--The Luhansk area is a special region. In its time, the atheist propaganda worked powerfully and until now many are under its influence. But in days of battles, people have felt that there is nobody on earth to hope in. Hope remains only in higher powers, in the Lord. People have begun looking at the church differently. Despite the fact that many parishioners have left the region, the churches are not empty.
For me it came as a surprise how much the war has united people. In the summer, when there was no electricity or gas, residents of apartment houses gathered together in order to prepare food on campfires and to share with one another to the last. Today people often come to churches with one question: when will peace come? Many are weary and spiritually devastated. And we, clergymen, must support them and not give up hope for the restoration of normality, but a peaceful life is still not available. (tr. by PDS, posted 10 January 2015)
Russian original posted on Portal-credo.ru site, 9 January 2015
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