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Ukrainian news service faults reporting by Kiev church

UPTs TRYING TO HIDE MEETING OF METROPOLITAN ONUFREY WITH HEAD OF OVTsSMP METROPOLITAN ILARION

Religiia v Ukraine, 17 March 2015

 

Against the background of the public outcry over the status of the Crimean dioceses of UPTs, official information bodies of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow patriarchate (UPTsMP) are continuing to cause confusion in the understanding of church events. During recent days, the UPTs website and the website of the Kiev metropolia of UPTs have suppressed news about a recently held meeting of Metropolitan of Kiev and all-Ukraine Onufrey with the head of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow patriarchate [OVTsSMP], Metropolitan Ilarion, a correspondent of the portal Religiia v Ukraine reports.

 

Official UPTs websites have given several reports about a brief visit by the primate of UPTs on 13-14 March 2015 to Mount Athos, but none of them mentioned the fact of his meeting on the Greek peninsula with the chairman of the OVTsSMP, Metropolitan of Volokolamsk Ilarion. In the final news of 15 March, the UPTs website reports about the conclusion of Metropolitan Onufrey's visit to Athos with an enumeration of the monasteries visited and the persons who accompanied him—UPTs Chancellor Metropolitan Antony and the head of the administrative apparatus of the Kiev metropolia, Archpriest Vladimir Kotsaba. Here is what was reported:

 

"On 14 March the primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Metropolitan of Kiev and all-Ukraine Onufrey . . . performed a canonical worship service in the St. Panteleimon monastery on Athos and during the divine liturgy he raised prayers for peace in the Ukrainian land.

 

"Persons concelebrating with His Beatitude included the chancellor of UPTs, Metropolitan of Borispol and Brovary Antony; the head of the administrative apparatus of the Kiev Metropolia, Archpriest Vladimir Kotsaba; and brothers of the Athos cloister of priestly rank."

 

This would have gone unnoticed had it not been that on the day it was published the official website of the Russian Orthodox Church provided a different account of the event:

 

"On 14 March 2015 the primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Metropolitan of Kiev and all-Ukraine Onufrey, who was on Mount Athos for a brief pilgrimage, performed the Divine Liturgy in the cathedral church of the Russian Panteleimon monastery.

 

"Persons concelebrating with the His Beatutide included the chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow patriarchate, Metropolitan of Volokolamsk Ilarion; the chancellor of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and rector of the Kiev Ecclesiastical Seminary, Metropolitan of Borispol and Brovary Antony; Bishop of Lvov and Galicia Filaret; the abbot of the stavropegial church of the Great Martyr Catherine in Rome, Archimandrite Antony; the secretary of the academic council of the Kiev Ecclesiastical Academy, Archpriest Vladimir Kotsaba; an employee of OVTsS, Deacon Anatoly Churiakov; students of the Saints Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodius Churchwide Graduate and Doctoral Studies, hierodeacons Grigory and Nikolai; and brothers of the Athos cloister of priestly rank.

 

"After the liturgy, Metropolitan Onufrey raised a prayer for peace in the Ukrainian land.

 

'Upon conclusion of the worship service, the delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church led by Metropolitan Ilarion said farewell to the brothers of the monastery and left the Holy Mount Athos. The chairman of OVTsS was accompanied to the airport of the Macedonian city of Thessalonica by the consul general of the Russian federation in Thessalonica, A.A. Popov."

 

The photo reporting published on the UPTs websites omits the image of Metropolitan Ilarion, whereas patriarkhiia.ru and the website of OVTsMP have posted a photograph of his concelebration with the head of the UPTs. In order to avoid mentioning Metropolitan Ilarion, the UPTs website even went so far as to violate the order of respect for bishops, according to which immediately after the head of UPTs, the second concelebrating bishop in hierarchical significance should be mentioned, that is, Metropolitan Ilarion, and not Metropolitan Antony. On the RPTs websites, this order is observed.

 

Experts and observers on the Internet immediately guessed that the coincidence of the visits of the head of UPTs and the head of the diplomatic department of the Moscow patriarchate to Mount Athos and also the UPTs' attempt to hide the fact of their meeting could hardly be accidental. Meetings of hierarchs of such a level usually are accompanied by negotiations (often in private) on critical issues of church life. Simple logic dictates that both hierarchs, in addition to participating in liturgical activity, discussed the situation in the UPTs, especially in light of the outcry connected with the violation by the Moscow patriarchate of the UPTs' right to broad autonomy during the reregistration of the charters of the Crimean dioceses.

 

As is known, Metropolitan Ilarion is persona non grata in Ukraine, and Metropolitan Onufrey's frequent trips to Moscow are not beneficial to his reputation in Ukraine. It seems that pilgrimages to "neutral territories" have become the preferred means of church diplomacy of the Russian Orthodox Church. (tr. by PDS, posted 18 March 2015)


Background articles:
Moscow Ukrainian church denies surrender to Russia
March 8, 2015
Ukrainian news service keeps question of Crimean dioceses open
March 11, 2015


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