RUSSIAN TV DISTORTED WORDS OF PATRIARCH FILARET INTO THEIR OPPOSITE
The Russian television channel Rossia-1 distorted the words of Patriarch Filaret from his Sunday sermon of 22 March, changing their meaning into their opposite. This is stated in material of Radio Liberty.
Thus, his affirmation that the defense of one's own land is not a violation of the commandment "Thou shalt not kill" was transformed by the Russian propagandists into a summons to kill residents of the Donbass, and his affirmation that the Donbass is indigenous Ukrainian land was made into a declaration that this is a falsehood.
A news release of 25 March on the Russian channel Rossiia-1 said that the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev patriarchate, Filaret, urged the killing of residents of the Donbass.
"In his sermon, Filaret stated that the destruction of residents of Luhansk and Donetsk provinces is not at all a sin, and the commandment "Thou shalt not kill" does not apply to these people," the anchor said.
Russian journalists drew this conclusion from the text of the patriarchal service on the fourth Sunday of the Great Fast [Lent], which is accessible on the portal of UPTsKP. However, in this text, Patriarch Filaret never once called for the murder of residents of Luhansk or Donetsk province, although he maintained that the commandment "Thou shalt not kill" is not violated when someone is defending his own land from an aggressor.
Rossia-1 also completely distorted the words of the patriarch about the Donbass. "It is a falsehood that the Donbass has for centuries been Ukrainian land. Ukrainians both lived there and live there. Go about the villages of Donetsk and Luhansk province. The native population lives there. These are people who came from Russia and other republics of the Soviet Union or the Russian empire and settled on Ukrainian lands," the Russian "journalists" "quote" Filaret.
What Patriarch Filaret said: "What is the lie by those, not all, but those separatists who live in the Donbass. The falsehood is that they do not admit that the Donbass has for centuries been Ukrainian land. Ukrainians both lived there and live there. Go about the villages of Donetsk and Luhansk province. The indigenous population lives there. Who do they consider themselves to be, Russians or Ukrainians, if they converse in the Ukrainian language? They are Ukrainians. And who are the separatists? They are people who came from Russia and other republics of the Soviet Union or the Russian empire and settled on Ukrainian lands. And the Ukrainian land received them gladly." (tr. by PDS, posted 27 March 2015)
[tr. note: There seems to be some confusion here. On Monday, 23 March, I read the transcription of Patriarch Filaret's Sunday sermon posted on the Kiev patriarchate's website. As I recall, it contained the exact words ascribed in this article to the so-called Russian journalists' fabrication. But now the patriarchate's website gives the exact words of the last paragraph of this article as what the patriarch's sermon said. On Monday, I decided against publishing a translation of the sermon, even though it seemed newsworthy (it could be seen as almost a manifesto of Ukrainian Orthodox perspective), because the words, as they stood, did not seem reasonable. Now, after a week, there seems to be no way to prove that the patriarchate changed the text posted on its website. But the words of the last paragraph here express what I thought on Monday the patriarch probably would have intended to say. If anybody has a way to document what the Kiev patriarchate posted on Sunday or Monday and to compare it with what the patriarchate is now posting, I would be appreciative. Responses to RRN may be sent to [email protected]]
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