DONBASS EXCOMMUNICATED?
UPTsMP is requested to move diocesan centers from territory of conflict
by Anatoly Khlivnyi, Lev Perchin
News media have reported that the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture will request that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow patriarchate (UPTsMP) move the centers of four dioceses, which are located in the Donbass, to territory that is controlled by Kiev. This was announced at a press conference by the director of the Department for Affairs of Religions and Nationalities of the Ministry of Culture, Andrei Yurash. The press conference itself was held on 25 September of this year and was devoted to the conflict between parishes of the UPTsMP and the Kiev patriarchate in the village of Katerinovka of Kremenets district of Ternopol province.
"The time has come to show society whom the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (of the Moscow patriarchate—NGR) is with," Andrei Yurash declared. "We are preparing an appeal to the hierarchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church that it make one very weighty gesture, showing that it understands society and it is blood of the blood of this society and not an agent of somebody's influences. That four diocesan centers that are now located in occupied territories in the Donbass be moved to territory that is controlled by the Ukrainian side. We understand: there are clergymen and there are parishes; let them remain. They should be with the people, but the church must show where its hierarchy is and where its priorities are. And therefore this would be an exceptionally important gesture which would remove all provocative questions for the UPTs." Among the "provocative" questions the bureaucrat included complaints of the Ukrainian society against clergymen of the UPTsMP who participate in processions of the cross in the Donbass and Crimea, which are called occupied territories in Ukraine, as well as statements in support of the DPR and LPR [Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics—tr.]. We asked Andrei Yurash for clarification of just when such an appeal to the UPTsMP would be delivered, but he turned out to be inaccessible and had not answered the inquiry by press time.
A comment on the initiative of the representative of the Ministry of Culture was given to us by the chairman of the UPTsMP synod's Information Department, Bishop Kliment. "Mr. Yurash's statement does not correspond to Ukrainian legislation, because such requirements are not there. That's the first thing. And the second is that for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the Donbass and Crimea are Ukraine. If Mr. Yurash thinks otherwise, then it is the business of certain bodies that should review such statements. I repeat, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church considers the Donbass and Crimea to be integral parts of Ukraine, and therefore those dioceses that are operating there today are a part of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which is subordinate to the metropolitan of Kiev and all-Ukraine. At every liturgy in these dioceses, his name is elevated and prayers are said for the Ukrainian state and Ukrainian people."
We turned to Liudmila Filippovich, the head of the department of the history of religion and practical religious studies of the Grigory Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, with the question of what is behind Andrei Yurash's statement and whether it is legal. "The law does not deal with a situation where there is aggression and war within the country," Filippovich responded. "If diocesan administrations are to be moved, then the law should provide specific conditions for this. I think that here the situation is as follows: the government may not interfere in the life of the church and the church operates in accordance with its own charter that the government has accepted, which means it respects it." However the religious studies scholar considers that if the UPTsMP will not follow the questioning of its patriotism that Ukrainian society poses to it, then in "a couple of years this church may be left isolated." "Nobody is interested in its automatic execution of confessional principles and rules," Filippovich thinks. "The church is a part of society and it should be active in response to the changes and challenges that this society formulates." "Regarding Mr. Yurash's statement, I think that it was made more for educational purposes," the expert summed up.
CONTEXT: The conflict over the rights to the church of St. George the Conqueror, which is now in the jurisdiction of the UPTsMP, is continuing in the village of Katerinovka of Kremenets district of Ternopol province and has been going on several months now, but in the autumn it has entered an acute phase. The press secretary of the Ternopol diocese of the UPTsMP, Archpriest Georgy Kazimiruk, told the Ukrainian news agency UNIAN, "on 21 September representatives of Right Sector arrived . . and after breaking a window they entered the church and admitted priests of the Kiev patriarchate, who began performing a worship service." This report was confirmed on the website of the above named radical rightwing association that is banned in Russia: "On 21 September in the village of Katerinovka, the Right Sector defended the rights of parishioners of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev patriarchate. . . . Fighters of the 6th Reserve Battallion of the Volunteer Ukrainian Corps of Right Sector and the S. Bandera Trident came to the aid of residents of the village." Videos from the site of the events show about a dozen strong young people in camouflage, balaclavas, and body armor. They stood at the gates and did not allow believers of the Moscow patriarchate to enter the churchyard. Believers led by a priest tried to get to the captured church. Members of Right Sector retreated, using pepper spray, but troops of the Ternopol battalion of the National Guard of the Ukrainian MVD came to their aid. The videos show that they were beating people. According to information from the UPTsMP, at least 15 persons were injured from being beaten by MVD personnel. (tr. by PDS, posted 8 October 2015)
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