RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS


Ukrainian funeral controversy stirs further conflict

"THIS CHURCH IS NOT UKRAINIAN"—ZAPOROZHE PRIEST QUITS UPTsMP

RISU, 11 January 2017

 

Anatoly Revtov, a priest of the Zaporozhe diocese, left the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow patriarchate (UPTsMP) because of the pro-Russian position of its clergy. He made this decision after the diocesan meeting on 10 January, where his address in the Ukrainian language evoked an outcry. The priest himself told the portal Depo.Zaporizhia about this.

 

The meeting was held in the cathedral church of the Holy Protection with the participation of representatives of all parishes of the diocese (priests and laity) and under the chairmanship of Metropolitan Luka.

 

Among other topics, the meeting discussed Anatoly's acts, specifically his harsh commentaries on social networks criticizing the pro-Russian course of the UPTsMP (in particular in the light of the blow-up over the refusal by a priest of this church to perform a funeral for an "improperly baptized" deceased child).  Anatoly was not permitted to express his position; he was interrupted because he began speaking in Ukrainian.

 

"People, laity, immediately began to shout: 'Speak in Russian.' I say to them: Ukrainian is my civil language. And then the secretary of the diocese runs up to me and says: 'When you came to us four years ago you spoke in Russian.' I say to him: 'But after that your state attacked my state. People have changed; I have changed.' They (parishioners—ed.) shouted and shoved and intended to beat me," the priest explained.

 

After that he left the meeting.

 

Father Anatoly adds that now he has firmly decided: he will be unable to continue to serve in the UPTsMP. His pro-Ukrainian views have long ago led to misunderstandings with other members of the diocese.

 

"This church is not Ukrainian. It uses Ukrainian money, it gets wages in it, and at the same time it hates it. How is this a Ukrainian church if an icon of the tsar hangs in it? I am the only one in the diocese who serves in the Ukrainian language—a year and a half in a row. Once I tried to begin preaching in Ukrainian and another time I simply spoke it with people in the cathedral. Both times the rector cursed me for this—says nobody will understand you," the priest explains.

 

In addition, sometimes priests displayed dissatisfaction with Anatoly's trips to the Donbass to visit Ukrainian troops and with his cooperation with volunteers. And current events have become for him "the last straw." (tr. by PDS, posted 11 January 2018)

 

 

IN UPTsMP DIOCESES, QUESTION OF UPTsKP BAPTISM IS RESOLVED DIFFERENTLY

Religiia v Ukraine, 11 January 2018

 

At the present time, there is no unambiguous position in dioceses of the UPTs (Moscow patriarchate) with regard to recognizing the sacrament of baptism in the opposing jurisdiction, the UPTs (Kiev patriarchate). This is attested, in particular, by the practice of the Kherson diocese of the UPTsMP, a neighbor of the Zaporozhe diocese, where for several weeks now the furor has not quieted in connection with the categorical refusal of the clergy to perform a funeral for a child who was baptized in the UPTsKP, a correspondent of the portal Religiia v Ukraine reports.

 

The secretary of the Kherson diocese of the UPTsMP, Archpriest Maksim Tarasenko, responding to questions of local journalists, said that the canon law of the church is formulated on the basis of Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Rules, and centuries-old church practice, and since life flows and changes one can say that it has not been finally formulated to the present. The priest gave an example: when on 25 March 2010 at a session of a commission of the Inter-Council Presence of the Russian Orthodox Church (RPTs) the chairman of the commission, Metropolitan of Volokolamsk Ilarion announced the position on receiving "schismatics" into the bosom of the church: ". . . the external form of the sacrament performed in the schism, in the event of a return of a person to the bosom of the church, is imbued with the power of grace and thus it is not repeated. . . ." This same thought was expressed by the primate of the UPTsMP, the late Metropolitan Vladimir, at the following session of the commission on 28 September 2010 in Donetsk.

 

"In this instance (the event of the refusal to perform a funeral of a child in the Zaporozhe diocese—ed.), despite the fact that it was a priest of the canonical church to whom the parents of the deceased child turned in their grief, and then, after his refusal, they again turned to priests of another church of the same canonical church, it is possible to unambiguously interpret the actions of the parents as a return to the bosom of the church. And in accordance with the aforesaid canonical thesis, to consider the sacrament of baptism performed previously, in the schism, for their child to be effective. Thus I think that from the position of contemporary canonical thought, the priest had the right to perform the funeral of this unfortunate child."

 

Father Maksim Tarasenko said that several priests "are captive to their own strict principles and cannot part with them, which sometimes unfortunately leads to extremely tragic consequences." The secretary of the Kherson diocese said the history of this church is primarily a history of "economy," that is, indulgence toward people exclusively for the sake of the salvation of their souls.

 

"As a cleric of the Kherson diocese, I can attest that, in accordance with the blessing of our ruling bishop, in our diocese in such circumstances the practice of "economy" is used exclusively. An example of this is the tragic event which happened in September 2017 in Kherson, when an old two-story building caught fire and a whole family (two adults and three children) perished in the flame. The tragedy happened at night, and by morning of the next day, with the blessing of our bishop, a collection of funds for the victims was begun. I myself personally, with our priests, performed the funerals for this family, and it never even occurred to any of us to inquire of the relatives of the deceased in which patriarchate these children and their parents had been baptized," Archpriest Maksim Tarasenko noted.  "In addition, everybody knows the general church practice of prayers for all victims in the Second World War, all who were repressed and tortured by the atheist regime in the bitter years, and all the innocent victims in our days, and the like. . . . It is understandable that among them there are people of other confessions and also other religions, but where there is trouble and where there is pain, the church should be alongside a person, because the basic historic path of the church is the path of 'economy.'"

 

A similar position in their commentaries was expressed by Orthodox theologians and priests of the UPTs and RPTs, Archimandrite Kirill, Archdeacon Andrei Kuraev, and Metropolitan Alexander. The sacrament of baptism performed in the UPTsKP is recognized by the Catholic church also. In particular, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav, declared that he is shocked by the conduct of priests of the Zaporozhe diocese of the UPTsMP who refused to perform a funeral for the child. At the same time, the Constantinople patriarchate prayed for the repose of the soul of the deceased child Evgeny in Zaporozhe.

 

As an analysis of church rules published on the website Religiia v Ukraine attests, baptism, if it is performed correctly ("In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit"), is recognized in Orthodoxy as effective, regardless of who performed it—a canonical Christian or a schismatic. (tr. by PDS, posted 11 January 2017)

 

 

BECAUSE OF FUROR IN ZAPOROZHE BELIEVERS WILL QUIT UPTsMP—RELIGION SCHOLAR

RISU, 11 January 2018

 

The situation in Zaporozhe, where priests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow patriarchate (UPTsMP) refused to perform a funeral for a deceased child, who had been baptized in the Kiev patriarchate, has become the occasion for a transfer of believers from the UPTsMP to the UPTsKP, but such a transfer will not be massive, according to the head of the department of the history of religion and practical religious studies of the Department of Religious Studies of the G. Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Liudmila Filipovich. This was reported by Interfax-Ukraina.

 

"What happened in Zaporozhe is a colossal challenge for the church and for Ukrainian society. . . . For priests of this church it is an absolute requirement not to recognize the schismatics and not to perform a funeral for children who have died, if they were not baptized in this church. . . . There will be transfers, but they will not become massive. This is a very complex process," L. Filipovich said at a press conference on Wednesday, 10 January, in Kiev.

 

Oksana Gorkusha, a senior scientific fellow of the Department of Religious Studies of the G. Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, added that transfers will be possible "because they (the churches) are identical in rituals but the rhetoric of the UPTsKP is more understandable for Ukrainians and they realize that this is their church and it is also Orthodox."

 

The specialists also recalled that the UPTsMP has not acknowledged the armed aggression of Russia in the Donbass and the annexation of Crimea.

 

"We understand that the church consists of diverse people. There are many wise and good spiritual priests, including in that church. However there exists a general tendency and, speaking of the official rhetoric of the church, it was not disapproved and not appealed but, on the contrary, the position of this priest was supported at the official level. This attests that this church, on the whole, is losing religious functions. . . . It is frightening that in this church it is the human and not the spiritual that prevails," O. Gorkusha added. (tr. by PDS, posted 12 January 2018)


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