NUCLEAR STRIKE AGAINST RPTs; FIRST COMMENTS ON APPEAL FOR UKRAINIAN AUTOCEPHALY
"If the Constantinople patriarchate, by its personal wish, gives canonical status to 'Kiev,' this will have consequences that one can compare with the use of a nuclear weapon," writes Sergei Khudiev on the Radonezh website. In this way the publicist commented on the reports about the completion of negotiations between Kiev and the Phanar regarding the ecumenical patriarchate's granting a tomos concerning autocephaly to Ukrainian Orthodox jurisdictions that are not related to the Russian Orthodox Church (RPTs).
"You know the position of the Russian Orthodox Church; you know the position of the patriarch of all-Rus on this matter. Of course, such actions, aimed at a schism of the church, can hardly be supported and can hardly be welcomed," said Vladimir Putin's press secretary, D. Peskov, responding to a question from journalists whether the Kremlin supports the creation of a Ukrainian local church, Interfax reports.
The situation "relative to another attempt at creating a united church by the hands of the state" was commented on by Archpriest Nikkolai Danilevich, the vice-chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the UPTsMP, on his Facebook page. In his opinion, all of this will end with nothing, just as it has been so many times in the past: "There will be much noise in news media, and everything will end with that."
"Why? Because they are building on a foundation on which, in principle, it is impossible to build. It is necessary to start with the UPTs and not with its separate parts. A jacket is not sewn onto a button but the other way round, the button onto the jacket.
"Our Ukrainian Orthodox Church from the very beginning of the church division has acted to overcome the division and for a united church. We are not opposed; we are for. But on canonical bases."
"The approval of an autocephalous church in Ukraine, as we suppose, will fundamentally change the situation in world Orthodoxy as a whole. Sooner or later the Moscow patriarchate will be forced to renounce its hegemonic plans," Evstraty Zorya, the UPTsKP press secretary, stated in an interview with Obozrevatel. "This is very important for Ukraine, for the entire Ukrainian people, and not only for Orthodox believers, especially not just for believers of the Kiev patriarchate."
"The Kiev patriarchate is the primary beneficiary of the resolution of the Ukrainian church schism. Its key demand is recognition of just this church structure as one other canonical jurisdiction. Such a demand could be called egotistical and not taking account of the opinion of other interested jurisdictions, if it were not for one 'but': at the present moment all other players have demonstratively left the field," notes Tatyana Derkach in a long article analyzing the causes and risks of Constantinople's granting autocephaly.
"In the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow patriarchate it was rumored back in 2008 that Bartholomew planned to announce the autocephaly of the UPTs during his visit to Kiev. He was restrained by a stern phone call from the Turkish foreign ministry to his Kiev hotel. And this phone call was the result of another no less stern call from the Russian foreign ministry. Like, Russia will introduce visas for Turkish citizens; Turkey will be forced to respond in kind; and that will end your tourist business.
Ten years have passed. The Syrian adventure has led to the fact that Russia now depends upon Turkey more than previously, and not by any means for tomatoes. And Turkish business has already experienced life without Russian tourists," Andrei Kuraev commented on the events that have occurred.
The issue of granting autocephaly to the Orthodox church in Ukraine is geopolitical, since Russia uses the church as an instrument of influence, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko thinks. "It goes far beyond church boundaries! We are talking about our final independence from Moscow. Here it is not just religion; here it is geopolitics. . . . This is an issue of national security and our defense in the hybrid war, because the Kremlin views the RPTs as one of its key instruments of influence on Ukraine," P. Poroshenko said in his appeal to the people's deputies on Thursday.
Deputies of the Verkhovna Rada supported the president's appeal to Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew for granting a tomos regarding the autocephaly of the Orthodox church in Ukraine.
As an Interfax correspondent reports, 268 people's deputies voted for the corresponding resolution (with 226 being needed) at a plenary session of the parliament on Thursday.
By fractions, the votes of people's deputies were distributed thus: "Petro Poroshenko Bloc," 99; "National Front," 73; "Self Help," 19; fraction of the Radical Party of Oleg Lyashko, 16; "Fatherland," 15; and "People's Will" group, 11.
The fraction "Opposition Bloc" did not give a single "yea" vote and a majority of its members voted against this resolution. From the deputies group "Regeneration," one people's deputy voted for.
The creation of a local Ukrainian Orthodox Church may be approved during the 1030th anniversary of the baptism of Rus-Ukraine, the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, Andrei Paruby, declared.
"I hope that in the year of the 1030th anniversary of the baptism of Rus-Ukraine, the Ukrainian people will receive a historic gift from the hands of His Holiness the patriarch," A. Paruby said on Thursday, while presenting to the Rada the draft of the resolution in support of the appeal of the Ukrainian president to Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew. He noted that the appeal may bring nearer the day when the creation of a united local Ukrainian Orthodox church will be proclaimed.
The speaker recalled that the Verkhovna Rada adopted an appeal to Patriarch Bartholomew in 2016. "At the time this intensified the dialogue and brought near the discussion of the creation in Ukraine of a united local Orthodox church," A. Paruby said.
He also called the fact symbolic that this year marks 100 years from the time of the convocation of an All-Ukrainian church council, which spoke out in favor of the creation of a Ukrainian Orthodox church independent from the Moscow patriarchate.
"At the time, 100 years ago, on 19 January 1918, the work of the council was interrupted by the invasion of Russian Bolshevik troops into Kiev. Today we have the very same enemy, who is trying to dictate to us our history and what should be our future. But today we have restored the chance that could not be realized 100 years ago," A. Paruby declared.
The celebration in Ukraine of the 1030th anniversary of the baptism of Kiev Rus-Ukraine will be held on 27-28 July. (tr. by PDS, posted 22 April 2018)
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