By John Nyitse
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on July 8 this year joined Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of orthodox Christians worldwide, for a memorial service in Istanbul, capital of Turkey, in honour of Ukrainians slain as a result of Russia’s special military operation that it says is not designed to occupy territory but to destroy its southern neighbours’ military capabilities and cacamepture what it regards as dangerous nationalists:
Bartholomew, the patriarch of Constantinople, recognized the Orthodox church of Ukraine as independent from Moscow’s religious leadership in 2019, triggering what is potentially the biggest split in the Orthodox Church in a thousand years. The then Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko at the time faced re-election in 2019 amid dismal ratings. Many of his earlier promises had fallen flat. The economic renaissance he promised through an association agreement with the European Union , EU, didn’t materialise and in 2018 Ukraine became the poorest country in Europe . Membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, NATO, looked more remote than ever. And his fight against corruption had got nowhere with Poroshenko himself marred in scandals.
So poroshenko desperately needed to boost his ratings with something, appealing to the nationalistic, patriotic electorate, who were angry over Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 , consequently, he stacked everything on securing independence for a Ukrainian national church calling it the ‘’’final independence from Russia.’
Ukrainians expressed their disgust with the development by resoundingly voting Poroshenko out of office and in came a secular Jew [current President Zelensky] who promised not to meddle in religions affairs.
The U.S. State Department did issue statements of congratulations on the establishment of the independent orthodox church of Ukraine even when many Ukrainian orthodox churches remained the branch that is loyal to the Moscow patriarchate
That along with dealings with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who had met with top U.S. dignitaries, affirmed the U.S. role in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s split the Moscow patriarchate. Sam Brownback, who at the time was the US State Departments Ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, said ‘’the US was supporting Ukrainian self-determination”.
Moscow’s Patriarch Kirill , head of the Russian Orthodox Church, said ‘’both the west and the patriarch of Constantinople were: pursuing the same end: of seeking to weaken Russia and: make the brotherly peoples-Russians and Ukrainians-enemies.’’
Kirill made his comments in reply to a letter from the acting head of the world council of churches, who had called on him to’’ raise up your voice’’ and mandate with authorities to stop the war in Ukraine. The Russian patriarch replied that “the war wasn’t the fault of Russian authorities, and that the seeds of the conflict were sown by foreign threats to its bordera, both political and religious.”
He cited the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople who in 2019 formally recognized the independence of the orthodox church of Ukraine – in a country where the Moscow patriarchate claims jurisdiction. The ecumenical patriarch, based in Turkey is considered “first among equals” among eastern orthodox patriarchs but, unlike a pope, doesn’t have authority beyond his own territory.
The Russian Orthodox Church subsequently effectively cut diplomatic relations with the patriarchate of Constantinople, which has authority over the world’s 300 million orthodox Christians.
Foreign minister Sergey lavrov of Russia accused the U.S. of being “directly involved in the on-going crisis in orthodoxy” and of having “financed Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople so he could pursue a policy of divide, including in Ukraine.’’ Many believe that Washington and the west are systematically destroying the spiritual and moral values using political pressure in the religious sphere and deliberately exacerbating the split in the orthodox world. An informed observer said the goal is to make ‘’the Russian Orthodox church lose territory and a huge amount of symbolic power.’’
Of the reported 260 million orthodox Christians in the world, about 100 million are in Russia itself and some of those abroad are in unity with Moscow. . Just under one-third of the Russian orthodox church’s 36,000 parishes are reportedly to be found in Ukraine, and their status is now in question.
“It is impossible for us to separate Kiev from our country, as this is where our history began. The Russian orthodox church preserves the national consciousness of both Russians and Ukrainians,” said the patriarch of Moscow.
That is why observers are saying that the activities of the Kiev authorities and the patriarchate of Constantinople are aimed at violating the rights of the Ukrainian orthodox believers and destroying the traditional ties between the peoples of Russia and Ukraine, including those supported by western countries.
Nyitse writes in from Lokoja
