ROCinU’s followers on June 15 went on an anti-state rally outside the Verkhovna Rada to “speak up and not be afraid,” as per ROCinU spokesman, Archpriest Mykola Danylevych, who spoke in an interview posted on the Myriany NGO’s YouTube channel.
Father Mykola says the issue of protecting the Moscow Church from the order to reveal their true affiliation with the governing center in Moscow is of great interest among ROCinU’s believers in Ukraine. Now the ROC in Ukraine is hiding under the name “Ukrainian Orthodox Church”.
Relevant initiatives by Ukrainian politicians and lawmakers do frighten the ROCinU so they “feel that the Church (ROCinU – ed.) needs to be protected.”
Despite the fact that the statute of the ROinU says it is part of the Moscow Patriarchate and must comply with the decisions of the Local and Bishops’ Councils of the ROC, the ROCinU’s spokesman claims that “people feel that politicians, deputies, and certian figures are starting to speculate on the church issue” when the so-called “UOC” is forced, instead of hiding behind the Ukrainian name, to reveal in its title the Moscow location of their command center, that is, in the aggressor state.
Mr. Danylevych warned that the ROCinU is allegedly the largest denomination in Ukraine, although opinion polls suggest otherwise.
“The majority should just go out there and show themselves,” the ROCinU spokesman threatened. Because, he adds, when several dozen people holding “right-wing radical views” rally, “the authorities are already afraid of them, while millions remain silent, which is wrong.”
“I believe that at least the representatives of these millions should come out, show themselves, and not be afraid. … With God’s help!” said the spokesman for the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine.
The ROCinU is the same ROC, simply sporting a different “brand,” said Oleksandr Yefremenko, a religious expert and founder of the Spiritual Front of Ukraine.
The priest also expressed support for the pro-Russian Myriany NGO, which held an anti-state rally on Tuesday. Archpriest Mykola Danylevych wished them “Godspeed”.
It should be reminded what theologian Viktor Yelensky said about Russia exploiting UOC MP for the purposes of dismantling Ukrainian statehood. In another comment, he added that the law on renaming the ROCinU is fully in line with international law.
ROCinU is the same ROC, simply sporting a different “brand,” said Oleksandr Yefremenko, a religious expert and founder of the Spiritual Front of Ukraine.
In turn, ROCinU spokesman branded as “threat to the unity of Ukraine” the law on the standardization of the UOC-MP’s name set to indicate their belonging to the governing center in Moscow. Earlier, he intimidated authorities with the so-called “Montenegrin scenario” and threatened that millions of ROCinU members would take to the streets, but eventually, only a few thousand came out.
Archpriest Mykola Danylevych, a spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine, was outraged by the recognition of the OCU’s autocephaly, and threatened anyone who acknowledged the OCU with “problems that will ensue.” Recently, Danylevych and pro-Russian People’s Deputy Vadym Novynsky visited the Georgian patriarch to impose on him what they claim is a “real picture of Orthodoxy in Ukraine.” Prior to that, the Patriarch of the Georgian Church met with Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal, much to the irritation of ROinU Archpriest Mykola Danylevych.
In general, the rhetoric of threats and war is quite familiar to Danylevych. He even hinted that the petition for the transfer of the Lavra to the OCU management could cause actual war, and span ridiculous claims about “persecution of ROCinU”, which, by the way, no one except the Moscow Patriarchate sees.
