Gazeta Polska published a piece stating that in December 2021 a delegation of the Russian Foundation for the Support of Christian Culture and Heritage together with representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) visited the head of the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church (PAOC) Metropolitan Sawa, as well as a Białystok and Gdansk diocese and its head, Bishop Jacob, and the famous Orthodox monastery on Mount Grabarka.
Interestingly, the Foundation was established on December 23, 2019, while its sole founder is the Rosatom State Corporation, which is in turn controlled, through the chairman of the supervisory board, by First Deputy Chief of the Presidential Staff Sergei Kirienko.
Theologian Dmitry Gorevoy has addressed the issue for Radio Svoboda.
It is noteworthy that, according to Polish media, information about the visit hasn’t been available on the official website of the Polish Orthodox Church, while it has – on the website of the ROC.
Polish media, citing Ukrainian colleagues, write that the Russians “brought a bribe to the clergy” in the amount of several million euros.
The message on the ROC website mentions that Metropolitan Sawa “expressed satisfaction with the successful progress of work on the interior decoration of St. Sophia Cathedral in Warsaw, which is due to the support of the Foundation.”
So we can assume that a “conditional bribe” of several million euros was disguised as a donation to the cathedral.
My sources in the Ukrainian government, who have had experience of negotiating with Metropolitan Sawa, claim that he has repeatedly hinted to the Ukrainian authorities about donations to the cathedral in exchange for certain steps that are beneficial to the Ukrainian side. So I fully believe that Metropolitan Sawa is looking for any sources to actually build the cathedral.
In addition, Russia itself often acts in this way. For example, Gazprom finances the interior of the Serbian Church Cathedral in Belgrade. Meanwhile, “strangely,” the position of the Serbian Church on Ukraine coincides with that of the ROC…
PAOC and OCU
Now let’s look at the PAOC. They have not yet recognized the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU). They claim that they are not against Ukrainian autocephaly as such, and that this is a logical thing as they themselves received autocephaly on the grounds that Constantinople does not recognize the handover of the Kyiv Metropolis to the ROC. This is clearly and unequivocally stated in the tomos of the Polish Church.
That is why the PAOC criticizes OCU ordinations. They believe that Ukrainian bishops and priests are invalid because they were ordained in the schism and not re-ordained later, although the Poles had also accepted “schismatics” without any re-ordination.
A specific example is that in August 1990, the PAOC accepted without re-ordination Gabriel (da Rocha), the head of the so-called “Portuguese Orthodox Church,” who had been ordained by Greek schismatics. Thus, the issue of “purity of ordinations” is not fundamental for the PAOC, remaining a formal refusal to recognize the OCU – or an opportunity to please the Russians.
This is just an assumption, so readers should draw their own conclusions. For now, I’ll talk about another interesting episode that happened recently.
In January 2022, OCU Metropolitan Oleksandr (Drabynko) visited Poland. There he presented the Ukrainian Mazepa Gospel. It can be seen from his post on Facebook that he took part in events held by educational and cultural facilities. Those were not church premises, which is important to note.
So, pro-Russian activists obviously did not like his active educational efforts. Perhaps a trigger was the very showcasing of the Mazepa Gospel. I’m not sure. Anyway, some representatives of the Polish Church wrote a complaint to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
Like, why did an OCU representative visit Poland without the consent of the local autocephalous church? This information was forwarded from Phanar to Ukraine. According to the Religious Pravda outlet, this was the OCU’s response:
“The leadership of the Polish Church had no reason to express dissatisfaction. The Metropolitan arrived as a private person, held meetings with diplomats, in academic institutions, took part in the presentation of a unique publication. He has neither conducted nor participated in worship services, and therefore did not need permission to do so. Obviously, the Polish Church is either unfamiliar with church law or has decided to do a double-check.”
In fact, there is a tradition in Orthodoxy based on canon law that a clergyman or bishop who plans to serve outside his own parish or diocese is required to obtain permission from the head of that other parish or diocese. This is a normal thing. But this only applies to worship services and, of course, does not translate into issuing an entry visa.
Metropolitan Oleksandr (Drabynko) himself claims that it was representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church who persuaded the Poles to take action. And this is the most interesting part, because in fact they have framed the Poles. Because if the Poles really do not recognize OCU bishops of as valid, then why did they demand some approval from someone whose rank and canonical status they do not recognize? So, if approvals are required, then they do recognize the metropolitan’s spiritual status and rank. So statements about invalid ordinations are just rhetoric, not the root cause of non-recognition.
Secondly, by addressing the actions of Bishop Oleksandr to Constantinople and not to the Moscow Patriarchate, the Poles declare Russia’s church bans on Ukrainian clergy invalid; Bishop Oleksandr is perceived as a clergyman with the OCU, not a banned metropolitan with the UOC-MP, and therefore indirectly recognize that the OCU is an independent actor.
What prevents the PAOC from recognizing the OCU? I think everyone is able to draw their own conclusions. There are many arguments drawn in this article.
