The public condemnation of the Russian Orthodox Church by a third of all UOC (MP) bishops has destroyed the established synergy between the two churches, which had built up throughout the entire period of Ukraine’s independence. Roman Terletskyi, a lawyer and religious scholar, spoke of this on the air of “We, Ukraine”.
“This is truly an unprecedented event in the history of the UOC as a religious organization. Prior to that, they operated so synergistically, the entire episcopate along with the head of the church. And here an event took place that completely destroyed the concept that they had been building up throughout the entire history of Ukraine’s independence. There is one very interesting thing here – had they not reacted to Kirill’s decision, they would have automatically admitted that they would remain fully in the structure of the Russian Orthodox Church. That is, there was no Feophania Council, no decisions were made that would, accordingly, lead to the canonical separation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from the Russian Orthodox Church, all this was fiction. Why did Russia take such a rash step now? Because with this step, they stuck a knife in their own back, and did everything to polarize the episcopate itself within the UOC. That is, we now see 30% of those who really support the letter, which was initiated by Metropolitan Ahafangel, and we see silence on the part of the rest,” he said.
Terletskyi drew attention to the fact that now the bishops who did not sign the statement will have to explain their position not only to the state or security services, but also to the public. This creates a new level of accountability and transparency in the church.
“This is already a document that has a certain legal and canonical force and that provokes many questions to those bishops and hierarchs who did not sign the document. Moreover, the questions are not from the security services or the state, this is already a request from the public. That is, the public in territories where the UOC is located and where the bishops did not support this appeal with their signature should ask questions. Moreover, it is interesting to listen to what these bishops will tell people, why they did not sign it,” he added.
It should be recalled that on October 31, the bishops of the UOC (MP) published a statement in which they condemned the actions of the Russian Orthodox Church as anti-canonical and violating church law. In addition, they demand from the Moscow Patriarchate respect for the borders of the UOC, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.
