The attitude of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) towards Kremlin’s aggression remains pro-Russian. At the same time, the SOC is trying to pose before Ukrainian refugees in Croatia as peacekeepers.
This was reported by the Spiritual Front of Ukraine.
In Croatia, the Serbian Orthodox Church is known for its pro-Russian stance, which the SFU has repeatedly written about. But now the SOC is trying to convince Ukrainian refugees that it is “the only canonical Church in Croatia” that isn’t politicized and that it supports Ukrainians.
Ukrainians in Croatia warn their compatriots not to visit temples of the Serbian Orthodox Church, but the deacon of the Serbian OC in Zagreb, Petar Kozakijevic, is trying to convince them on Facebook that the SOC is pro-Ukrainian.
On Easter, the hierarch of the SOC, Justin, who is an aide to Serbian Patriarch Porfirije, served in Zagreb, addressing a few Ukrainians in attendance.
Then Justin visited the Ukrainians living in a Zagreb hotel. On Holy Monday, SOC clerics served at a rehabilitation center near Zagreb, where Ukrainian refugees with disabilities now live.
After convincing Ukrainians that the SOC was their spiritual mother in Croatia (Deacon Petar wrote about this in the Facebook group of Ukrainians in Croatia), the SOC patriarch spoke with Moscow Patriarch Cyril (Gundyaev).
Unlike the head of the Polish Church, the SOC patriarch did not call on Gundyaev to influence Putin to stop Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
Porfirije and Cyril only discussed the “humanitarian situation in Donbas,” as stated on the ROC website. At the same time, not a word was said about the war or at least the situation in Ukraine. It seems that Donbas has already become a separate “republic” not only for the ROC, but also for the Serbian Church.
Patriarch Porfirije of the SOC expressed his support for the ROC and ROCinU, the people of Ukraine and Russia. Thus, he sees no difference between victims and aggressor, but equates the suffering of Ukrainians to that of the Russians, who are the aggressors to Ukraine. In turn, Cyril (Gundyaev) again complained about the alleged persecution of the “canonical Church in Ukraine”, i.e. the “UOC-MP”.
It is worth noting that in Ukraine, the ROCinU protests against renaming that would indicate its affiliation with the Moscow Patriarchate, but beyond Ukraine, everyone writes their title that way.
The name “UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate” was published on the website of the Serbian Human Rights Center in Germany, where a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church served in their church in Dusseldorf. The publication clearly states: “Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.”
