Russia’s top diplomat Sergey Lavrov stood up for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, accusing Ukraine of fighting against the latter. He also complained about the “capture of temples.”
“The intrusion of the Kyiv authorities at the service of their overseas masters into such a sensitive sphere as religion is particularly blasphemous. A disgusting campaign against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church continues. Calls are getting louder and louder to ban it and hand over its property to schismatics,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on October 24 in an address to the plenary session of the XXIV World Russian People’s Council, which was read out by MFA Russia’s Ambassador-at-Large Gennady Askoldovych, Russian media reported.
Lavrov assured that the “capture of temples” and persecution of believers and clerics of the UOC MP will not stop. In essence, he repeated the same narratives that the UOC-MP has been repeating for years, especially after the Tomos of autocephaly was granted to the OCU and the wave of transitions emerged after the full-scale invasion by Russia.
The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry is unhappy that the West is allegedly working to sever ties between the Moscow Patriarchate and other Churches. He was probably referring to the situation in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, where the Russian Orthodox Church has become a toxic organization.
“For their part, Western geopolitical ‘engineers’ work tirelessly to destroy the spiritual ties of the Moscow Patriarchate and fraternal local Orthodox churches. In order to discredit and denigrate the Russian Orthodox Church, a dirty campaign was launched in mass media. Open harassment of clergymen of the Russian Orthodox Church is being practiced, demands are being made for the leadership of various denominations to condemn Russia’s actions,” the minister added.
It is obvious that Lavrov does not like how in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia the Russian Orthodox Church is being asked to do what all conscientious and God-fearing priests do – to recognize the actions of Putin’s troops as a sin (crime).
Common narratives spread by the UOC MP and Russia’s top leaders, which is waging war against Ukraine, point to a number of conclusions and assumptions. It is clear that Russia would not protect the interests of a pro-Ukrainian religious organization, but it will – everything that works for Russia in Ukraine. That is why the Russian Federation protects all pro-Russian political parties and the UOC MP.
It is worth noting that the SBU banned the activities of 12 pro-Russian parties, but the large organization “UPC” of the MP has not been banned yet. There are voices that there should be no collective responsibility, but that all collaborators in cassocks should be punished separately. As of today, the SBU has identified 33 agents and fire adjusters in cassocks. The Pochaiv Lavra was recently inspected to identify collaborators.
Putin set to defend UOC-MP in Ukraine
It should be recalled that before launching a full-scale invasion, Putin claimed that Kyiv had been preparing a “massacre” against the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine. “In Kyiv, they continue to prepare the massacre of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate… The current leadership of the country does not respond to the request of the citizens of Ukraine to abolish the laws that infringe on the rights of believers,” Putin lamented.
“Moreover, Parliament has registered new draft laws directed against the clergy and millions of parishioners of the Moscow Patriarchate,” Putin added. The leader of the aggressor state concluded his speech by signing a decree recognizing “DPR” and “LPR”.
The UOC-MP is not at all against playing along with the aggressor state (Russia) and has been insisting on being “persecuted” for eight years. Instead of building an autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine independent of the Kremlin, some bishops and clerics in the UOC MP, on the contrary, play along with propaganda and Russian President Vladimir Putin, claiming oppression by the Ukrainian government.
Metropolitan Pavlo (Lebid), vicar of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, was at the time heading abroad to negotiate with the hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church on how best to counter the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Church, while Metropolitan Antoniy (Pakanych) was meanwhile preparing a rebellion against Onufriy in Germany.
Antoniy Pakanich is the leader of the pro-Russian wing of the UOC-MP and spoke in the same vein as the Russian MFA. After the statements of UOC MP Metropolitan Antoniy (Pakanych) about “persecution”, the UN expressed “concern”.
Thus, we see the simultaneous work of part of the church leadership of the UOC MP and the Russian government, directed against Ukraine with the involvement of international organizations, in particular the UN. This manipulative information spread by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church harms Ukraine greatly as it offers Putin a chance to legitimize the atrocities the Russians are committing Ukraine. Putin says his occupiers are going to save him from Bandera followers, and that the UOC-MP are the victims of the “Kyiv regime” and “Bandera people.” The Kremlin has announced “denazification” and therefore proudly spins on all its channels the claims that “in liberated cities they will no longer persecute the UOC MP and ban religion and language.”
The Kremlin recently invented another pretext for the invasion of Ukraine. The Security Council of the Russian Federation declared that it was extremely necessary to carry out the so-called “de-Satanization” as part of a “special operation”, since in Ukraine “hundreds of sects”, “Church of Satan” exists, and that the country had renounced “Orthodox values”. Echoing Russian propaganda, the UOC MP issues statements on the “divisive” OCU and their opposition to the unification of Orthodoxy in Ukraine.
Spiritual Front of Ukraine
