For 30 years, representatives of the UOC (MP) had been taught and prepared for unity with the Russians, with the Russian Orthodox Church. This upbringing was very deeply ingrained in their minds, so that even the war failed to shake it.
That’s according to Liudmyla Filipovych, a religious scholar, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor at the H.S. Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy with the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, who spoke with NV.
“And while earlier there were isolated cases of collaborationism, now we see that they are reported not only in those regions that are temporarily occupied by Russian troops, but right in the heart of Ukraine. Here in Vinnytsia, the abbot of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, who praised terrorists Zakharchenko, Givi, and Motorola, was sentenced to two years in prison. Vinnytsia region, by the way, is actually a preserve of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate,” the religious expert noted.
“After all, for 30 years they had been taught and prepared for unity with the Russians, with the Russian fraternal people, with the Russian Orthodox Church. You know, they have their own, as they say, matrix inserted in their minds, which is very difficult to shake even with the Russian-Ukrainian war,” she added.
According to her, representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate, fueled by Russian sources, continue to preach the claim that Ukraine is to blame for the war, that sectarians, Nazis, and fascists came to power here.
“Well, the Russians are deeply convinced that they are carrying out a universal mission – saving the Ukrainian people (albeit by destruction) from the influence of these nationalists, fascists, and Satanists, including. Russian church propaganda doesn’t care what arguments they can use to turn their people against Ukraine, and to somehow justify the aggression they have been waging for two years. We need to look for some arguments,” Filipovych stressed.
