The branch of the ROC in Ukraine enjoys loyalty of the Russian occupation forces in the temporarily seized territories. At a time when the Russian occupation authorities were ousting the parish of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine from the temporarily occupied Crimea, the UOC-MP (ROCU) consecrated a new church built on the peninsula.
On February 17, 2022, the Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine, Metropolitan Platon of Feodosia and Kerch, and ROCinU Bishop Agafon of Koktebel consecrated the church in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “Soothe My Sorrows” in Koktebel and celebrated a Divine Liturgy in the newly-consecrated temple of the ROCinU in Feodosia.
At the same time, the persecution of OCU in Crimea remains systematic and consistent. As of early 2014, the Crimean Diocese of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (then the UOC-KP) operated 45 parishes, ran by 14 clergymen. At the beginning of 2022, the diocese has only seven parishes and four clergy left. Thus, the number of parishes under the pressure of the occupying authorities decreased by more than six times, while the number of clergy – by more than three times. In fact, today the diocese is on the brink of extinction.
Priests and bishops of the UOC-MP (ROCinU) regularly assist the occupiers and also took part in the Russian military operation to seize Crimea. Recently, ROCinU priests in Crimea once again blessed the army of the occupiers.
At the end of August 2020, priests with the UOC-MP blessed the combat missions of the Russian navy sailors. In February 2021, Bishop Kalinik (Chernyshov) of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine, ordained by Onufriy in Nizhyn, blessed the banner on the Russian navy’s battle cruiser Grayvoron. In early May 2021, Kalinik together with the Russian occupiers in Crimea opened a museum of the “Great Patriotic War in Yevpatoria.”
Earlier we reported that in the Crimea “non-persecuted” ROCinU congratulated the sailors of the Russian navy, while in Ukraine, anti-government rallies were held to try to implement the “Montenegrin scenario”. At the same time, on March 18, 2021, the so-called UOC (ROCinU) took part in the celebration of the “reunification of Crimea with Russia.” Also in Yevpatoria, the ROCinU consecrated icons of “patrons of the Russian army.”
The Crimean Occupation Administration congratulated Metropolitan Lazar of the Russian Orthodox Church and thanked him for his cooperation with the occupiers. The Crimean diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine also called for participation in the All-Russian People’s Council to draw attention to “Russian values” and announced a contest “My family, my Russia.” In May 2021, in the occupied Crimea, a priest with the so-called “UOC” blessed the military of the Russian armed forces ahead of their deployment. At the end of May 2021, the Crimean diocese of the UOC-MP blessed the Russian occupiers for “military service” while their colleagues complained in Europe of “oppression.”
In June 2021, in Crimea, UOC-MP officials sprinkled consecrated water on the Russian occupiers on the occasion of the 192nd anniversary of the Constantiniv Battery. In Yalta, Metropolitan Lazarus of the Russian Orthodox Church blessed his participation in the Russian culture festival in Crimea. In the same month, while the ROCinU was protesting outside the Verkhovna Rada, its clerics consecrated the “daggers” of local youths in the occupied Crimea.
