The Church Situation In Ukraine Part II; Knocking On America’s Door
Real news about what is going on with the Church situation in Ukraine is difficult to find, this is a part II follow up to the original article I did almost a year ago. May God have mercy and end all of the division and bloodshed, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Acceleration has been enacted against the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church since last I wrote almost a year ago; more churches and monasteries have been seized, the Church banned, journalists imprisoned, metropolitans attempted to be murdered, more people beaten, and the faithful still enduring with Christ.
The Church Banned
On October 19th, 2023, the Ukrainian Parliament voted to ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in an overwhelming 267-15 vote. On March 5th, 2024, the Ukraine Parliament adopted the bill No. 8371 to ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church with some edits. It has gone through to a second reading on March 20th, 2024. The new version of the bill banning the UOC includes amendments from the Security Service of Ukraine, stipulating expanded powers to enforce the “liquidation of denominations.” Upon the day of March 20th, the bill was postponed “due to a lack of votes.” It is now set for June.
Robert Amsterdam is the official lawyer of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, he is the head of the international human rights company Amsterdam & Partners LLP. According to him, the bill wants the UOC to demand the Russian Orthodox Church change its charter. Beyond this being not how things work in the Orthodox Church, it is especially vague in its reading. Either way, it is attempting to impose a criteria which they know cannot be done. Perhaps a way they can claim they “gave the UOC a chance” is my personal guess. This is still pending as of currently.
Amsterdam has summed it up when he said, “This hysteria demonstrates that a country that bans political parties, restricts non-conforming media, delays elections, and seeks to ban the country's largest denomination church has lost the capacity to understand political accountability. Lawmakers must understand that they cannot destroy a 1,000-year-old church in silence."
Journalists Jailed For Reporting On The Persecution
On March 12th, 2024 SBU officers raided the homes of multiple journalists who work for the Union of Orthodox Journalists. This is one of the very few outlets reporting on what is happening in Ukraine, with reports of churches being seized literally weekly. Some were thrown into the Lukyanivka Detention Centre (SIZO). They are accused of the following 1) being part of criminal syndicate, 2) inciting religious hatred for exposing the OCU, 3) justifying Russian aggression against Ukraine, 4) discrediting the country by their reporting which has been labeled as treason.
These accusations are false, the UOJ like myself, have maintained a position of rejecting the either/or dialectic. Criticism has been made against Russia for their shelling of churches in Ukraine, be it intentional or not, as tragic and wrong. Criticism has obviously been made against Ukraine for their persecution of the canonical Orthodox Church. There is no picking sides of Putin and Russia vs. Zelensky and Ukraine. The only side to pick is Christ, of whom the Church is His Body.
Please remember these journalists’ names and pray for them: Archpriest Serhiy Chertilin, Andriy Ovcharenko, Valeriy Stupnytsky, Ivan Rosada, and Volodymyr Bobechko. The court initial ruling is to keep them for two months without bail. Political analyst and historian Kostiantyn Bondarenko has claimed that the western publications have allegedly received orders from the office of the President of Ukraine, Zelensky, of at least 2.5 million dollars to publish church news in Ukraine as positive.
This doesn’t seem surprising as the Wall Street Journal on March 22nd, 2024 published an article titled, “Is Religious Liberty ‘Under Attack’ In Ukraine?” The WSJ downplays any actual persecution by saying the Church is “controlled by Russia.” Therefore the banning of the UOC is justified by the author. To which I would ask Jillian Melchior, was it justified to put Japanese people in internment camps during World War II? They could’ve been working with Japan who was our enemy, despite almost every one of them being innocent. There is nothing new under the sun as she purports the same rhetoric.
This jailing of journalists and stomping out narratives contrary to the status quo is reminiscent of the Bolsheviks and the communist Soviet Union. They clearly do not want this news getting out, and will enforce authoritarianism to accomplish this goal. They insult, mock, imprison, and eventually kill the truth because they can’t debate it. They can’t even look at it. They have no answer; and that is the ultimate weakness of their position. Without debate, without discussion, there is no actual freedom or republic.
And thus Ukraine has officially blocked the Union of Orthodox Journalists website, if you go there currently at the time of writing this, nothing will show up. A country that wants to censor news about persecution of the Orthodox Church only further solidifies the doubt of trustworthiness of the government of Ukraine. To find who rules over you, simply find out who you’re not allowed to criticize.
Warning To The West
The FBI warned Orthodox communities in the United States that Russian intelligence services may be using their churches to recruit assets. This was reported by both Newsweek and CNN in September 2023. You can see their same planting of seeds in Ukraine happening in America, these seeds bring forth the fruit of falsity and persecution.
Inklings of this has already been found in ROCOR and the OCA, where I have heard a few personal accounts of things which I will not fully mention about the beginnings of monitoring churches and priests but can only go upon people’s word. We know the Richmond field office of the FBI leaked a memo that they were monitoring Roman Catholic groups in the area, it’s not far fetched to have the same thing happen for the Orthodox.
I don’t seek to incite fear, but repentance. We must fear nothing but God as best as we are able. This arrest of journalists for simply speaking the truth is something we have seen growing throughout America recently. People in Russia in 1915 couldn’t imagine what would happen in 1917, and would probably scoff at you if you told them open mass killings of Christians would be happening then. I’m not saying the same thing will happen in America soon, but the trajectory is certainly pointed in that direction with both the silencing and compelling of speech.
Orthodoxy is the truth whether or not the world hates it or loves it. However it is in these times where the world hates it, that its magnitude is truly felt. All persecution is a flowering of grace, a worldly seizing is a heavenly giving, every strike is a cleansing of sin. I thank God for the persecutors, for they help us to remember God more often. They are an aid to salvation no matter how hard they try to be a detriment to it.
How Can Reconciliation Occur?
The obvious question becomes; how does this church situation end? Only God knows. I personally can just speculate two avenues; firstly where the UOC and the OCU decide to resolve their issues canonically, which seems hard as the OCU wants to enforce upon others and enjoys it’s support from the Ukraine government. How this would be done remains open, but I believe Metropolitan Onuphrey would find a way by the grace of God, and everyone involved would depart from siding with Ukraine or Russia as their primary allegiance, and simply make the Orthodox Faith first.
Secondly, for Patriarch Bartholomew to un-recognize the OCU. If Constantinople is the first among equals as it likes to proclaim, here’s a perfect moment to show the world and promote peace. By backing off, un-recognizing the OCU, condemning the persecution, and reaching out to Moscow to resolve the issue both between themselves and between the UOC/OCU would make an emphatic statement. It would put the ball back in Moscow’s court and put the EP a step forward into favorable light with an act of repentance. I pray for this, and encourage you to as well.
After prayer, fasting, and repentance, a practical thing we can do recommended by Archbishop Peter of Chicago and Mid-America (ROCOR) is for all to write to our senators, congressmen, and representatives about the persecution happening to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. We can spread awareness regarding the persecution.
OCA/OCU Response
I’ve had detractors argue against my first article by saying by the same standard of the OCU (Orthodox Church of Ukraine), I would have to believe the OCA (Orthodox Church of America) is non-canonical too. I would like to respond to this. However, comparing the OCA to the OCU is a mistake, the situations actually couldn’t be more strikingly different.
Firstly, there was no violation of the canons with the OCA. The OCA was very much in Moscow’s jurisdiction in 1970 as the Russian church is frankly responsible for Orthodoxy being established in America. So the OCA was Moscow’s territory therefore granted valid autocephaly. Constantinople has had no business in Ukraine for 600 years, it’s not their jurisdiction hence autocephaly in violation and the reason for the issue occurring today between Moscow and Constantinople.
Secondly, the OCA is recognized by all but the EP, it has the backing of the Orthodox world. The OCU is not supported by almost all the jurisdictions, they have all voiced their support for the UOC. This is simply a fact, majority favor is behind the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC).
Thirdly, the OCA was not granted autocephaly as schismatic heads from who were already defrocked like the OCU. This fourthly, directly correlates to the apostolic succession claim. The OCU does not have it by virtue of their defrocked hierarchs, the OCA did not have defrocked hierarchs therefore maintained succession.
Fifthly, the OCA did not go around forcibly converting other parishes around it and beating people who didn’t agree with them while aligning with the government to expand themselves. You will know them by their fruits. Please forgive me for the digression.
Attempted Murder Of A Bishop
Metropolitan Longin has become a light that shines in the darkness, even brighter as it gets darker. Some background; he was previously awarded the “Hero of Ukraine” honor for his efforts to help children and making an orphanage. Of which he is the father to over 400 orphans. Now he is deemed an enemy of Ukraine for speaking out against the persecution of the UOC and refusing to submit to the OCU.
On January 22nd, 2024, the Metropolitan heard a knock on his door, as he opened the door he was struck in the face and knocked unconscious. He had to have surgery on his eyelids as a result of the blow, doctors told him most people would have died from a strike like that. It is believed the attacker thought that he killed Metropolitan Longin and fled, yet His Eminence has survived multiple attempts on his life. God’s protection is upon him.
He had his house in Bukovina set on fire in early January 2024, his lawyer was poisoned and tragically died on November 15th, 2023, his name was Valentin Sukhar.
Metropolitan Longin survived a previous poisoning attempt in 2017 at the monastery five people (including him) were poisoned with arsenic and mercury. Two of these brothers sadly reposed. Metropolitan Longin and two others by the grace of God survived.
In response to all of these attacks, he has said “According to our Orthodox faith, we must endure everything, suffer, and pray. Raise your hands to the sky to God, pray brothers, turn to God. We, as bishops, as priests, should no longer think about wealth, money, everything that is transitory, we must think about life, about the souls of people that we are obliged to protect. It is in vain that we say we are believers, but we do not fulfill what God tells us. May He have mercy on you and help you all, every person on earth, may God help you all to return to Him and then there will be one flock and one Shepherd, amen.”
Metropolitan Longin is one of the greatest modern day confessors in Orthodoxy. He stays on the Royal Path and has been staunchly critical of both Russia and Ukraine. He stopped commemorating Patriarch Kirill for his lack of urgency to stop the killing of Orthodox Christians on both sides of the war (Religious Information Service of Ukraine). He has critiqued Patriarch Bartholomew for sowing division in the Orthodox world too. He has established two monasteries, with over 400 orphan children taken in, many with disabilities such as cerebral palsy. He endures persecution with humility and nothing takes his joy.
Anonymous Nun Shows The Way
Another light in the darkness I would like to write about, is an anonymous nun in Ukraine, if you know her name please share it. In the region of Cherkassy, Ukraine; OCU supporters and men in military uniform seize a monastery of the UOC (Ukrainian Orthodox Church). The name of the monastery is the Nativity of the Virgin Mary.
This came a week after Justin Welby, the most prominent figure in the Anglican Church met with the OCU persecutors and claimed the actual persecution of the UOC is not happening. That it is “Russian propaganda.” Since then he has changed his stance it seems, declaring the UOC should not be persecuted and should have the freedom to worship. He has met with both the UOC and the OCU according to his social media posts.
Multiple parishioners of this UOC monastery were beaten, one with lacerations on his face, another’s jaw broken, and an elderly man’s leg broken. The metropolitan (Metropolotan Theodosiy) of this area rightly called this a seizure and condemned it, for such an outspoken calling he has now been charged by the SBU for arrest. They state he violated article 161.
The most powerful part of this video that was taken of the incident, is the nun in it who is seen making the sign of the cross to bless those who persecute the monastery. That is Christianity. That is Orthodox Christianity. That is what it means to live like Christ. She is the example to us all in the midst of this situation of whom she is experiencing it firsthand. Bless those who persecute you! Pray for them! They believe they deal out death when they just deal out crowns. May we learn of her example, and Metropolitan Longin’s example, both of whom were following the Savior’s example, Jesus Christ. Have mercy on us.
The video is below: