Moscow (AsiaNews) - The Moscow Patriarchate strongly condemned the Greek-Catholic (Uniate) Church in Ukraine for "meddling" in politics, in the current crisis in the country. For its part, Russia continues to accuse the Ukraine of "religious intolerance," a charge the latter sharply rejects, noting instead how all religious denominations have come together to oppose violence and express support for Europe.
For Metropolitan Hilarion, head of the Synodal Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Sviatoslav Shevchuk, major archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, and his predecessor, Lubomyr Husar, took a "very clear position from the beginning of the civil conflict, which grew unfortunately into an armed bloody conflict".
In his view, the Uniates not only advocated integration with Europe, "but even called for Western countries to intervene more decisively in the situation in Ukraine."
Speaking on The Church and the world, a programme on the Russia-24 TV channel, Hilarion also noted that "Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk and [. . .] Filaret (Denisenko) even went to the United States, [. . .] to the State Department and asked for US intervention in Ukrainian affairs."
Excommunicated by the Moscow Patriarchate, Filaret is the head of the breakaway Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate.
In early February, Archbishop Shevchuk spoke before the US Congress. On that occasion, he said that the Ukraine situation transcended politics and asked for US mediation to resolve the crisis.
Conversely, for Hilarion, the Greek-Catholic Church is a major obstacle in relations between the Moscow Patriarchate and the Holy See.
The Orthodox, he said, have always perceived the Uniates in a very negative light, "as a special project by the Catholic Church," because "they dress like Orthodox, follow Orthodox rituals, but are in fact Catholic," which gives them and the Vatican a certain leeway.
When he asked a Catholic official for an explanation about the show of support from the Greek-Catholic Church for the breakaway Orthodox Church, the only answer Hilarion said he got was "We do not control them."
For his part, Shevchuk, who recently met with Pope Francis, bemoans the disappearances of people in Ukraine, who were "abducted and tortured" by the Berkut, the special police in the government of ousted president Yanukovych.
Moscow and Kyiv also continue to trade barbs over religion. The Ukrainian Ministry of Culture has rejected Russian accusations of "religious intolerance" with regards to alleged threats and seizure of parishes that are under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine.
According to the ministry's Religious Affairs Department, no such actions have taken place. On the contrary, during protests at Maiden (Independence) Square, "all the churches, including the Ukrainian Orthodox Church," came out to defend the people and show their support for a pro-European orientation in the country's development.
Likewise, Kyiv has denied claims by the Moscow Patriarchate and the Russian government that the country is in a civil war.
Instead, Russia continues to be under diplomatic pressure to avoid a wider Ukrainian crisis, following its annexation of the Crimea.
In fact, US President Barack Obama is in Brussels for a summit with EU leaders Barroso and Van Rompuy to discuss possible new sanctions.
Thursday, March 27, 2014
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Boy if Met Hilarion, the Papacy's only friend in the Russian Orthodox Church has turned, then you know it's bad. The papacy and the Uniates have a keen knack for uniting the Orthodox world....
ReplyDeletehttp://www.events.orthodoxengland.org.uk
Bottom line, if people are being "disappeared" (which they are) who is causing this and should not all the Churches be denouncing this? I think it is very sad to see the MP and hierarchs simply acting as a national Church. Forms of Sergianism still reign in Russia.
ReplyDeleteI'm not Eastern Orthodox but I have to say I had huge admiration for ROCOR until they reconciled with the Moscow Patriarchate (and continue to hold such admiration for the "true orthodox" remnant still resisting) . The reason being the MP is ran by men who either were directly trained in state ran USSR seminaries or indirectly by people who themselves were taught in USSR seminaries, so it is kind of to be expected elements of the MP to behave such as they are - it's really not entirely their fault, this is the atmosphere and mentality the communist sponsored seminaries created.
DeleteWhere else would they be trained other than ussr seminaries? That's like saying that the churches of all priests/pastors/preachers in America that went to American schools are bad because they went to schools that meet the government's standards of higher education and you don't like Obama. The MP existed in the the USSR. Therefore of course they went to USSR schools. Granted, Sergianism was an inexcusable heresy. But the MP repented of it. The fact is that regardless of mistakes made during the bad old days, the MP has produced a horde of saints...and the old calendarists? Not so much. For all their talk against ecumenism and championing of what they consider "traditional Orthodoxy", they are spiritually deplete and full of hate. They focus solely on being old calendarists and forget about saving their souls. Add to all this the fact that homosexuality and pedophilia is rampant amongst the leadership in most old calendarist groups, they have no credibility. I say all this as a member of ROCOR having seen both sides and what they lead to. Traditional, unwavering Orthodoxy practiced (not boasted about) is the solution. Not schism.
Delete"Where else would they be trained other than ussr seminaries? Where else would they be trained other than ussr seminaries?"
Deletethe underground
" the MP has produced a horde of saints"
Which MP? if you mean the ones sent to the gulag then yes
"That's like saying that the churches of all priests/pastors/preachers in America that went to American schools are bad because they went to schools that meet the government's standards of higher education and you don't like Obama"
no its not, you comparing primary and secondary education to university/college. obama isnt a genocidal communist and doesnt run state seminaries were the professors are NSA (in an NSA that runs death camps in the wilderness for political and religious dissidents) agents who teach students to make christianity subservient to the interests of both the state and nationalism and make christianity reconcilable to stalinist marxism.
All the more reason for the Russian Orthodox Church to improve the reportage of its actions and words in English. Unfortunately the Moscow Patriarchate and ROCOR look to have little desire to adequately counter the flood of anti-Russian Orthodox reporting coming out of Catholic and secular news outlets.
ReplyDeleteEven more unfortunate that American Orthodox believe all the bad things said by these outlets about their brother Orthodox in Russia.
Metropolitan Hilarion is no sergianist. He has condemned the legacy of the Soviet era numerous times, especially Stalinism. This report relays very little of what the Metropolitan said in the full interview, which is available in English: http://mospat.ru/en/2014/03/25/news99997/
It is clear that what the Metropolitan is lamenting is the one-sided stance of the Greek Catholic Church and its attempt to involve the USA in the political crisis in Ukraine - something that no sane Russian and many Ukrainians would tolerate. In contrast the Moscow Patriarchate has remained very neutral in the political confrontation.
It is untrue that there have been no church seizures in Ukraine - Metropolitan Onufry, Locum Tenens of Kiev, mentioned the grabbing of two churches in Chernivtsi only last week. There were provocations in Kiev, Pochaev and Sumy.
"It is untrue that there have been no church seizures in Ukraine - Metropolitan Onufry, Locum Tenens of Kiev, mentioned the grabbing of two churches in Chernivtsi only last week. There were provocations in Kiev, Pochaev and Sumy." What are the names of the 2 churches seized un Chernivsti? I would like to follow this up. What proof do you have?
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