Kyiv (RFERL) – Ukraine’s parliament has approved a bill that would force the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) to change its name.
A total of 240 lawmakers voted for the legislation on December 20, as hundreds of people opposed to the bill held a mass prayer next to the parliament’s building.
After the vote, the UOC-MP urged President Petro Poroshenko to veto the text, calling it unconstitutional.
The proposed law would require a religious organization whose governing center is based in a country waging war against Ukraine or occupying Ukrainian territory to change its name to reflect its affiliation.
The bill would force the UOC-MP, which remains subordinate to Russia, to add "Russian" to its name.
Moscow forcibly annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region in March 2014 and supports separatists battling Ukrainian forces in eastern Ukraine in a conflict there has killed more than 10,300 people since April 2014.
"There is no question that the church that blesses weapons, the killers of Ukrainians, should not bear the name of Ukraine," Ukrainian parliament speaker Andriy Parubiy told lawmakers.
Oleksandr Bryhynets of the Bloc of Petro Poroshenko faction in parliament said the church “may choose any option for itself. For example, the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine, the Russian Orthodox Church in Kharkiv, the Russian Orthodox Church in Kyiv. It is their right. They can choose [their name] during registration."
The move comes after Ukrainian Orthodox leaders last week agreed on the creation of a new national Ukrainian Orthodox Church and elected the 39-year-old Metropolitan Epifaniy to head it.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople is expected to hand over a "tomos" -- a decree granting autocephaly, or independence -- to Epifaniy on January 6.
Ukraine's leaders said the move was vital to the country's security and independence, but it could further raise tensions with Moscow, which has opposed Kyiv’s efforts to secure an independent church.
Friday, December 21, 2018
How does the "Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine" sound?
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How does the "Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine" sound?
ReplyDeleteAbout right for a church trying to adopt itself, 1000 years late, to modern states, nationalism, denominational and religous plurality, secularism, etc.
I am on record in supporting (or more accurately, "justifying") the EP's efforts to do something *Christian* in Ukraine. However, perhaps he (and I) were seeing things from our very western, secular viewpoint? Has he waded into a nationalism of a character and degree for which he simply was not prepared? What is going to be his and this new churches reaction and position vis-a-vis not just speech/thought control (as in it's illegal for X church to use the term Ukraine) but forcible land/church/monastery takeovers? Unintended consequences in these things are often much more significant than any original intent. Has the EP's efforts merely brought one group into "canonicity" and the other into "schism"? The EP's ugly accommodation to modern technocratic existence and thinking is bearing more fruit I am afraid...
He gets it, it's why he passed on doing what he ought to do (receive the Church of Macedonia's appeal and regularize its situation too), but went for Ukraine (which it's well past time for - if he'd done this when the first appeal for autocephaly came from the MP's Exarchate of Ukraine things might be different today).
DeletePerhaps you are too kind in your evaluation of the motives of the EP. Time will tell.
ReplyDeleteI am not really interested in motivations, intentions, etc. I try rather to look at the fruit, the objective results, etc. Most of the amateur speculations into motives, psychology, and geopolitical analysis that is popular is just speculation and not worth the time.
DeleteThis modern Ecumenical Patriarchate, trying to exist in its "new" situation since 1920 (losing all its flock in the population exchange, being thrust into the modern/secular cultural situation, become in fact that Patriarch of GOA etc.), is quite obviously groping and struggling. This is historical record and fruit, not speculation into motives.
This groping is going to continue until a REAL council puts our ecclesiology into some sort of reckoning with the collapse of the Empire...
Lord have mercy. May Christ protect the orthodox believers in Ukraine under metropolitan Onufry, and resolve the church conflict so that the schismatics might see the error of their ways.
ReplyDeleteat this point does anyone think a new council will ever happen? with out n emperor making it happen we will continue to be ethnic orthodox christians - pay attention to the order - instead of christians who are orthodox in belief from a particular ethnic persuasion. to create unity chrisitianity and its principles and teaching must be paramount and it is evident that the children not getting along in the christian sandbox have no conception of this.
ReplyDeleteOut of fairness, groups under the EP ought to be forced to call themselves "Turkish Orthodox."
ReplyDeleteOooh. I am so stealing that line.
DeleteI had the same thought (said the guy whose local parish is a UOCofUSA)...
DeleteThere was a Turkish orthodox church under papa aftim . A branch existed in New Jersey on the 60' s and 70' s . I think their magazine was orthodox mustakail or something like that
ReplyDeleteSo much for freedom of religion and separation of church and state.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we could get the Congress to rename Christian denominations here
Neither Ukrainians, nor Russians, nor Greeks have the same conception of "freedom of religion" and "church and state" as we good Americans do George as you well know.
DeleteThe EP, being the de facto Patriarch of GOA (i.e. secularized and Americanized "Greek" Americans) might be...
Christopher
“I know that the Church has a conservative position, and if the new church will soften its position regarding the LGBT community, the gays of Ukraine, and it will take liberal values, it will be a great stimulus to develop European values. We spoke with Secretary Pompeo and he agrees that you should the increase your LGBT and gay values in the future,” the callers responded. Metropolitan Epiphanii
ReplyDeleteFr. Gregory,
DeleteWhat is the context of this quote? Actually, I am not even sure who is supposed to be saying this...I am taking as guess that a caller into some media show (perhaps a radio show) said that Met. Ephiphanii said...what exactly?
Jake,
DeleteI have avoided quoting the Metropolitan out of respect to his office. Go to Orthodoxchristianity.com to see the development that seems to be coming down the pike.
Sorry the site is orthochristian.com A few articles have emerged that sheds some light on the political cultural and theological implications for the new union.
DeleteFr. Gregory, I found the article. The context is this: two Russian "pranksters" called Met. Ephiphanii and posed as German journalists. The part you quoted was something they said to him.
DeleteWhy not a American born accentless widower with a degree in business and marketing? Time for a radical change for survival
ReplyDeleteChange sure, but not just *any* change. For example, an American born accentless business person would, in all probability, give us *more* wrong (fill_in_the_blank), not less in my opinion. I might not be following the gist of your sentence however...
DeleteThank you, Jake! You know, I know your Archbishop Daniel. He's a Ukrainian born man with a very slight accent. Even though he and I are on opposite sides regarding the Ukrainian situation, I will never deny that he appears to be a Christ centered hierarch and a real hands-on bishop.
DeleteBorisJojicj,
DeleteAs an American "convert" of 21 years, who has had several bishops (my wife and have moved around the country several times), I have had a few bishops among the 4 jurisdictions that have been my local church, including Archbishop Dmitri Royster who some see as a real saint (my experience of the man, was not that). Archbishop Daniel, as a pastor, bishop, and administrator, is head and shoulders above them all. I am only one man and thus my experience is limited, but it is what it is.
Hi Jake... judging from items posted on the UOCofUSA website, Archbishop Daniel seems to be quite the UPA supporter. Have you spoken to him about this? How does he explain himself?
Delete"supporter" is not the word. Archbishop Daniel is one of the EP's exarchs. I have not spoken to him about the Ukrainian situation, other than about his charity efforts around Ukrainian orphans which I $support$ as a family and we $support$ as a parish.
DeleteAs I said, I am not Ukrainian in any way - I am "American" through and through. Here is what I care about: Bishop Daniel comes to our parish and takes the time to talk individually to my (now 9 year old) daughter, giving her a Word that she can understand and has real impact in her life. My priest can't really do this (though he has his gifts of course), and as a parent I do so in differing ways, but not like Archbishop Daniel can.
On just that alone, in the bar fight of anachronistic and broken Orthodox ecclesiology, I have his back ;)
Okay, not supporter then... enthusiast? admirer? Does it really matter when we are talking about a genocidal organization that enthusiastically murdered Jews and Poles? Here are photos of him in front of the UPA monument in South Bound Brook: https://uocofusa.org/news_171020_2.html And in case anyone thinks this is just ancient history now, the Ukrainian government just made Stepan Bandera's birthday a national holiday.
Deletewe ate being hurt and even damaged by our pradigms and lack of faith in our future --what is wrong with an american born, widower who knows how to manage and promote his church -- better than hiding in the ghettos by someone who knows nothing of the real world and how to cope with it
ReplyDeleteFor what its worth, most modern bishops are more likely to have a secular education, even business degrees, than a traditional spiritual pedigree. So trading out ethnic bishops who act like businessmen for an “American accent less” businessman seems like a total misdiagnosis of the issues within Orthodoxy today. The Church doesn’t need CEO’s to overhaul it, it needs faithful servants with spiritual wisdom and devotion to Christ.
ReplyDeleteIf a bishop is faithful to the Gospel and Christ’s commandments, the rest is just details that God can take care of. What is far more common is that we have bishops who are concerned with how much money their diocese is receiving and all the details of running a business; coping with the “real world”. If you aren’t happy with the results, I would suggest we need less businessmen and more apostles.
Robert and Sojourner,
ReplyDeleteMy diagnosis is different. Bishops (and for that matter all clergy) are really not that important or influential. Rather, clergy are a *reflection* of the laity (taht is where they all come from, after all). Here in NA and western civ., it's the secularism from within the laity that is the real #1 (and #2, #3) issue, so to speak.
Bishops/clergy can in no way "manage" a solution to a laity and Church bent on it's own secularization. At the risk of appearing to question Providence, even if the bishops/clergy were all Saints I don't think it would matter much - we would exile them metaphorically if not in actuality...
Well I can agree with that up to a point. I’ve often said if we are complaining about our bishops we should raise better children, since as you aptly pointed out, clergy come from the laity. Although there is something to be said for the fact that many diocese have an aristocratic style grooming of future bishops as a career path...
DeleteHowever, while I would argue that saints have an inherent positive impact on laity, nevertheless I would agree that they would largely be ignored if not attacked. Considering the few holy people we’ve hosted here in America have consistently been slandered and reviled, up to this day.
I would still advocate for a vasiliy grahamovich or a vasilious grahampolous as possible alternatives to grow our church and become more of the fabric of America and shed the ethnic ghetto syndrome
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