I think one could easily find 5-10 "hit pieces" on the OCU (i.e. the formerly UOC-KP/UAOC now EP-backed disputably autocephalous church) posted every day. There are sites that used to post with great variety who have now turned almost exclusively to an anti-OCU agenda. Some of the rancor is well earned. One could write several books cataloguing all the vagaries of the men who populate these schismatic groups or the political aspirations of those who have supported them. All of that to say this: I'm not going to post every grenade thrown from Kyiv or Moscow over the border. I'm not going to post stories whose entire purpose is to spew bilious rage on the other party.
I will post stories with corroboration that point to how this whole thing is going to settle after the dust clears. My earlier post on this Slovenian story looked at whether the OCU was going to honor the restriction to maintain a presence only inside the borders of Ukraine. The story - as presented in multiple articles - brought that tomos restriction into question. The below is a clarification to what actually happened.
Some have emailed me to highlight that schismatic Ukrainian parishes in the US might have a hard time being melded into the canonical structure the Ecumenical Patriarchate wants for them. Some of these churches were formerly UOC-USA parishes or have clergy that are not on good terms with that jurisdiction. I honestly have no idea what they are going to do and I look forward to posting about it here on the blog.
I'm not secretly a Russophile or a Phanariot plant. I just want to better understand how this conflict is going to be resolved. That means posting stories of both the irenic and estranging varieties even if I know it's going to mean I'll never wear a nabedrennik or be made an Archon.
(Romfea) - The Directorate of External Church Relations of Autocephalous Church of Ukraine gave clarifications on the Divine Liturgy that took place a few days ago, on March 31, in the Catholic Church of St. Urkha in Slovenia.
According to the announcement, information that has come to light concerning the Divine Liturgy officiated by the Archpriest Vasily Kuchirka in the Catholic Church of St. Urkha in Slovenia, “has no ground in reality.”
As reported, “the Orthodox Church of Ukraine has not established and does not intend to establish its own parish on the territory of Slovenia.
The Divine Liturgy was performed at the request of the Ukrainian diplomats to Slovenia in a Roman Catholic Church which was kindly offered for this Divine Liturgy by the local Roman Catholic Metropolis.
For this reason Roman Catholic priest Alesh Tomašević attended but did not concelebrate the Liturgy.
According to the Tomos of autocephaly, a dialogue is being held with the Ecumenical Patriarchate on transferring the Ukrainian Metropolises to the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate while a part of the parishes in Europe has completed this process.
It should be emphasized that the alleged concern of Moscow-related SMEs regarding compliance with the terms of the Tomos, which is not recognized by Moscow, and the rules, which are regularly violated, provokes great derision, especially when this occurs on April’s Fool Day”.
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Weird
ReplyDeleteEven as they describe it, it's still a violation of Serbia's canonical territory.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the qualification, Father. I still wonder, though, whether the OCU priest received the blessing of the local Serbian bishop to perform a Liturgy on his canonical territory.
ReplyDeleteI can see that I need to be more careful about the sources of information I read, and do a better job of not jumping to conclusions. All the more so because of Lent.
It's very convenient that the embassy suddenly realized (only after the event was publicized) that, oh wait, no they didn't concelebrate, and, oh wait, no there isn't a parish community.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet, a message on the FB page from the priest in question reads:
"Dear friends,
We have already informed you that with God's help on March 31, 2019 Ukrainians of Slovenia and ukrainians of Northern Italy, as well as brothers and sisters by Christ from Slovenia started with our common prayers in the church of Urha in ljubljani. We feel like doing good and right. We will be combined with common prayer and hope for a better future.
We try to forget the bagatovíkoví conflicts and overcome the useless questions to which the religion is, and whether we come from the east, West, north or south. A completely important question. We all have the same goal: with God's help in the future. Always with God!
For this we serve you a few photos. It is important to remember and not to forget about our efforts. We invite you to visit svâti liturgíí̈ in as much as possible. Next st. Liturgíâ will be for Easter. We will soon report the exact day and hour."
Yes, that is a parish community being spoken of.
I checked the original post from the Ukrainian Embassy's website, and though there may not have been concelebration, it does sound as if they were establishing a parish there:
ReplyDeleteUkrainian original: "Висловлюємо щиру вдячність Архієпископу Монс. Станіславу Зоре, який маючи повноваження глави Словенської церкви надав можливість проводити богослужіння в святині св. Урха."
Translation:
"We Express our sincere gratitude to Archbishop Mons. Stanislav Zore, who having the powers of the head of the Slovenian Church provided the opportunity to conduct worship services in the sanctuary of St. Urkha."
The verb used, "проводити" (provoditi) - "conduct" worship services indicates an ongoing process. Ukrainian, like Russia, has perfect and imperfect verbs that indicate completed or ongoing actions. Using "provoditi" instead "provesti" (the perfect verb - a completed action) means that the Catholic Archbishop gave them permission to conduct worship services regularly, NOT once. If this was a one-time affair, the phrase would have read: "надав можливість **провести** богослужіння в святині св. Урха."
The site of the embassy continues, thanking a certain A. Gevtsy:
"за пророблену роботу на шляху до ствердження Православної церкви України в Словенії"
"for his work toward the establishment of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in Slovenia"
The word "establishment" (ствердження - stverdzhennya) does not give one the impression that this was a one-off service. Moreover, why "establish" a church on another Local Church's canonical territory?
And this is all from the official website:
https://slovenia.mfa.gov.ua/ua/press-center/news/71554-31-bereznya-v-sloveniji-rozpochala-svoje-funkcionuvannya-pravoslavna-cerkva-ukrajini
Moreover, the news release refers to it as the "first" (перший) Liturgy held. Does that not sound as if more are planned?
ReplyDelete"31 березня в Любляні відбулася **перша** Свята літургія св.Василя Великого в храмі св.Урха"
"Сьогодні Посол М.Бродович з дружиною, співробітники Посольства та представники української громади в Словенії відвідали **першу** Святу літургію св. Василя Великого, яка відслужилася в храмі св. Урха."
And then there is this...
ReplyDeletehttp://orthochristian.com/120512.html