‘Orthodox Church Row Threatens US Aid to Ukraine’

St Sophia’s Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine
(Photo by Paweł ‘pbm’ Szubert)

The Voice of America reported the following:

Orthodox Church Row Threatens US Aid to Ukraine

November 18, 2023

Washington — Pending legislation in Ukraine aimed at preventing the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from becoming a conduit for Russian influence is attracting attention in the United States and is being used by some U.S. conservatives to paint Ukraine as hostile to religious freedom.

Ukrainian authorities insist the proposed law would not limit the activities of the church, which many believe maintains a relationship with the Russian Orthodox Church and has seen its membership plummet since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

They say it would simply authorize a relevant state agency to investigate the presence of connections between any religious organization and Russia and require it to remedy the situation if needed.

The actual text of the draft bill, which received preliminary approval in the Ukrainian parliament on Oct. 19, prohibits “activities of religious organizations that are affiliated with the centers of influence of a religious organization (association) whose management center (management) is located outside of Ukraine in a state that carries out armed aggression against Ukraine.”

Any such ban “is inexcusable, illegal, contrary to international law, and contrary to the interests of Ukraine,” argue lawyers Robert Amsterdam and William Burke-White, who are registered with the U.S. Department of Justice as representing the interests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

“And I think that’s what I find most frustrating,” Amsterdam said in a phone interview with VOA. “Somebody who supports Ukraine as I do, that this government would put in front of the Rada legislation that is so contrary to law and contrary to international practice. The Ukrainian government has got to go back to the rule of law.”

Perhaps more worrisome for the Ukrainian government, the issue has been taken up by some U.S. opinion influencers who argue against further U.S. military assistance to help Kyiv resist the Russian invasion of its territory launched last year.

During the third Republican presidential debate in Miami on Nov. 8, candidate Vivek Ramaswamy accused Ukraine of banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. “The parliament did that just last week, supported by our U.S. dollars,” he said.

Earlier, in a popular show on X, media personality Tucker Carlson accused the Ukrainian government of banning “an entire Christian denomination.” As of this week, the show had been viewed almost 55 million times. https://www.voanews.com/a/orthodox-church-row-threatens-us-aid-to-ukraine/7360438.html

Yes, Ukraine wants to ban the Russian Orthodox Church. And yes, some in the USA have brought that up as part of their rationale to question US aid to Ukraine.

Ukraine is not a bastion of religious freedom.

Notice also:

Two pieces of legislation now before the Ukrainian Rada (the national parliament) would effectively prohibit Ukrainian churches from associating with the Russian Orthodox Church. Rostyslav Povlenko, a Rada member from ex-president Petro Poroshenko’s European Solidarity party, supports a bill that would make affiliation with the Russian Orthodox Church illegal and push its Ukrainian wing to reach terms of agreement with the OCU patriarch. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/09/01/letter-from-ukraine-orthodox-church-00113373

This attitude of Ukraine’s government towards religion is not a new one in 2023. Notice, for example, two reports from last December;

December 2, 2022

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine on Friday banned the activities of religious organizations “affiliated with centers of influence” in Russia and said it would examine the links between the Ukrainian and Russian Orthodox churches.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree enacting a National Security and Defense Council decision to impose personal sanctions against representatives of religious organizations associated with Russia, which invaded Ukraine more than nine months ago.

Zelenskyy’s decree additionally provided for examining the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, one of two Orthodox bodies in Ukraine following a schism that in 2019 resulted in the establishment of one with independence from the Russian church. …

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Ukrainian authorities last week of “waging a war on the Russian Orthodox Church.” …

Orthodox Christians are the largest religious population in Ukraine. But they have been fractured along lines that echo political tensions over Ukraine’s defense of its independence and its Western orientation amid Russia’s continued claim to political and spiritual hegemony in the region — a concept sometimes called the “Russian world.” https://apnews.com/article/zelenskyy-kyiv-religion-europe-government-and-politics-7eaf9ac19b000a2147f0204877a0004e

December 12, 2022

Zelensky’s skill at public relations, which has led many to regard any criticism of him or his government as Russian propaganda.

Yet a closer look at life in Zelensky’s Ukraine reveals that it is not the paragon of democracy and Western values that everyone seems to think it is. Ukraine is a deeply corrupt country with wealthy oligarchs playing the same role there as they do in Putin’s Russia. Using the war as an excuse, Zelensky has banned his political opposition and shut down all media not controlled by his regime.

The latest example of his authoritarian style is even more egregious.

Zelensky’s attempt to bar Orthodox churches that answer to the Russian Orthodox Church ought to dispel any notion that Americans are supporting Western values of freedom in this war. …

The discovery of pro-Russia literature in some churches is being proclaimed as proof of treason. Others are dismissing the initial cries of outrage as misinformation. Zelensky hasn’t banned the Orthodox Church, his apologists say. Orthodox Christians are free to worship and attend services, but only in approved Ukrainian Orthodox churches that look to religious leaders in Kyiv rather than Moscow. …

This approach toward the Orthodox Church clearly contradicts those eager to portray this war as a clear-cut conflict between an authoritarian oppressor and a democratic underdog.

While Putin, in his quest to reassemble the old Tsarist and Soviet empires, should not be allowed to extinguish Ukraine’s right to self-determination, the reality on the ground is that many ethnic Russians and Russian speakers living in the country don’t identify with Ukrainian nationalism. So even churches that take no part in the conflict are seen by Zelensky and his cohorts as enemies. …

The apt comparison for Zelensky’s move against the Russian Orthodox Church here is not to democracies under siege but to communist China, which for decades limited Christian worship to only those Catholic or Protestant churches that pledged fealty to Beijing and the Communist Party and not to any independent religious authority. https://www.newsweek.com/zelensky-defender-democracy-opponent-religious-freedom-opinion-1766012

Volodymyr Zelensky is a secular Jew. Yet, let me point out that it is not just the government of the Ukrainian President with that approach or attitude.

Back in 2018, shortly thereafter, leaders in Ukraine met to become independent of the Moscow patriarch. Here is a report:

15 December 2018

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has announced the creation of an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church, marking a historic split from Russia.

He said national security depended on “spiritual independence” from Russia.

He was speaking at a special council of orthodox priests in Kiev, where a new leader of the Church was selected.

The Russian Orthodox Church cut ties with the spiritual authority of the world’s Orthodoxy after it recognised the Ukrainian Church’s independence.

Russia also fears that its churches in Ukraine could be seized. …

The special council was held in the ancient St Sophia’s Cathedral – one of Kiev’s best known landmarks.

Ukrainian clerics of different Orthodox denominations – including some bishops from the Moscow branch – elected Metropolitan Epifaniy as the leader of the new church.

“This day will go into history as a sacred day… the day of the final independence from Russia,” President Poroshenko told a crowd of thousands outside the cathedral. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46575548

The Russian church was concerned about this and asked for international assistance. And while the Vatican and the World Council of Churches were sympathetic to the Russia position, the Patriarch of Constantinople made a ruling in favor of the nationalistic Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

There was not some new doctrinal change in the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) that caused Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople to recognize the Ukrainian Orthodox church as independent of the ROC.

Basically, that schism was due to politics.

Notice also the following about the split back in December 2018–one statement of which I bolded:

A council of Orthodox bishops has created a new Ukrainian church, marking an historic split from Russia which its leaders see as vital to the country’s security and independence.

The announcement on Saturday came after Ukrainian priests held a synod in capital Kiev’s 11th-century Saint Sophia Cathedral to establish an Orthodox church independent from Moscow. …

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced that 39-year-old Metropolitan Epifaniy of the Kiev Patriarchate church is the head of the new church. His secular name is Sergiy Dumenko. …

“Ukraine was not, is not, and will not be the canonical territory of the Russian church,” Poroshenko said, adding that an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church was now a “matter of national security”. …

In Moscow, the Russian Orthodox Church protested vigorously and dismissed the synod as uncanonical.

Vladimir Legoida, a spokesman for the Moscow church, told Russian state television that the Kiev synod had “no church, religious or evangelical meaning” and that it will have “no canonical consequences”.

Representatives of Ukraine’s three Orthodox Churches attended the synod, but only two from the branch loyal to Moscow showed up.

Russian bishop Metropolitan Hilarion in Volokolamsk on Saturday compared the two representatives of the Moscow-backed church to Judas. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/12/ukraine-creates-orthodox-church-independent-russia-181215171220016.html

Like the old Roman Emperors Constantine and Theodosius, rulers of Ukraine place their government over religion.

This is not new, but this has been a factor in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Back in December 2018, I also posted:

The schism between Constantinople and the ROC has the potential to cause Ukraine to split with part supporting Russia. (Thiel B. Ukrainian Orthodox meet to become separate: Russian Orthodox ask for the UN to intervene. COGwriter, December 15, 2018)

That has since happened. The Donbas region is in support of Russia, aligned with it, and last year was annexed by Russia.

That being said, yes politics plays a role in what is happening between Russia and Ukraine.

But religion is also involved as political leaders have long invoked it when it comes to military conflict.

While there will, at some point, be a temporary acceptance of the Ukrainian and Russian Orthodox churches with each other (as there will be temporal success of the interfaith and ecumenical movements), the current situation has been a factor in the shedding of blood in Ukraine and territories it once controlled.

Pray to the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6) for God’s kingdom to come (Matthew 6:10).

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Russia and Ukraine: Their Origins and Prophesied Future Russia in prophecy. Where do the Russians come from? What about those in the Ukraine? What is prophesied for Russia and its allies? What will they do to the Europeans that supported the Beast in the end? There is also a video sermon available: Russia in the Bible and in Prophecy as are two video sermonettes Russia, Ukraine, Babylonian Europe, and Prophecy and Ukraine in Prophecy?
Is Russia the King of the North? Some claim it is. But what does the Bible teach? Here is a link to a video, also titled Is Russia the King of the North?
Ezekiel 38: For Russia & Iran in Our Day? Is Ezekiel 38 about to be fulfilled? Are we close to the battle with Gog and Magog? Four related videos are available: Ezekiel 38 Gog and Magog War: Is it Soon?, Ezekiel 38: For Russia, Ukraine, & Iran Now?, Russia, Iran, Syria, & the Bible (Code), and Gog, Magog, Vladimir Putin, and Ezekiel 38?
Beliefs of the Original Catholic Church: Could a remnant group have continuing apostolic succession? Did the original “catholic church” have doctrines held by the Continuing Church of God? Did Church of God leaders uses the term “catholic church” to ever describe the church they were part of? Here are links to related sermons: Original Catholic Church of God?, Original Catholic Doctrine: Creed, Liturgy, Baptism, Passover, What Type of Catholic was Polycarp of Smyrna?, Tradition, Holy Days, Salvation, Dress, & Celibacy, Early Heresies and Heretics, Doctrines: 3 Days, Abortion, Ecumenism, Meats, Tithes, Crosses, Destiny, and more, Saturday or Sunday?, The Godhead, Apostolic Laying on of Hands Succession, Church in the Wilderness Apostolic Succession List, Holy Mother Church and Heresies, and Lying Wonders and Original Beliefs. Here is a link to that book in the Spanish language: Creencias de la iglesia Católica original.
Will the Interfaith Movement Lead to Peace or Sudden Destruction? Is the interfaith movement going to lead to lasting peace or is it warned against? A video sermon of related interest is: Will the Interfaith Movement lead to World War III? and three video sermonette are also available: Pope Francis signs ‘one world religion’ document! and The Chrislam Cross and the Interfaith Movement and Do You Know That Babylon is Forming?
The Gospel of the Kingdom of God This free online pdf booklet has answers many questions people have about the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and explains why it is the solution to the issues the world is facing. It is available in hundreds of languages at ccog.org. Here are links to four kingdom-related sermons: The Fantastic Gospel of the Kingdom of God!, The World’s False Gospel, The Gospel of the Kingdom: From the New and Old Testaments, and The Kingdom of God is the Solution.