June 11, 2015 The
Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC)
of the Kyiv Patriarchate, two of the three largest Orthodox denominations in
Ukraine (the other is the UOC subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate), have
agreed to hold a meeting later this month to discuss unification.
That move, agreed upon
at a meeting in Kyiv on Monday, puts the two on the road to unification and
toward the formation of a single autocephalous Orthodox church in Ukraine, something
that the Moscow Patriarchate will do everything in its power to prevent because
the emergence of such a church would cost it most of its bishoprics and
parishioners there.
Such an independent
national church, subordinate only to the Universal Patriarchate in
Constantinople which sent delegates to the Monday meeting and appears to be
actively supporting the Ukrainian move, would not only attract many bishops and
the faithful of the Russian Orthodox Chirch of the Moscow Patriarchate (ROC-MP)
but would also boost Ukrainian national identity separate from Russia.
But in addition, it
would have serious consequences in Russia itself: Because more than half of the
Moscow Patriarchate’s parishes are in Ukraine and because many of the newly
created bishops there are Moscow Patriarch Kirill’s base, such a move
represents a devastating blow to the Moscow church and its leader, reducing the
ROC-MP to the third largest Orthodox church in the world and undercutting
Kirill’s power and influence.
Consequently, it is entirely reasonable to assume
that Kirill and Moscow will do everything they can to block this development,
including the use of FSB-orchestrated provocations, blackmail, bribes, and
other forms of official pressure both within Ukraine itself and in the Orthodox
world more generally
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