On the day of the enthronement of the metropolitan of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), President Petro Poroshenko said that in accordance with the Constitution of Ukraine, the church is and will remain independent of the state.
But the Ukrainian government has done everything it could to promote the achievement of autocephaly and believes that the church and the state will now be able to enter onto “a path toward genuine partnership of the church and state for joint work for the good of the country and the people.”
At the same time, Ivanna Klimpush-Tsintsadze, the deputy prime minister for issues of European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, said that Ukraine is deeply offended by the presumptuousness of Russian President Vladimir Putin who has stated that he will defend the rights of Orthodox believers in Ukraine.
Such statements are a threat to Ukraine’s sovereignty, she continued; and “we will not allow the Russian Federation to use believers in the political goals of the Kremlin.”
Metropolitan Epiphany, the newly installed head of the OCU, was even more blunt: he said that “the Russian Orthodox Church is the last advance post of Vladimir Putin in Ukraine” and that the appearance of the OCU undercuts the imperial goals of the Kremlin leader.
When Ukrainian Orthodox join together in the OCU, Epiphany said, that will lead to the end of the war in the Donbas and the return of Crimea to Ukraine. “Putin is losing here in Ukraine the support which he had before because if he had not had this support, there would not have been a war in the Donbas.”
“And therefore,” the Ukrainian church leader continued, “we will consistently maintain ourselves as a single church recognized and canonical in Ukraine. And gradually Russia will lose this influence through the souls of Orthodox Ukrainians here.”
Further Reading:
- Majority of Orthodox believers in Ukraine identify with Ukrainian church, new poll shows
- Ukrainian Orthodox Church and Orthodox Church of Ukraine are now legal synonyms
- New independent church and Moscow Patriarchate vie for parishes in Ukraine
- FSB, SVR divide control of Moscow Patriarchate church at home and abroad, Ukrainian intelligence official says
- Ukrainian autocephaly a defeat for Putin but a victory for a future Free Russia, Illarionov says
- Now-independent Ukrainian Orthodox church set to be major player internationally, Illarionov says
- Ukrainian Orthodox Church head says Russian Orthodox Church will remain in Ukraine as many want it and he’s not against that
- Are the Uniates about to make common cause with newly autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox?