As the war between Russia and Ukraine continues, a crisis within a crisis is unfolding in Ukraine: A long-smouldering conflict over two opposing sects of Christianity is wrangling for control.
The epicentre of the conflict is the Kiev Pechersk Monastery, which is one of the biggest monasteries of the Orthodox Christian world and used to be a pilgrim centre for Russian Orthodoxy.
The monastery has been administered by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. But the Ukrainian government in March cancelled the rental agreement of the monastery and asked the monks living there to leave the premises. The government plans to hand the monastery over to the Ukrainian branch of the Istanbul (Fener) Patriarchate.
The monks did not yield, though, and instead organised demonstrations along with their followers.
The controversy has many layers, from the one rooted in the Russia-Ukraine conflict to Ukraine’s national identity.
Orthodoxy in Ukraine: A Great Split
A great majority of Ukraine’s population is Orthodox Christian, which is divided mainly into two sects: A significant part of which follows the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) and the rest support the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), which is subjected to the Istanbul Greek (Fener) Patriarchate.
In the early 1990s, during the collapse of the Soviet Union, some Ukrainian nationalist priests severed ties with the Moscow Patriarchate and established independent church organisations (such as the “Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church” and the “Kiev Patriarchate”).
The Ukrainian chapters were not recognised by the other parts of the Orthodox world until 2018. It was when the Fener (Istanbul) Patriarch Bartholomew declared, Ukraine to be within the canonical territory of the Fener Patriarchate, not of the Moscow Patriarchate.
The church and politics
Much of the clergy in the Ukrainian branch of the Moscow Patriarchate has supported pro-Russian electoral candidates in Ukraine, while the others supported pro-Western candidates.
The pro-Moscow branch almost always encouraged brotherly relations between Russians and Ukrainians, while others used to advocate for a pro-Western foreign policy, speaking in favour of acquiring NATO membership and taking positions that complemented the foreign policy agendas of the EU.
The OCU under the Fener Patriarchate is a product of both geopolitics and domestic politics. The former President Petro Poroshenko wanted to gain support from nationalists by creating a “national church” before the 2019 presidential elections, but this did not help him get re-elected. His rival and successor Volodymyr Zelensky was not interested in religious matters and made fun of Poroshenko’s church policies. However, after two years, Zelensky aligned himself with nationalist voters and adopted a more hostile policy towards the Moscow Patriarchate.
Whilst Russia has vied to maintain influence over Ukraine and keep Western powers at bay, controlling the Orthodox Christian clergy proved to be a helpful political instrument. Kiev being the cradle of Eastern Slavic nations and Orthodoxy, has given Moscow to prioritise desires of control over it. Russia, Ukraine and Belarus are descendants of the Kyivan Principality (the “Kyivan Rus”), which existed from the 9th century until the 13th century.
Therefore, for Russian nationalists, Kiev is in the position of the first capital of Slavs. Under the Kievan Principality, the ancestors of Russians, Ukrainians and Belarussians accepted the Orthodox version of Christianity. In 988, as a result of Byzantine influence, the Kievan Principality accepted Christianity as the official religion, with the Kiev Metropolitanate being established under the patronage of the Istanbul Patriarchate. After the Kievan Principality was destroyed by Tatars-Mongols in the 13th century, the Kievan Metropolite moved from Kiev to eventually Moscow. In 1448, the church in Moscow broke off its ties with the Istanbul Patriarchate. By 1588, the Moscow Patriarchate was established. In light of these events, the Moscow Patriarchate claims to be the legitimate descendant and inheritor of the then Kiev Metropolitanate.
Religious dimension of the war
This conflict also has an international dimension: Since the mid-1940s, Russia (then USSR, now the Russian Federation) and the US have instrumentalized religious constitutions for their political aims. Whereas Russia has been supporting the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) to gain and preserve influence over the Orthodox people of Eastern Europe, the US has been supporting the Fener Patriarchate for the same purpose. In 1948, the head of the Orthodox community in the US Athenagoras was sent to Istanbul via then US President Harry Truman’s personal aircraft. He gained Turkish citizenship and was promptly elected patriarch.
From that point onwards, the church openly became part of the geopolitical wrangling between the US and Russia over Eastern Europe. When Fener Patriarchate cut ties with its Russian chapter in 2018, the US was the first to welcome the development. Several reports suggest that the US helped establish ties between the Zelenskyy administration and the OCU (of Fener). With the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and Moscow Patriarch Kirill’s open support of the Russian action, the Ukrainian branch of the Moscow Patriarchate (the UOC-MP) found itself in a tight spot. In May 2022, the UOC officially terminated its ties with the Moscow Patriarchate.
However, the Ukrainian government remains sceptical of the UOC’s commitment to independence and has been pushing even for the removal of Moscow-affiliated clergy from Ukrainian monasteries and churches. The Fener Patriarch does not have the same authority in the Orthodox Christian world as the Pope has in the Catholic world.
The Orthodox world consists of 15 churches, and among them, the Fener Patriarch is considered “primus inter pares.” However, it tries to have more authority in the Orthodox world and aims to be the absolute leader of the Orthodox world. On this question also, it is supported by the US.
In light of delicate local and international tensions, the outcome of the Ukraine war will have significant consequences for the future of the Orthodox world.
Source: TRTworld.com