“You will not kill” – Ukrainian church breaks with Moscow

The Council passed amendments to the Statute of the Church “confirming the full autonomy and independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church,” Kathpress and the Catholic News Agency reported. Further details about the detachment of the Moscow Patriarchate were initially unknown. For the Russian Church, the loss of its Ukrainian branch with millions of believers and clergy would be a heavy blow.

Violation of the fifth commandment
Unlike Cyril I, the Ukrainian National Council condemned the Russian war of aggression as a violation of the fifth of the Ten Commandments: “Thou shalt not kill!”. The congregation expressed its condolences to all who suffered during the war. The governments of Ukraine and Russia must continue the negotiation process and end the “bloodshed”.

The Council expressed deep regret at the lack of unity in Ukrainian Orthodoxy, addressed to the rival Ukrainian Orthodox Church (OKU). However, they do not give up hope that a dialogue can be started. However, to do this, OKU’s representatives would have to “stop the confiscation of churches and the forced displacement of congregations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church”.

The German theologian and Eastern Europe expert Regina Elsner called the Council resolution ‘impressive’ in an initial reaction on Friday evening. “Ukrainian orthodoxy is thus freeing itself from the toxic effect of Moscow, even though the road to religious peace in Ukraine is just beginning,” she told the Catholic News Agency (KNA).

Months of outrage over Patriarch Kyrill
Moscow Patriarch Cyril I’s support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has also sparked outrage in the Ukrainian branch of his church for months. In the Ukrainian church, more and more people called for secession from the Moscow Patriarchate. In 21 of the 53 dioceses, the local bishops gave their parishes the freedom to no longer commemorate Cyril I in the liturgy, which is considered a severe sanction. More than 400 priests called for an “international church tribunal” against Cyril I for blessing the war on Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Church, which is subordinate to Moscow, has already elected its head and bishops itself, and until now, its autonomy has also included finances. Since 2014, the head of the UOC has been the 77-year-old Metropolitan Onufri (Berezovsky) of Kiev.

The Russian Orthodox Church is surprised
On Friday evening, Russian Orthodox Church spokesman Vladimir Legoida was initially surprised by the independence vote of the Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. “We pray for the preservation of the unity of the Russian Orthodox Church,” he said.

Now the head of the foreign office of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion, commented on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s decision in a video message on Saturday. He will probably – at least officially – interpret the statements of the Ukrainian church differently than the church itself.

Hilarion said in his video message that the Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church confirmed the status that this church has had since 1990 “when it received the blessed letter of self-government from His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and all Russia”. With Friday’s resolutions, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church once again testified that it has complete self-government, that its ecclesiastical center is not in Moscow but in Kiev, and that it is not dependent on Moscow administratively, financially or otherwise.

At the same time, Metropolitan Hilarion emphasized that unity between the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church should be preserved.

Two competing Orthodox churches
About 60 percent of the approximately 41 million Ukrainians profess Orthodox Christianity. They essentially belong to two different churches: the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Independent (Autocephalous) Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which was established in late 2018.

With about 12,000 parishes, the Moscow Faithful Church in Ukraine numbers significantly more than any other denomination. But polls showed that most citizens supported the new, independent Orthodox Church. About 400 former congregations of the Moscow Patriarchate are said to have joined her in the past three months. According to its own information, it now has about 7,600 parishes.