Kiev, May 23, 2019
Photo: life.ru
At the initiative of former Metropolitan Alexander Drabinko, who betrayed the Church of Christ and united himself with schismatics, the Pechersk District Court of Kiev has opened proceedings against the primate of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev over a 2016 appeal of the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Church to former President Petro Poroshenko
The former canonical hierarch and current “hierarch” of the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” published the court’s decision about the opening of proceedings against Met. Onuphry yesterday, reports the Union of Orthodox Journalists.
Drabinko filed the claim for the “protection of honor, dignity, business reputation, and compensation for moral (non-property) damages” based on the Synod’s address to Poroshenko in which, according to the defector, his name is “mentioned extremely negatively.”
Similarly, Drabinko’s brother-in-apostasy, Simeon Shostatsky, also brought a suit against the canonical Church in order to protect his “honor,” though he later dropped his suit.
Conversely, the bishops of the Holy Synod worried that the greatest harm was done to the reputation and memory of His Beatitude Metropolitan Vladimir, the predecessor to Met. Onuphry, as the Synod’s address concerned the investigation into the circumstances of the last years of Met. Vladimir’s life, with whom Drabinko was very close. The Synod writes that the investigation was aimed at placing political pressure on Deputy Vadim Novinsky, a member of the canonical Church. The appeal also concerned the slander being spread in the media at that time by Drabinko.
Commenting on the court’s decision, Drabinko spoke about why he brought the suit: “As a Christian and a priest, I prayerfully wish for the People’s Deputy of Ukraine Vadim Vladislavovich Novinsky, in whose defense the members of the Holy Synod spoke, peace with God and the salvation of his soul. At the same time, as my name is mentioned highly negatively in the address of the Holy Synod, immediately after its publication I appealed to His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry and the entire episcopate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church with an open letter, where I pointed to the baseless accusations and their fictitious, slanderous character.”
Yesterday, the court sent Drabinko a notice that it sees no reason not to open proceedings and that a preparatory court session has been appointed for May 29.
On November 14, 2016, the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Church published an open letter addressed to President Poroshenko demanding that he cease using the Church “in political manipulations and the settling of scores between political opponents.” As an example of such abuse of the Church, the bishops pointed to the investigation into the last years of Met. Vladimir’s life which was a pretext for pressure on political opponents, in particular, an attempt to rescind Deputy Novinsky’s parliamentary immunity, who figured into the proceedings regarding whether there were any illegal actions of the previous government against the Church.
The focus on Novinsky was purely politically motivated, the bishops write.
In addition to the harm done to Met. Vladimir’s memory, “the shame of the situation is added to by the fact that the source of the dirt for it was Metropolitan Alexander (Drabinko),” who spread unsubstantiated gossip and slander in the media rather than discussing the matter and sharing his information with the Synod.
Further, in trying to avoid responsibility before the law for the “not unfounded suspicions of complicity in a resonant crime,” Drabinko became an instrument of political struggle, “neglecting morality and discrediting the service of the deceased primate.”
The “crime” referred to is presumably the accusations that Drabinko, being responsible for Met. Vladimir’s healthcare in the last years of his life, did not properly execute his duties, which led to Met. Vladimir’s cancer going undetected until it was too late. According to Cyber Eagle and other sources, wiretapped telephone conversations prove that Drabinko manipulated the former primate as a cover for his cooperation with the Ukrainian Security Service which was blackmailing Drabinko with its knowledge of his homosexual lifestyle.
Follow us on Facebook!
