Kiev, July 1, 2021
Photo: strana.ua
President Vladimir Zelensky made a startling statement yesterday that only serves to underline his increasing interference in religious affairs in Ukraine.
According to the official website of the President of Ukraine, Zelensky told Pope Francis in a phone conversation yesterday that “today Ukraine is a country where representatives of all religions coexist peacefully and feel comfortable. The state has no apparent interfaith conflicts and virtually no speculation on the subject of faith.”
However, the entire Orthodox world well knows that there have been serious religious conflicts in Ukraine for more than 30 years now, with the emergence of several schismatic groups in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. The canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, now headed by His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine, is under constant attack from radical nationalists and schismatics, who are not ashamed to resort to physically overtaking churches and beating priests and parishioners, including elderly women.
The situation has only worsened since Patriarch Bartholomew, former President Petro Poroshenko, and the U.S. State Department united to create the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” in 2018. Emboldened by Pat. Bartholomew’s support for the structure, its supporters have seized hundreds of churches in the past 2.5 years.
Pres. Zelensky himself is well aware that there are religious conflicts in Ukraine, as he campaigned on a platform of non-interference, as opposed to Poroshenko’s blatant interference and bias against the canonical Church, which greatly contributed to his landslide victory over his predecessor.
When Pres. Zelensky met with Pat. Bartholomew in August 2019, he refused to capitulate to the Patriarchate’s attempt to secure his agreement to continue Poroshenko’s policy of interference. However, when the two met again a year later, Zelensky’s attitude towards the Patriarch had markedly changed, and he personally invited the Patriarch to visit Ukraine, although Church canons stipulate that one bishop may visit the territory of another only with the blessing of the local hierarch.
Moreover, Zelensky’s own constituents have repeatedly appealed to him to uphold the constitution and protect the canonical Church from the persecution it faces at the hands of both the schismatics and authorities at all levels.
In March of this year, a letter of appeal pleading with the head of state to stop the persecution against the Church, signed by 1,063,234 suffering Orthodox faithful, was delivered to the President by representatives from parish communities that have suffered from schismatic seizure.
And just two weeks ago, 20,000 Orthodox parishioners gathered outside the Parliament building to prayerfully protest the persecution.
However, Zelensky has largely ignored and downplayed these large-scale movements, which is, at least implicitly, a stance of support for the schismatics, who are the persecutors. It is also the same tactic as the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
People’s Deputy of the European Union Rostislav Pavlenko told the Ukrainian outlet Glavkom yesterday that the Patriarchate of Constantinople believes the Laity NGO that organized the protest at Parliament is numerically insignificant, despite the fact that the organization was able to gather 20,000 people during the work day with little notice, just two weeks after it was created.
Thus, both Zelensky and the Patriarchate are simply ignoring the reality on the ground in Ukraine, thereby allowing persecution to continue.
In their phone conversation, the Ukrainian head of state also assured the Pope that the Ukrainian people are waiting for his visit. Zelensky also invited the Roman Catholic pontiff to attend next month’s celebration of the 30th anniversary of Ukrainian independence.
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