Olomouc, Moravia, Czech Republic, September 11, 2024
Bp. Isaiah (right) serving with the unordained Epiphany Dumenko (left)
One bishop of the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia has dissented from the Synod’s statement in defense of the persecuted Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
For Bishop Isaiah of Olomouc and Brno, the recent law aimed at banning the canonical UOC is perfectly legal and reasonable, and the UOC should be banned.
Addressing His Beatitude Metropolitan Rastislav of Prešov, the primate of the Czech-Slovak Church, in a letter obtained by the Union of Orthodox Journalists, Bp. Isaiah writes: “With all my love and respect for you, I regret to announce that I cannot agree with the proposed synodal statement regarding the ecclesiastical situation in Ukraine and the adopted Law No. 8371.”
The hierarch’s stance is in line with his previous actions. In November 2019, he defied his own Holy Synod and concelebrated with “Metropolitan” Epiphany Dumenko and other unordained hierarchs of Constantinople’s schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine,” whom he also gifted relics of St. Wenceslaus.
It was no surprise that Bp. Isaiah chose to concelebrate with the schismatics, as he was, in fact, consecrated in 2015 by decision of Constantinople hierarchs Emmanuel of Gaul and Arsenios of Austria without the blessing or recognition of Met. Rastislav or the Czech-Slovak Holy Synod, in order to create an “alternative Synod” in the Church.
Bp. Isaiah is also the Deputy Chairman of the monastery/”Association” that the Patriarchate of Constantinople registered in Vilemov, Czech Republic in October 2019 without the blessing of the primate or Synod. The Chairman is the same Metropolitan Arsenios of Austria who was responsible for having Bp. Isaiah consecrated as a hierarch.
For Bp. Isaiah, “The law [on banning the UOC—OC] that has now been adopted in Ukraine can be considered legal and adequate, since it was adopted in the ordinary legislative process, by the free decision of members of Parliament who made their decisions with confidential knowledge of the situation in Ukraine.”
Further, the Czech hierarch argues that His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine isn’t listed in the diptychs as the head of an independent Church, therefore he must still report to Moscow, and thus his Church, the UOC, is rightly subjected to a nationwide ban.
For Bp. Isaiah, as for Ukrainian politicians, the most important and unassailable point of view is that of the Russian Church:
His Beatitude Vladyka Onuphry, Metropolitan of Kiev is not the head of any recognized independent Church, but is merely the representative of the autonomous Ukrainian Church within the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, thus subject to Patriarch Kirill of Moscow. This is what the Moscow Patriarchate states in its official publications…
Although the Ukrainian hierarchy, headed by Metropolitan Onuphry, declared “secession” from the Moscow Patriarchate, the Russian Orthodox Church did not recognize this and continues to consider Metropolitan Onuphry as its bishop.
Further, Bp. Isaiah notes that the Synod has called for a pan-Orthodox resolution to the Ukrainian situation, and thus, he writes, in the meantime it’s inappropriate to unilaterally begin considering the UOC independent. However, note that the Czech-Slovak Synod’s statement says nothing about the UOC’s canonical status either way.
Moreover, the bishop laments that his Synod would issue a statement in defense of the UOC, which the Synod sees as facing intense persecution, before issuing a statement “unequivocally condemning Russia’s aggression against Ukraine” or Patriarch Kirill’s support for the war.
The Synodal statement painted Ukraine as “a totalitarian regime,” Bp. Isaiah writes, when, he believes, it is a “far freer and more democratic regime than Putin’s Russia, where people are persecuted, tortured, and imprisoned for their witness.”
The hierarch concludes his message by saying that he prays for all of Ukraine and for a resolution to the ecclesiastical situation.
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