Christ is in our midst, my dear readers!
On June 30, 2025, presented at an international expert conference in Belgrade was my report entitled: “The Church and Schisms, Abuse of Religion for Geopolitical Aims,” in which I addressed the hierarchs of Local Orthodox Churches.
Below is a brief summary.
In January 2019, the Patriarch of Constantinople, with the swipe of a pen, legalized a structure that he named the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine.” Only four Churches have recognized the newly-created structure, while the rest consider it non-canonical. This was done against the will and desire of millions of the faithful sons and daughters of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
It is extremely regrettable that the head of the Phanar does not listen to anyone. As a result, a catastrophe has broken out in Ukrainian religious spheres, and it has spread to the fullness of the Orthodox Church. All the while, the First Hierarch of the Phanar pretends that there is no catastrophe, despite the ongoing ruinous processes that are destroying the Church’s unity.
In Ukraine, the supporters of the structure created as a result of the tomos produced, according to which their head is not Christ but rather the Constantinople Patriarch, have unleashed large-scale persecutions against the UOC. As of the current time, over 1000 of our churches have been seized, and supporters of the “OCU” regularly physically attack our clergy and faithful, resulting in traumas and injuries.
Representatives of the UOC have many times called upon Patriarch Bartholomew, requesting that he put an end to the raids by his “spiritual children” from the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine.” These calls were especially vociferous after the seizure of the cathedral in Cherkassy and the attempt to seize the cathedral in Chernovitsi. But this call was not heard. In the case of the latter, besides by the “clergy” of the “OCU,” their actions were coordinated by a relative of the head of that organization, citizen Dumenko, and one of the directors of the local police.
Inasmuch as earlier only a few hierarchs have addressed the Primate of the Constantinople Church with like requests, I call upon you, dear brothers in Christ, to raise your voices in defense of our Church! Such violence on the part of citizen Dumenko’s structure not only contradict the canons of the Orthodox Church, but also the very spirit of our Orthodox faith. We would be very grateful if you could bring home our position on the necessity of ceasing the anti-canonical and anti-Gospel actions of the Constantinople Patriarchate hierarchs directly (through petitions, within the framework of personal communication, etc.), as well as to the Primates and Synod members of your Churches! Because this is an inalienable condition for stabilizing the situation Ukrainian Church spheres. I am sure that shuttle diplomacy and the common voice of the representatives of the whole Orthodox Church will carry an entirely different weight, and will be much harder to ignore, which in turn will serve as a catalyst to resolve the crisis that has arisen in the family of Orthodox Churches.
I would also like to direct your attention to the serious deepening of the situation in the sphere of relations between the UOC and the state. With each year, the pressure from the authorities on Church institutions is becoming ever stronger and more ubiquitous. Moreover, it concerns matters that are no longer just judicial or societal, but also of a canonical nature. We are talking practically about unlawful meddling in the most cherished spheres of the Church’s life. Furthermore, the analogous methods of waging war against the Church being applied in the religious structure of Montenegro, Ukraine, the Baltics, Moldova, and Armenia raise the question about the need to coordinate the efforts of traditional confessions to stand up for our interests. Without departing from the dogmatic and canonical foundations of the Orthodox faith, we could work together, in the international arena with other religious organizations, to establish common defense lines.
