ANALYSIS: Is an Orthodox conflict brewing in Ukraine? (04/17/05)

ANALYSIS: Is an Orthodox conflict brewing in Ukraine?

by Roman Kupchinsky
RFE/RL Belarus and Ukraine Report

Who has legal jurisdiction over the Orthodox Church in Ukraine: the Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople or the Moscow Patriarch? This question has been debated for centuries and Moscow was the correct, if not always legal, answer. This suddenly came into doubt when Interfax and the website of the Religious Information Service of Ukraine (http://www.risu.org.ua) reported that on March 24 a representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople told Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko that "the Moscow Patriarchate consists of the territory which it encompassed to the year 1686." The visitor, Archbishop Vsevolod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A., added that Kyiv's subjugation to the Russian Orthodox Church that began that year was not ratified by Constantinople.

The statement sent shock waves throughout the Orthodox Church establishment in Ukraine and Russia, and it soon became an object of speculation as to its implications, if this was indeed the case. The website of the Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople (http://www.patriarchate.org) has neither confirmed nor denied the statement.

A number of mostly non-canonical issues are involved in the dispute, the main one being ownership of Orthodox Church property in Ukraine.

In Ukraine, there are three Orthodox Churches: the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), the Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP), and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC).

The largest by far is the UOC-MP which has 9,049 communities, 122 monasteries, and 7,755 churches (840 churches are under construction).

The UOC-KP has 2781 communities, 22 monasteries, 1825 churches, and is building 217 more.

The UAOC has 1,015 communities, one monastery, 697 churches, and is building 101 churches.

Among the properties belonging to the Moscow Patriarchate are such historical sites as the Monastery of the Caves (Pecherska Lavra) and St. Sophia Cathedral, both in Kyiv.

If the UOC-MP were to come directly under the jurisdiction of Constantinople, then the Moscow Patriarchate would stand to lose not only title to property but also enormous influence in Ukraine, where it has traditionally played an important role as a pro-Russian-oriented organization.

The political role of the Church was evident during the Ukrainian presidential election last year, when many priests openly took part in campaigning for Viktor Yanukovych. According to the obkom.net.ua website, the pro-Moscow Church not only supported Mr. Yanukovych's candidacy but actively agitated for separatism in the eastern regions of Ukraine after Mr. Yushchenko was declared the winner.

The patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Aleksei II, made an indirect reference to the March 24 announcement in comments to the annual meeting of the Fund for Unity of Orthodox Nations in Moscow on March 28, Interfax reported.

Patriarch Aleksei told the gathering that the president of Ukraine had stated that he would not tell people which Church to attend and he hopes that this promise will be kept. Other members of the Russian clergy have avoided making any statements on the topic.

In Kyiv, Oleksander Lytvynenko of the Razumkov Center for Political and Economic Studies, told Interfax on March 29 that it would be unwise for Constantinople to interfere with religious affairs in Ukraine. In the past, such interference has hardly led to positive changes, he said, adding, "Today it could provoke conflicts and political speculation by those forces in society who used the Orthodox Church issue during the last elections."

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