War of the churches: How Ukraine has become unsafe for millions of Orthodox believers

Ukrainian nationalists and the state persecute parishioners of the country’s largest church

“If you believe in God, I beg you, leave the church, let me bury my son!” a grief-stricken woman screams, kneeling in the snow in front of the priest. He is surrounded by Ukrainian officials and territorial defense fighters who are there to help him seize the church. A woman begs him in Ukrainian to stop. Her son, who went to the front and died in the battles for the city of Bakhmut, prayed in this church, and now the mother wants to bid him goodbye. “You didn’t let me pray in front of the icon yesterday, your men beat me up. I beg you to leave, let me bury Volodya!”

Both the woman and the priest are Orthodox Christians, but decades, and even centuries, of political and ecclesiastical turmoil on the territory of modern Ukraine has created a chasm between believers which has grown wider since Russia’s military offensive began, earlier this year.

In Ukraine, which is considered an Orthodox Christian country, not all believers feel comfortable and safe. This is because of actions of the state.

Freedom Reportage explores why Kiev has forgotten Christianity’s vow of “love thy neighbor,” and why believers are ready to use force against their own.

Historically, the religious situation in Ukraine has always been tense. Every political crisis has led to a split in the church: the very formation of the state, the 2014 Euromaidan, the creation of the new Orthodox Church of Ukraine in 2018.

Ukraine has never had a united Orthodox church, and the nationalist-minded part of society has long been seeking one. The canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) has for many years been the most active denomination, but has been forced to fend off accusations of “working for Moscow” because of its formal subordination to the Russian Orthodox Church.

Russia’s attack has provoked a round of aggression against the UOC, with accusations of it “working for Russia” and “serving the Kremlin” heard with renewed vigor. Meanwhile, Kiev has made the fight against the UOC political.

Immediately after the start of the military operation, the seizure of churches by force began in many regions of Ukraine. In March, armed supporters of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), formed under the previous president, Petro Poroshenko, disrupted a service in the Pokrovsky Church of the Cherkasy region. They started a fight, attacked the priest, and dragged him out of the church. On March 7, the OCU seized the Anno-Zachatievsky Church in the Ivano-Frankovsk region. Opponents of the UOC came to the church, expelled those in attendance , calling them “parishioners of the aggressor” and changed the locks on all the doors.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://freedomreportage.com/2022/12/25/war-of-the-churches-how-ukraine-has-become-unsafe-for-millions-of-orthodox-believers/

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