Moscow & Istanbul will
decide the fate of Ukrainian Orthodox Church
by Simon Nahnybida
In the above title I am paraphrasing,
but that was the substance of a recent headline on the front page of Svoboda,
together with a picture of Ukraine’s president during a recent visit with
Patriarch Bartholomew in Istanbul, Turkey. I read this with disbelief and then
awaited some reaction, an outcry from our church hierarchy and / or our
political leaders.
And the silence has been deafening.
What is wrong with us? Have the hundreds
of years of domination by Moscow turned us into a nation of sheep? Or are we just
complacent and do not care? Can we imagine the reaction to such an announcement
if Patriarch Mstyslav was still alive? I have no doubt that he would have
responded immediately and forcefully that the fate of the Ukrainian Church must
and will be determined by Ukrainians. He did this many times even before
Ukraine was an independent, sovereign nation.
I believe that most of this silence,
especially in the US, is because our hierarchs have placed themselves under the
jurisdiction of Patriarch Bartholomew. There has been a constant and continuing
effort to convince the faithful that he is a friend and defender of the
Ukrainian Church. More than that, there are ongoing attempts to elevate him to
the equivalent of an Orthodox Pope. This is being done as part of an ongoing
effort to justify placing the UOC–USA under his jurisdiction, a step that is in
total contradiction to our Church Constitution.
The fact is Patriarch Bartholomew has no
jurisdiction over the Moscow Patriarch, or over the Romanian Patriarch, nor
Alexandria, or Jerusalem. He has no jurisdiction over any Metropolitan,
Archbishop, bishop, priest, or deacon of any Autocephalous Church, including
the Church in Greece. He only has authority over the Greek Orthodox Church in
the diaspora, and the Ukrainian bishops in USA and Canada who placed themselves
under his jurisdiction.
The sad truth is that the Moscow
Patriarch has substantial influence over Patriarch Bartholomew. If you doubt
this, consider the dependence that Patriarch Bartholomew has on the Turkish
government and then look at the influence Moscow has on Turkey. If you still
have doubts, then do some research and you will discover that the Turkish
government decides who can be a candidate and the Turkish government must
formally approve the Ecumenical Patriarch. His existence in Istanbul depends
totally on the whim of the Turkish government. If this sounds very similar to
the communists appointing / controlling the Moscow Patriarch, you are getting
the picture. Make no mistake about it, Patriarch Bartholomew cannot and will
not do anything in Ukraine that offends Moscow.
In my opinion, we should not be relying
on any Patriarchs’ friendship or good will. They have and always will have
their own respective agendas. The salient point is that Ukrainians alone should
decide the fate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Ukraine or anywhere else.
The Russians decide the fate of their Church, the Greeks their Church, etc.
They are not better than us. They are not more worthy or saintly. And we are
certainly not inferior to them. This is a simple concept, more than that - this
is our right.
We must take our future in our own
hands, we must resolve our own problems, and not look for approval or
recognition from somewhere else. We do not need it. We are a free people with
our own heritage and history. Let us act accordingly.