Moscow never got over the fact that the Ukrainian Christian faithful are past its influence. Yesterday, February 23rd, Russia invaded Ukraine.
Newsroom (24/02/2022 11:14 AM, Gaudium Press) Of course, tensions between Russia and Ukraine are not new. However, they have been intensifying since the Beginning of the century. In 2013, Ukraine backed out of a deal to join the European Union due to Russian pressure.
Russia then annexed the Republic of Crimea in southern Ukraine ceded it to Ukraine in Soviet times. And now, the world witnesses the extremely volatile consequences of its support for the independence of the pro-Russian areas of eastern Ukraine, as Russian troops invade the Country driven by the excuse of Ukraine’s possible NATO membership.
A forgotten yet transcendental topic
However, amidst the ensuing chaos of the invasion, there is a forgotten topic: the religious question. The Putin-Orthodox Church union is consolidating its power in the former Empire of the Tsars.
In 1589, the Russian Orthodox Church, then dependent on the patriarchate in Constantinople, became independent, with its own patriarch and further extending its influence in the area. However, in the following decade, most Ukrainian bishops opted for union with Rome and the Pope, giving rise to the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church. From the Beginning, the new Church was deemed a “traitor” of Orthodoxy by Moscow.
In the 18th century, this union between the Orthodox Church and the Russian state was consolidated when Peter the Great replaced the authority of the Muscovite Patriarch with the Holy Synod, something like the religious ministry of the Empire. With the rise of communism, the persecution of Catholics increased, perceived as a ‘union of Slavic peoples’ with the West.
As the Russian regime moved from the Tsar to the Communist tyrant, the Russian civil-religious union did not change, only to increase its hostility against Catholics. Under Putin, this partnership has been maintained and strengthened. Today, the Patriarchate of Moscow rules 90 million people, including a large Orthodox community, based in Ukraine.
Ukrainian Orthodox separate from Russians
However, this community does not have the unity it had before the fall of the Soviet Empire. Instead, the Ukrainian Orthodox split into three groups: the Orthodox of Ukraine, linked to Moscow and in the majority; the Kyiv Patriarchate, not recognized by any official Church; and the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine, without international recognition.
In 2018, at a council of these Orthodox churches held in Crete, the Kyiv Patriarchate, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, and two leaders of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church decided to create a single Ukrainian Orthodox Church based in Kyiv. The move greatly displeased the Patriarch of Moscow, as he lost his religious sovereignty over Ukraine.
Yet, the support of the Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople confirmed them in their decision. It legitimized this Church based in Kyiv, something not welcomed by the Patriarch of Moscow, thus causing a schism in the Orthodox of Ukraine: those who follow Moscow against those following Kyiv.
Needless to say, the Russian Church-State union could not miss the taunt. Putin immediately decried the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as a “flagrant interference in the life of the Church” and a political action that “has nothing to do with faith.” He also warned that his regime would “reserve the right to react and to do everything possible to protect human rights, including freedom of religion.”
On the imminence of the conflict, Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, noted that “this is no longer a bilateral conflict between Ukraine and Russia,” but a military escalation between Russia and the West. As we have seen, it is a war with a solid and essential religious component.
In closing, we call the reader’s attention to check the region’s demographics: in a population of over 40 million, the autonomous Orthodox are about 42% of the population; the Moscow-bound Orthodox, 29%; Catholics, 14%; and Protestants, over 2%.
(With files from an article by Fernando Geronazzo in O São Paulo: “Crisis between Russia and Ukraine highlights historical tensions in the relationship between churches”).
Compiled by Gustavo Kralj
