Five months of confrontation: why Uniates take over a temple in Kolomyia

A stand-off around the temple of the Annunciation of the Holy Virgin in Kolomyia has continued for nearly five months now. With five months gone there are even more questions, the main of which being if the Uniate raiders actually need so badly a small church in the inner area, or their real goal is to sparkle an international conflict?

Question one: why do Greek-Catholics need the Annunciation Church?

Absolutely definitely, they need it not for praying and spiritual guidance of people. Not at all. The purpose was directly pointed to by Uniate priest Nikolay Medinsky on his Facebook page: “Say no to the ROTTEN STUFF of the Russian world in my DECORATED Kolomyia.”


 
The fight against the "Russian world" in Ukraine now justifies anything: pogroms of banks and TV channels, attacks on business structures, absurd bills. So why not use this fight as an excuse for church raiding as well? But what is quite clear: motives for the illegal seizure of temples are not religious, but exclusively political.

Question two: how come it is Uniates?

Why did Greek Catholics suddenly take over the Orthodox temple? For all post-Maidan years, church raiding has been associated namely with the UOC-KP. On its account there are more than 40 captured temples. UGCC had never seized temples before that and constantly stressed it at an official level. What an exceptionally peace-loving confession! And then, out of the blue – Kolomiya! In fact, the Uniates have clung to this temple like grim death. Why did it happen?

To answer this question, we should look back and recall who have been engaged in church raiding in Ukraine, when, and what consequences this led to.

Church raiding was started off namely by the Uniates, who defeated three Orthodox eparchies in the west of Ukraine at the turn of the 80's and 90's. Then this experience was adopted by the autocephalists, followed by the Kiev Patriarchate. Uniates, having torn away hundreds of Orthodox parishes by violence and cruelties, led by Miroslav (Lubachivsky), by Lyubomir (Guzar) and today's head of the UGCC Sviatoslav (Shevchuk), began to behave particularly peacefully. So peacefully that Filaret (Denisenko), who used to be the head of the UOC in the early 90’s, and even some of the current hierarchs of the UOC, began to lavish praises on the Uniates that they did not seize anything and behaved towards Orthodox Christians in a very friendly manner. True though, they haven’t returned a single raided temple, but this is not relevant to the point in this article.

What were the consequences of such an aggressive policy? There are many of them, but one of them being a significant aggravation of relations with the Russian Orthodox Church. Attempts by the ROC in negotiations with the Vatican to overcome the conflict were not successful, as a result of which Rome's ecumenical plans against the ROC were derailed: Pope John Paul II's visit to Russia never took place (and he really wanted to do it), while the meeting, planned in 1997 in Graz (Austria), of the Pope with Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II was cancelled.

Therefore, the seizures of Ukrainian Orthodox temples by Uniates complicate relations between the Vatican and the ROC.

Question three: how does the official leadership of the UGCC view the situation in Kolomyia?

Purely in a Jesuitical way. On the one hand, it pretends to approach the seizure of the temple as local arbitrariness. On the other hand, Kolomyia-Chernivtsi eparchy of the UGCC officially declares it does not intend to abandon the church of the Annunciation in favor of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Here we are: we do not offend anyone, we are very peaceful and good people, but if not very good people take a temple for us – we will accept it.

In fact, it is the leadership of the UGCC that is interested in the conflict in Kolomyia. Otherwise, it would have been formally dissociated from the radicals long ago. For example, the Moscow Patriarchate officially, through the mouth of the deputy chairman of the Synodal Department for the Relations of the Church with the Society and Media Vakhtang Kipshidze, condemned the attack on the studio of director Alexei Uchitel and in general all the violent actions of extremists calling themselves Orthodox around the film Matilda. True though, "Matilda" is a film exhibiting in a very bad light the Orthodox saint – martyr Tsar Nicholas.

Why cannot they do the same in the ambience of Sviatoslav Shevchuk? Moreover, these militant radicals position the UGCC per se in a very unfavorable light. It will just suffice to mention, for example, the threats of the Uniate, so to say, priests to cut throats of the Orthodox believers. It will suffice to mention threats and insults to women, parishioners of the Annunciation Church. It will just suffice to mention the violence against the UOC believers, reflected in the video footage of many mass media?

But today the UGCC declares itself as a nationwide Church. Its task is to look as attractive as possible in the eyes of all Ukrainians, both in the west and in the east of Ukraine.

But if, in spite of this, the leadership allows the Uniates to carry on rampage even further, hence, it is the leadership of the UGCC that is interested in the conflict in Kolomyia.

Question four: why does the leadership of the UGCC need the conflict in Kolomyia?

We can even specify: why does the leadership of the UGCC consciously incur considerable reputational costs, continuing its violent activities around the church in Kolomyia? To attach another parish to its already existing 3,828 (as of 2016)? Too high price. Maybe to drive the "Russian world" out of Kolomyia, as the invader chaplains say? So there has never been any "Russian world" in Kolomyia. Or to restore this monument of architecture? Come on!

Let us recall the conclusion from our second question: the seizure of Ukrainian Orthodox churches by Uniates complicates relationships between the Vatican and the ROC. The more mutual understanding between the Moscow Patriarchate and the Vatican, the harder it is for Greek Catholics to justify their existence – in a religious sense. Moreover, since the very beginning of the history of the Union in Ukraine, that is, from the Brest Union of 1596, the Greek Catholics have found themselves in a very unenviable position: the Orthodox have always considered them traitors, and Catholics – sub-Catholics. Also, Pope Francis in 2016 at a meeting with Patriarch Kirill subscribed to the following words, knocking out from under the feet of the UGCC the ideological basis of its existence: "Today it is obvious that the method of "Uniatism" of the previous centuries, which implies bringing one community into unity with the other by its separation from its Church, is not a way to restore unity" (para. 25 of the Havana Declaration). In other words, the "infallible" head of the Vatican said to the Uniates literally: the fact that you exist was a historical mistake!

This is exactly how the head of the UGCC, Sviatoslav Shevchuk, took the act of Pope Francis. As soon as the text of the Havana Declaration was published, he allowed himself a sharp rebuke against the Vatican, accusing the latter of "abandoning the Ukrainian Uniates for the sake of reconciliation with the Russian Orthodox Church." And here is another quote from his statement: "It feels like someone is trading our souls behind our backs." This is addressed to the Pope! According to Shevchuk, "when the Vatican and Moscow organize meetings or sign some joint texts, we do not expect anything good from it."

These daring words about the "infallible vicar of Christ on earth" are just a cry of despair.

And it's about what Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill signed in distant Havana. And what they can sign if the Pope should come to Moscow! And it is this event that the recent visit of Cardinal Pietro Parolin to Russia brought closer. The seriousness of relations between Moscow and the Vatican is evidenced by the fact that not only Patriarch Kirill, but also Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and President Vladimir Putin received the Catholic cardinal.

In this regard, it could be concluded: the interest of the leadership of the UGCC is to overshadow the relationships between the Vatican and the ROC, to drive, so to speak, a wedge between them. The situation really does not look like a wedge, rather ... a small wedge. But that is not all.

It's not just the relationship between the Vatican and the ROC. No less is the internal Catholic "backstage". It's no secret that the policy of Pope Francis is countered in conservative Catholic circles. His outwardly open and benevolent image is surprisingly combined with authoritarian methods of management.



After Jorge Mario Bergolo took the Holy See and became Pope Francis, he pursued such a tough policy of cleansing the people of the previous Pope Benedict XVI in the Roman Curia that the influential Italian newspaper La Stampa called the event a de-ratification.

It would be superfluous to recall how Francis occupied the papal throne. One of the main reasons for the voluntary resignation of the previous Pope Benedict XVI was a scandal, called in the press "Vatileaks." The personal valet of Pope Benedict XVI, Paolo Gabriel, stole secret documents from the Vatican and leaked them to journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi, who on their basis in May 2012 published a book entitled "His Holiness: The Secret Letters of Benedict XVI", consisting of confidential letters and memos. The book reveals the corruption in the Vatican and sexual scandals, in the center of which were representatives of the Roman Catholic Church. The documents published by Nuzzi also allowed to accuse the Vatican Bank, or, as it is officially called, the Institute of Religious Affairs (Istituto per le Opere di Religione), of large-scale financial irregularities. As a result, Benedict XVI was forced to retire "for health reasons" (the first precedent for the last 600 years), and on March 13, 2013, Francis became the Pope.

After the accession to the throne of the Pope, Francis started such a serious reform in the Vatican that the conservative Catholic circles were simply horrified. The reforms were almost immediately called "revolutionary", and the Pope himself was "the most leftist politician in Italy". In his first Apostolic Appeal "The Joy of the Gospel" (Evangelii gaudium), Pope Francis drew a "roadmap" for a large-scale reform scheme. Its very essence lies in the openness of the Catholic Church to the modern world, its willingness to respond to the demands of society, to carry on a dialogue not only with Christian faiths, but also with non-Christian and even atheists. The Pope urged the Church to keep pace with the times and be able to respond to the "challenges of the modern world".

In addition, Pope Francis made several statements, which made many doubt his commitment to traditional Christian morality. In July 2013, he said: "If a person is a gay and has goodwill, and is committed to God, who am I to judge him?" And in June 2016: "The Roman Catholic Church and ordinary Christians should apologize to gays for the former attitude towards them."

The result of all this was that a very powerful group of opponents of Pope Francis was formed in the Catholic Church itself. The informal leader of conservatives who do not accept the policy of Pope Francis is the American bishop Raymond Burke – in November 2014 the Pope deprived him of all the high posts he had held in the Vatican under Benedict XVI.

In 2015, "military actions" against Pope Francis were opened. The new "Vatilix-2" scandal was organized according to the previous pattern: the same theft of secret documents by the officials of the Roman Curia, the same journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi and his new book of revelations "Way of the Cross. Unpublished records and documents about the difficult struggle of Pope Francis for the changes in the Church".

In 2016, Cardinal Burke wrote an open letter to the Pope, in which he actually accused Francis of heresy. The letter was signed by three more cardinals who lost their posts during the "reforms" of the new pontiff. Sam Raymond Burke said in an interview with the influential Catholic edition The National Catholic Register that if they did not get an explanation from the Pope, "they will have to initiate a formal process of correcting a serious theological error." Thus, he openly threatened Pope with resignation.

In 2017, the accusations of heresy were supported by prominent Catholic theologians, who sent a letter to the Pope entitled "Filial Correction" (Correctio filialis). Theologians saw heresy in the apostolic appeal of the pontiff "Joy of Love" (Amoris laetitia), which declared significant liberalization on marriage family and matters.

Although, the inconsistency of Amoris laetitia with the conservative Catholic doctrine of marriage is most likely just a clue, the excuse in the game "throw the Pope from the throne".

It's time to ask the following question: what relation does all this have to the church in Kolomyia?

The thing is that in the Vatican the question of Pope Francis’ resignation is discussed with utmost seriousness. Moreover, he allowed such an opportunity himself in an interview with Deutsche Welle. In the Roman Curia, two camps of supporters and opponents of the present Pope were formed. This is fully discussed in the most influential media.



Now let's guess: which camp will the supreme archbishop of the UGCC Sviatoslav Shevchuk join?

So, the picture is the following. The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholics will do everything to annoy Pope Francis, using any situation (as in Kolomyia) to complicate the life of the current Vatican authorities. Sviatoslav Shevchuk has nothing to lose: he spoilt relations with Pope Francis a year ago after the Havana Declaration, accusing the latter of "trading the souls of Greek Catholics". But he can score points with a possible successor of Francis if, of course, the operation for the resignation of the present Pope succeeds.

And there is a point in looking food. Firstly, it is a rosy dream of the Vatican's recognition of the status of patriarchy for the UGCC. Sviatoslav Shevchuk at the same time could go down in history as the first Greek-Catholic Patriarch of Ukraine, and the UGCC itself, accordingly, could claim the status of a national Ukrainian Church. This question was raised by the head of the Uniates before Benedict XVI in 2011. And even their main temple in Kiev Uniates loudly called the Patriarchal (!) Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ. Secondly, it is an opportunity to force the Vatican to take into account the position of the UGCC in any contacts with the Moscow Patriarchate.

The immediate participants in the seizure – the so-called chaplains, the "Black Hundred" organization and other extremists – are guided by much more pragmatic motives. We dare to assume that the seizure of the church is a demonstration by radicals of their own needs and usefulness to their sponsors.

There are no grounds to assert that some outstanding masters of political subterfuge have developed an operation to take over the Annunciation Church in Kolomyia. There is no reason to say that because of the Kolomyia case Pope Francis will retire, and the Vatican will totally break up with the ROC, either.

But there is every reason to say that:

• the seizure of the church in Kolomyia has no religious motives;
• it does not have any national-patriotic motives either;
• interests in this confrontation are purely political, and quite far from Ukraine;
• this situation is beneficial for the leadership of the UGCC;
• it fits very well in the logic of confrontation in the Vatican itself;
• it will necessarily become, if not a stone, a seed of discord between the Roman Curia and the ROC;
• it brings nothing more but harm to the people of Ukraine and Ukrainian national interests.

In support of the last thesis on October 23, the Ivano-Frankivsk eparchy of the UOC published an open letter addressed to the President of Ukraine, state authorities, the Pope of Rome Francis, the Apostolic Nuncio in Ukraine Claudio Gugerotti, the head of the UGCC Sviatoslav Shevchuk, international organizations and the Ukrainian public. The eparchy asks to take all necessary measures to restore the violated rights of the Orthodox community and not damage the business reputation of the Ukrainian state.

Whether this argument outweighs the excessively inflated ambitions of one local Church, which has lost its fear of both the laws of the earth and the laws of Heaven, this is already a question for the Ukrainian authorities.

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