Why schismatics from the self-proclaimed "Kyiv Patriarchate" no longer need recognition by Ecumenical Orthodoxy
The evolution of views of Ukrainian schismatics on the canonical problem has undergone significant changes for the last 25 years. So, at the beginning of the 90s, the current, unrecognized "Patriarch" Filaret (Denisenko), while still the Metropolitan of Kyiv and Galicia, said about the national identity and the canonicity of a church structure the following:
"I would like to remind you that there are no national churches in Orthodoxy. There are local churches within a confined territory of the state, which can be inhabited by people of different nations. The name of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church refers to its territorial but not ethnic feature. And we should not think that it includes only the Ukrainians. It is well known that in Ukraine, together with the Ukrainians live Russians, Belarusians, Gagauz, Bulgarians, Greeks, Jews, etc. professing Christianity ... I remind you that, according to the Apostolic rules and regulations of the Ecumenical Councils of the bishops, two or three legitimate blessed bishop have the right to enthrone. In the so-called UAOC (non-canonical, self-proclaimed Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church – AN) enthronement is made with violation of the canons of the Church, and hence sacraments and all church’s conciliar life have no divine grace." (1)
Not too much longer after that, in 1992, banned from service at the Council of Bishops of the UOC, Metropolitan Filaret moved just to the Ukrainian Autocephalous Church, which, in his opinion, has no graceful conciliar life, with all the ensuing consequences. However, even there he did not stay long, and in the same 1992 by the split of the UAOC, Filaret provoked the creation of the so-called "Kyiv Patriarchate".
Since then, Michael A. Denisenko has become an active adherent of the national Church (not paying much attention to the fact that he had previously rejected the idea), but the lack of canonical status for a long time gave him no peace. For example, in 2012, in one of Savik Shuster programmes, he explicitly stated that his "Kyiv Patriarchate" was not recognized by Ecumenical Orthodoxy, and that he would do his utmost to gain it. (2)
His aspiration became stronger after Maidan: it was in the first few months after the "revolution of dignity" when Michael Antonovich made a number of statements that the UOC-KP would soon be recognized by Ecumenical Orthodoxy. But, as they say – there it was! And, recently, we have witnessed a new transformation of Denisenko and his associates’ position towards the issue of recognition of the "Kyiv Patriarchate" created by them.
Thus, in one of his interviews, in the "Left Bank" programme with Sonia Koshkina, Michael Antonovich said, "If we wanted to just be recognized, we would have remained in the Moscow Patriarchate ... We need an independent church that would be independent of any church centers, and it itself would be the center for its Church. That's what we are determined to achieve." (3)
Isn’t this statement strange? Today, the self-proclaimed "Kyiv Patriarchate" is anyway independent of any religious centers, and for itself it is one of the schismatic "centers" in the Orthodox world. That being said, it is already an accomplished fact. And, therefore, it is not clear why to seek what was done a long time ago? And how should we interpret public expectations of our dissenters about recognizing them as a canonical church structure? It seems that Filaret got confused in his own statements, and mislead his followers, who have to somehow justify their dissent.
A dangerous mix of Protestantism and Paganism of the "Kyiv Patriarchate".
And so we read numerous pseudo-theological pearls of "priests"- schismatics, in which they are trying to push the people to pity, introducing Protestant principles in their pseudo-orthodox life that can help determine which church is grace-filled, and which is not. For example, "archpriest" Eugeny Zaletniuk, wrote on his Facebook page:
"We are often criticized for the Kyiv Patriarchate being a non-canonical structure. It is non-canonical only for the reason that it is not recognized by other "canonical" Churches. So, according to this statement, there are some "ideal", "benchmark" Churches which are a measure of sanctity and integrity for the rest. And of course, only they have a particularly fine sense of the beautiful, necessary to draw conclusions who is worthy and who is not worthy of the grace of God.
Thus, these people have carefully examined our situation, studied the history of Ukraine and made a comprehensive overview of the religious issue in this country, got to know the spirituality of our people, our folk and made conclusions. And the conclusion was obvious: Ukrainians are too imperfect and inferior for their Church to be canonical.
Let’s recognize ourselves. Everything else is a vanity fair of this world. Grace of God is certain deeds for the good of the people. And no grace is pride, a desire to teach and label, to be higher and humiliate everyone. Especially those who have dissented. The Gospel is about it. Read if you do not trust me."
See how many emotions there are in this post: the Ukrainians are allegedly "imperfect and inferior", and generally people will be judged by their actions and so on, because it is the actions which men are graced for... That's only if we follow Eugeny’s logic, then we will have to opt out of the Church, that is to do what, in fact, Protestants did in the 16th century. Well, tell me why the Church is needed if the most important thing in life is just to be a good person and do good deeds? Is it impossible without the Church? And then, why do we need a religion, why do we need God eventually if the most important thing in life is to do good deeds? For example, atheists often do good deeds, and they do not live worse than us. Thus, gradually some new kind of pagan-ethnic religion was born in the "Kyiv Patriarchate", which denies the need for a true canonical Church of Christ, and in general, the need for faith in God. The main thing here is the deification of the Ukrainian nation and good deeds for their brood brothers (anyway, not for the Russians, Belarusians, Jews, Poles, etc...).
So, through negation of the Church, our schismatics have sunk to the commonplace paganism. And do you know why this happened? Because, if we carefully read the New Testament (what misguided Eugeny Zapletniuk actually calls us for), then we will find there a maximized doctrine of the Church, which is the Mystical Body of Christ, and without which, in principle, there cannot be Christianity. So the negation of the Church inevitably leads to the denial of Christ and faith in God at all.
Well, if we talk about the "good" deeds that our dissenters supposedly do, here we feel deeply disappointed. The fact is that in terms of the Church's teaching, the actions of our dissenters come under the definition of fraud, for a fraudster is a man pretends to be someone else. The aim of fraud is abusing the trust of citizens (in this case, playing on their patriotic feelings), to take possession of their property. In this sense, the "priests" of the schismatic "Kyiv Patriarchate" are precisely the people who, posing as Orthodox priests, lay hands on donations of our fellow citizens. As they say – there's your "good" deed! And what kind of grace are we talking about?
If our opponents from the UOC-KP were really honest, conscientious people, they would hang at the entrance to their places of worship plates with the following text: "Dear citizens! This building is not an Orthodox church as it belongs to a religious organization which does not hold communion with Ecumenical Orthodoxy. And so the people who serve here are not priests. And the actions they commit, are not Christian Sacraments, i.e. you will remain unbaptized, unmarried, unconfessed and uncommuned.
However, such behavior might be strange for someone who claims to be a Christian. The fact is that at their meetings the supporters of the UOC-KP, as well as all Christians, sing the Nicene Creed, which involves the belief that the Church is not just a collection of people who believe in Christ. The Church is a mystical body (body of Christ), joining which the person receives hope of salvation in eternity. The Church, like the human body (consisting of many bodies whose work is coordinated by the central nervous system), is composed of many members, with one head – the Lord Jesus Christ, without whom it is impossible to admit the existence of the Church even not for an instant. That is why Christianity regards the Church of Christ as the environment necessary for the implementation of human union with God: "There is one body and one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all" (Eph 4:4-6).
The Christian Creed uniquely defines the Church as "One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic." And this fundamental definition is a must for anyone who considers themselves an Orthodox Christian.
That is why the division of the Unified Orthodox Church into local congregations (local churches) is a conditional division and does not disrupt the Church's unity. That's why the abbreviations UOC (Ukrainian Orthodox Church), ROC (Russian Orthodox Church), BOC (Bulgarian Orthodox Church), etc. only mean that in this area there is a community of Orthodox Christians in a particular country. Actually, this is what Filaret (Denisenko) quite rightly said during his tenure as Metropolitan of Kyiv. What surprises is why then he changed his point of view, which is fully consistent with the Orthodox doctrine, especially when in the last 25 years the very Orthodox doctrine has not changed one iota.
So whether one likes it or not, basically the Church is a supranational, cosmopolitan phenomenon. For in the Church "... there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, freeman, but all and in all Christ" (Col. 3:11.). That is why the Church cannot be anything temporary, perishable and transient. The mission of the Church is to save every man in Christ, and not to defend (to sanctify) the interests of the nation and the state. So it will be centuries, millions and billions of years, before the time comes when there are neither nations nor the state, nor our mother Earth, the Church of Christ won’t cease its existence. In the words of St. Maximos the Confessor, "The Church is the center of the universe, the environment where fates are decided. It grows and forms in history, introducing into its bosom the chosen and uniting them with God. The world is aging and decaying, and the Church is constantly animated and renewed by the Holy Spirit, the source of its life. At some point, when the church reaches the fullness of its growth, established by the will of God, the outside world, having exhausted all its vitality, dies, and then the Church will be in Her eternal glory of the Kingdom of God".
References:
1. Orthodox Bulletin, number 11, 1991
3. Dark Patriarch. Truth about Filaret.
