Strange statement of rector of Transfiguration Church Bishop Alexander (Drabinko)
Not long ago, Bishop Alexander (Drabinko) commented on the petition for transfer of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra to schismatics from the self-proclaimed "Kiev Patriarchate". Alas, almost every paragraph of his comment is, at least, surprising and raises a number of questions.
Here Bishop lamented the fact that part of the Ukrainian society does not trust the canonical Church: "... it is evident that today some part of the Ukrainian society does not trust our Church, considering it a tool of political influence of the neighboring state."
But isn’t the fact that Ukrainian media have launched a planned information war against the Church of Christ causes lack of confidence of the part of our society? Thus, it may be better to refer to "patriotic" media with a demand to stop their heinous provocations against the Church, and not ambiguously lament this situation?
Although, why is it ambiguous? Further in the text the Bishop unambiguously blames his own Church, represented by some of its priests, for political propaganda and discredits the Church in the eyes of the Ukrainian society, "I’m not denying – the UOC clergy themselves sometimes give real cause for temptation. Among us there are many Ukrainian patriots. And there are, unfortunately, those who refuse to read the burial of our dead soldiers in the battlefield, substitute preaching the Gospel for political campaigning, show lack of respect to Ukrainian culture and distinctive religious tradition".
Strangely, but Bishop Alexander seems to overlook the fact that this his statement he is called, did a "disservice" to his brethren, fellow-servants, as now thanks to the Bishop any one of us can be considered as a "traitor" that "show lack of respect to Ukrainian culture and distinctive religious tradition". What can I say? Thanks, of course, but in fact, making such strong statements, you should at least mention specific names of those who, in your opinion, are to blame for this situation. I'm not sure that the Bishop can call at least a dozen names of such priests. What am I saying? At least a couple of names could be called? He should have given not only the names but also described the case which one or another priest can be accused of. And situation may be different. Personally, I do not know a single case when a priest of the Church refused to read the burial of the deceased soldier (even though they – fathers – may do so if, for example, the soldier was an atheist or a Muslim, or a schismatic, etc., if he did not belong to the canonical Church). On the contrary, we are all familiar with examples of how the media misinterpret the burial service cases and give the facts of refusal which is not true. Maybe we’d better talk about this? Or how Ukrainian media cause a clash between people in the country and incite ethnic and religious hatred. How often our government indulges them in this. How our fellow citizens are regularly flooded with dirty lie and disrespect from TV screens.
But, instead, Bishop Alexander tells us that the Church has always been unhealthy, but now these imperfections immediately become known to everybody for: "... the Church has never existed in a situation when evil, indecent or impertinent act of one man instantly becomes known to all", writes Bishop and asks a rhetorical question, which he himself allegedly could not answer: "Do the clergy fully realize this today? Unfortunately, I cannot positively answer this question".
By the way I also want to ask the Bishop a question: do you understand that again you put all the clergy of our Church in an awkward situation? And references to "traitors" are completely out of place here. I responsibly state to you that we do not have "traitors". Everyone who wanted to leave the Church did so long ago, and they were few. On the contrary, today, our clergy showed the disoriented and disintegrated society firmness in faith and unity around our hierarchs, whose deeds and service we can be proud of. Of course, our clergy are far from ideal, but there no perfect people at all.
Yet our clerics have shown their devotion to the ideals of Christ, to the Church and the spirit of the Gospel. Maybe you do not notice this, because you were brought up (as you yourself noticed) in a different spirit? In the spirit of patriotism? Your Grace, then you must know that true patriotism is possible only in Christ. But false patriotism is when the service to anything perishable and temporal: the emperor, nation, Ukraine, Russia, European Union, etc. becomes the highest value of human life. In our particular situation, false patriotism is precisely expressed by the slogan "Ukraine is above all..!" And such patriotism cannot be confirmed by the Church.
It is very difficult to understand your calls that the UOC shouldn’t be made an outcast and all its mistakes should be pointed out. The fact is that the main faults that radical nationalists and brainwashed by their propaganda ordinary people find with us is that we are supposedly "the fifth column of Kremlin", that we "support" the separatists, that the Church allegedly "promotes" "the Russian world", etc. And what do you expect? Should we apologize for these absurd accusations?
Maybe we (and you as well) would better say with all sincerity and frankness to our society that "in fact, in a strictly theological sense, in the world there is neither the UOC, nor the ROC, nor any other local church. There is only the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, which is present in their historical events in the territory, which can be described by various geographic coordinates?"
Maybe you need to preach more actively that our Church is, first of all, Christian, and only we, Christians (rather than the people who may include atheists, pagans, Muslims, Jews, etc.) have the right to decide the fate of our Church?
Maybe we should actively tell people about the essence of the schism and that the so-called "priests" of the self-proclaimed "Kiev Patriarchate" are actually crooks in cassocks, and not the shepherd of Christ?
And in general, it may be better to start preaching to people what is the Church, in fact, what is its nature; to teach that the Church is not created by either the desire of people or the desire of one individual. The church was made once and for all by our Lord Jesus Christ. And in order to become a member of the Church, in order to become one body with Christ, one can enter it, join it and stay in it until the end of time.
Alas, instead of this homily we see that you at your full approval government official A.V. Yurash that the Lavra shouldn’t be given to schismatics due to the fact that Moscow, in this case, may move troops into our capital. Excuse me, Your Grace, but your agreement with that quote again is very difficult to understand. What Moscow? What troops? Why repeat this propaganda absurdity? I'm sure you know that, if necessary, to protect the Monastery hundreds of thousands of the faithful of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church will rise. And I'm sure they will not be deterred by any persecution from the authorities or intimidation by radical nationalists or other threats of the enemies of the Church. History has repeatedly demonstrated the resistance of Orthodox Christians in their faith, in the protection of their shrines, in the protection of the Church of Christ. And we do not need assistance of Moscow to prove this once again to those who encroach on our shrines and our faith.
Links:
1. О разрушающей силе ложного патриотизма.
2. Можно ли воцерковить украинский национализм?
3. Харизма и каноничность: единство или противоположность?
4. Кто они, мошенники в рясах?
