“Cooperation” operation or Why MPs come out strong on the Church again

Last week we witnessed unrelated, at first glance, events in the life of the Church. However, upon closer examination, they turn out to be links in one chain.

Going around the bend

The first thing to pay attention to is the growing conflict within the UAOC. It all began on May 4 – with the decision of the Bishops' Council of the UAOC to dismiss Bishop Victor Bed, Bishop of Mukachevo and Carpathian, from the office of the administrator of the Ternopil Diocese.

Unexpectedly for the chief autocephalous, the clergy of the Ternopil diocese opposed the dismissal of Bed from his post. Makariy Maletich (head of the UAOC) who had appointed himself as a manager of the diocese even had to cancel his visit to the diocese, since they refused to meet him properly.

Oil into the fire was poured by the decision to return from the "exile" notorious "bishop" Mstislav (Hook), who "became famous" for his drunken fight in one of the bars in Ternopil. In his commentary to 1 + 1 channel "Metropolitan" Macariy explained such a decision ... by the need to repair the roof. Reportedly, there were no other people within UAOC fit for the job.

But it’s not even these "wrangles” in the autocephalous camp that deserve interest. One might not pay attention to them at all. Anything could happen around schismatics. A really interesting fact is that there has appeared a fake site of the Ternopil Diocese of the UAOC on the net. Its creation is dated 2016, but the news appeared on May 5, i.e., immediately after the decision of the notorious "Bishops' Council."

People who are familiar with the ecclesiastical "kitchen" will not be able to identify the author of the fake site at once. This is Natalia Shevchuk, former press secretary of the deceased head of the UAOC Mefody Kudryakov. Looking through the stuff of the site, an eye gets immediately caught by the demonstrative mention of the "Memorial Fund for the Blessed Metropolitan Mefody," whose head is precisely Shevchuk.



From the very beginning Shevchuk got engaged in what is usually called "black PR" in journalism. Her cutting comments on the verge of rudeness and insult about the current head of the UAOC are a constant attribute of her publications. The role of her "Memorial Fund" can be compared with a similar "Memorial Fund of His Beatitude Metropolitan Volodymyr," its head being Metropolitan Alexander Drabinko.

It is simply impossible not to notice the similarities: both foundations were led by the former press secretaries of the deceased Primates, both foundations contrast the former Primates with the present ones. It occurs that this is nothing more than a proven PR-technology, the purpose of which is a destructive activity within both denominations.

Continuing the analogy, it can be assumed that the intensified activity of Shevchuk is also connected with some insider representative of the UAOC. Having carefully studied the content of the fake site, you get convinced that apart from criticism of Makariy, it appears as a continuous eulogy of "bishop" Victor Bed.

The question arises – did the two twin souls get together to act against Macariy?

Ambitious Victor Bed from the very first appearance in the UAOC (after he had been disgowned in the UOC and kicked from the UOC-KP) unfolded a frenzied activity. It is not difficult to assume his desire in the future to replace Makariy and become head of the UAOC. Both the decision of the "Bishops' Council" and the scandal with Mstislav triggered more intensive actions. Who actually initiated the “camaraderie” – Shevchuk or Bed – is unknown, but their cooperation extends far beyond infighting within the UAOC.

That is, the chain does not end there.

Balaclavas are snatched off, gentlemen!

On May 4, the Chairman of the Military Clergy Department of the UOC-KP and members of the "Right Sector" signed an official agreement on cooperation and interaction. "Strategic directions of cooperation are the creation of the Ukrainian Independent State and Single Local Church," the agreement says.

As they say, balaclavas are taken off! If the Kyiv Patriarchate tried not to advertise its cooperation with the radicals earlier, now their union is officially fixed. From now on, locks on temples will be cut not by anonymous faces in camouflage, but with an open visor and an angle-grinder across their shoulders.

Why now? Why not before?

At this point are coming up to the main event that shocked the believers of the UOC – resumed attempts to adopt scandalous bills No. 4128 and No. 4511 in the Verkhovna Rada, which will be voted on May 18 again.

Risen from naphthalene

The legislative initiative, coming from the deputies of the "Folk Front" and the Petro Poroshenko’s Bloc, is aimed at creating the most favorable conditions for church raiding. The main idea of the bill No. 4128 is to simplify the procedure for "changing the jurisdiction" of religious communities by introducing the concept of "self-identification".

In other words, it is not the Church that will determine who are members of its communities, and any random citizen will be able to declare he/she is a member of the community and thus claim the property of the community. There is no need to explain why the main object of "robbery" will be the UOC. And the UAOC as well, perhaps.

Bill No. 4511 foresees the restriction of the rights of those faiths, whose administrative center is placed in the country, which the Verkhovna Rada recognized as the aggressor. Here we have a direct clue about the UOC, which allegedly depends administratively on the ROC (although, according to the statute of the UOC, it is not so). The state will provide such a confession with a "special status" and will make it obligatory to approve candidacies of the church leadership by state authorities, taking de-facto the Church under its control.

One of the heroes of the grotesque series about the maniac Hannibal Lecter is Will Graham, an FBI agent with a unique ability to penetrate into the minds of serial Murderers. Coming to the scene of the crime, he step by step unwinds the ball of events, merging with the murderer’s mind. In the end, linking all the elements of the crime into a single picture, he pronounces on behalf of the maniac – "This is my plan."

Let's try to figure out the sick logic of the people who decided to unleash a religious war in Ukraine.

As we know, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, through the words of his emissary, Archbishop Job Gecha, unambiguously indicated the condition under which it is possible to speak of some kind of recognition of the "one local church". This condition is the unification of all Orthodox faiths into one. No other way.

For Ukraine it actually means – never.

Given the deep nature of the conflict between the UAOC, UOC and UOC-KP, it is foolish and naive to hope for real unification. Too mutually exclusive positions with all three Orthodox denominations, too deep contradictions, too high price and losses. The Kyiv Patriarchate could make some concessions, but it will never do that, because it is hostage to its own nationalist ideology, hostage to two decades of hatred of the UOC, a systematic information campaign against the canonical Church and all those who support it.

Is it a dead end?

It seems that the Ukrainian authorities and the UOC-KP came to a kind of plan for realizing the "unity" of Ukrainian Orthodoxy. If it is impossible to unite it, you just need to destroy the UAOC and the UOC, leaving only the UOC-KP. Being incapable of solving issues on the basis of an equitable dialogue, the Ukrainian authorities, in cooperation with the UOC-KP, are trying to turn everything from a position of brutal force. In this context, it becomes clear why the Kyiv Patriarchate is preparing to activate "fighting" against the UOC, and why it began to discredit the UAOC more intensively (with the help of the media and internal "Trojan horses").

All points to the existence of a single plan and a single coordinating center.

Let’s recall when in October the authors of anti-church bills voiced their product, representatives of the UOC-KP organized a press conference in the aftermath, declaring their full support for legislative initiatives calibrated for the religious warfare against the UOC.

Let’s recall the letter from the Ministry of Culture to the regional administrations with instructions that are absolutely in line with the provisions of bill No. 4128.

Let’s recall a letter to Patriarch Bartholomew with a petition for granting autocephaly to the "Orthodox Church in Ukraine", composed and accepted by the dissenters themselves not without their participation.

Let’s recall video footage of 1 + 1 channel, defaming all Orthodox denominations, except for the Kiev Patriarchate.

In our opinion, the coordination center of this mega-project is the Department for Religion and Nationalities and its director Andrei Yurash. Perhaps, other forces (for example, special services) are also behind it, but the practical policy towards confessions flows precisely from state agency.

To destroy the UOC and the UAOC and create a state church on the basis of the UOC-KP and the UGCC – "this is their plan".

It is remarkable that this plan completely coincides with the model of church-state relations proposed by the OUN (M) in the so-called "Constitution of Sciborsky."

Article 3 of the notorious "constitution" reads: "The National Churches in the State are: the Ukrainian Orthodox Autocephalous Church with the Patriarch in Kiev and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church with the Metropolitan in Lviv ". Surprisingly similar to the policy of the Ukrainian authorities, is not it?

Nikolai Sciborsky was one of the ideologists of the fascist version of Ukrainian nationalism. In August 1939, on behalf of Andrei Melnik (competitor of Stepan Bandera), he drafted the Constitution of Ukraine, which provided for a "totalitarian, authoritarian, professional and class" regime.

The Sciborsky ideology (and nationalism in general) was obtained from naphthalene not by chance.

Naturally, none of the powers that be has seriously taken nationalist ideas (with the possible exception of individual fanatics). They are needed only to distract people from social problems and corruption in the highest echelons of power. While Ukrainians having been caught on the hook of patriotic sentimentality continue to hate Russia, Putin and "Russian world", their pockets will methodically be devastated by oligarchs and dollar millionaires. In addition, some Ukrainians can consciously forgive the oligarchs their predatory regime in exchange of the nationalist ideas in the field of education and religion.

That is why the power and separate political groups are playing the “church” card with Kiev Patriarchate and Uniates actively assisting them to this end.