Why the "Right Sector" is going to crush the UOC

The right-wing radical organization Right Sector calls to defeat the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. This appeal is contained in paragraph 4.8. of the Programme of the liberation movement "Right Sector".

Literally it reads as follows: "Without a real counteraction to Russian agents, that is, the complete defeat of the Moscow fifth column inside the country – from the Opposition bloc to the Russian Orthodox Church (UOC-MP) and other "sympathizers", the return of Ukrainian territories is impossible."

How real are these threats? To answer this question, you need to know what the "Right Sector" is. Here is the scheme from the organization's website:



As you can see, the "Right Sector", in addition to the political wing, also has a military one – the Volunteer Ukrainian Corps (VUK). The number of fighters of this corps is not known reliably, but its structure is known. The VUK includes: "front-line battalions", "reserve battalions" and "special units". According to the rather little information of the media, there are two "front-line battalions" in the ATO zone. Their manpower is unknown. According to the Military Encyclopedia, the motorized rifle battalion in the former USSR is about 500 people, in the NATO countries – about 900. It is unlikely that the VUC battalions are so numerous, but they may consist of several hundred people.

Members of the VUK who participated in the hostilities, on their return home, enter the "reserve battalions", which, according to some reports, have a total of 16 in different regions of Ukraine. VUK special units are intelligence and counterintelligence, military gendarmerie, security service and medical service. And all these people do not enter (!) the structure of the military or law enforcement bodies of Ukraine and are subordinate only to the leaders of the "Right Sector".

Thus, the forces that are going to batter the UOC are available. Here a question arises: can at least one sane person imagine that with the defeat of the UOC (as well as the opposition bloc and the "sympathizers" in addition), the Crimea and the unrecognized DNR and LNR will immediately return under the control of Ukraine? Well, you defeated, say, the UOC – and what? Will the territorial integrity of Ukraine be restored immediately? This is obviously not. The next question is: if the declared goal is not achieved by the declared means, then can these means be the true goal of the conceived? Simply put, can the defeat of Ukrainian Orthodoxy be the true goal of the "Right Sector", and the confrontation of "Moscow aggression" – just an excuse for this?

The affirmatively answer to this question is in para. 3.1. of the Programme:

"All religious organizations that recognize the supremacy of the religious organizations of the aggressor country must be banned on the territory of Ukraine for a period of such aggression with complete confiscation of assets. After the cessation of aggression, confiscated assets are not subject to return."

The text explicitly says that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is suggested to be robbed clean on the pretext of aggression, and when this aggression stops – the loot will remain to the new masters.

The activities of the UOC fall under the ban under one more paragraph, 3.10.:

"Any religious cult that propagates anti-national or anti-state behaviour of believers should be banned in Ukraine. Examples of anti-state <...> behaviour may be <...> preaching, holding meetings and other rituals in foreign languages without the consent of everyone present."

Thus, in order to celebrate the Liturgy in the Church Slavonic language (foreign to the "Right Sector"), it is necessary to get the consent of all present in the temple. And if suddenly a person enters the temple, who is not asked for such consent, the Divine service immediately turns into "anti-state behaviour of believers". It would be funny if it were not so sad.

"There is no Christianity without the Church," said Holy Hieromartyr Hilarion (Troitsky) about 100 years ago. With this phrase he expressed the apostolic and patristic teaching about what Christianity is. Wishing to destroy the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the "Right Sector" signifies that its goal is the destruction of Christianity itself. That this is indeed the case is written in Section 3 of the Programme entitled "Culture. Language. Spirituality".

But before reading this section, you should pay attention to one very revealing circumstance. In the whole, very large in size, Programme of the "Right Sector" the word "Orthodoxy" and its derivatives are used only once – in the name "Russian Orthodox Church". But the entire modern Ukrainian culture, mentality, self-consciousness were historically formed on the basis of Orthodoxy, and Orthodoxy is Christianity: true, intacted, uncomplicated with heresies and false teachings.

What does the "Right Sector" propose to plant in Ukraine in place of Orthodoxy? It suggests as much as such a syncretic religion, which world history has not known yet: the union of not only the Orthodox and Catholics, but of all existing confessions that have anything to do with Christianity.

"The creation of the One Ukrainian Christian Church <...> is the historical mission of the Ukrainian clergy and people, the embodiment of which will lead to the unification of Christians throughout the world, beginning with Ukraine" (paragraph 3.8.).

Well, we cannot help but recall an old communist slogan: "Workers of all countries – unite". But seriously, God commanded the unity, about which the Lord said: "Let all be one, like you, Father, in me, and I in You, so they will be one in us" (John 17:21), is possible only on the basis of Christ and His teachings. All the rest is anti-Christianity. We, Orthodox, believe and confess that the Orthodox Church is the Body of Christ, which contains His teaching in all its fullness and intactness. The Church is open to any person who comes to Her with faith in Christ and repentance in his/her sins (including heresies). But it is unlikely that Catholics, Protestants and other denominations calling themselves Christian will unite with the Orthodox Church in this way, and this is hardly the case with the Right Sector Programme. Hence, the unification will take place without taking into account doctrinal and other differences. Such a "super-church". But is it Christ's?

Such projects to create a kind of "world Church", despite differences in doctrine and religious life, are far from new. We give one illustrative example. This is the Association of the Holy Spirit for the unification of world Christianity – a religious movement founded by Mun Song Mehn in 1954 in South Korea. This Association, as well as the "Right Sector", preached the unification of Christians around the world, but in fact it turned out that this is one of the totalitarian sects, which entailed accusations of fraud, manipulation of consciousness, financial fraud and suicide of its members. The danger of this organization was recognized even by the European Parliament in its special decision No. 1-47 / 84 of April 1984.

And that's what Saint Paisios of Mount Athos said about such a "united Church" in his book "Words. Volume I. With pain and love about the modern man": "Today, unfortunately, we have a European "correctness", and people tend to show themselves good. Wanting to show their "highest nobility," they end up worshiping the two-horned devil. "Let there be one religion," they say and put it all an equal footing. Several people came to my kaliva with such views. "We, that is, all who believe in Christ," they said to me, "must unite in one religion"".

You can also refer to the book of the American Orthodox hieromonk Seraphim (Rose) "Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future," which convincingly and intelligently shows that what the "Right Sector" dreams about is nothing but the Church of Antichrist. That's what is proposed to plant in Ukraine instead of Orthodoxy.

The UOJ has written not once that the unified or autocephalous (as you like) Church in Ukraine is being attempted to create not at all to save human souls and make them one with Christ. They want to create it for the approval of the Ukrainian idea and Ukrainian statehood. This is directly stated in paragraph 3.8. of the Right Sector Programme:

"The unified Christian Church is certainly more important for the people of Ukraine, because it is a necessary condition for uniting the whole people and realizing the idea of the unity of the Ukrainian nation."

Also, the authors of the Program could not resist writing their wishes what this "united church" should be like:

"I would like to see the one Local Church more modern, useful not only for believers, but for the entire Ukrainian people, able to compete with various sects and outright scams and charlatans" (paragraph 3.8.).

The Church of Christ witnesses to people of Christ and unites people with Christ. It does not compete with anyone and does not seek to be modern. This is said directly by one of the ancient Fathers of the Church, Saint Athanasius the Great, in one of his letters: "Let them save their soul. We do not keep up with the times. Know that we must not serve time, but God." "Modern prayer," "modern charity," "modern commandments" ... It sounds weird, doesn’t it? Weird but competitive!

The "Right sector" is primarily aimed at "the creation of the Ukrainian Independent Joint State (UIJS)", and the first paragraph of its Programme states that "Rus is Ukraine"! But the ancient state of Rus became powerful only due to Orthodoxy, which was adopted by the Great Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, rejecting other options suggested to him: Latinism, Judaism and Islam. How does the "Right Sector" intend to create the UIJS, destroying the basis of this state and this civilization? Again the discrepancy between goals and means and again this awkward question: Isn’t the destruction of Orthodoxy in Ukraine and the clearing of the religious field for the "anti-Christian religion of the future" the ultimate goal of the "Right Sector" and the political and public figures that stand behind him?