Christmas miracles for unity among Ukrainian Orthodox congregations 

A few months ago, such a liturgy seemed like an impossible dream of believers of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and all Ukrainian patriots, because the positions of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate seemed unshakable - in the Lavra and throughout Ukraine.

But the position faltered.  And this process is irreversible, because the Russian Orthodox Church - part of the state apparatus of the Russian Federation - has no place in Ukraine.  Its activities should be prohibited, because it is provided for in the draft law "On ensuring the strengthening of national security in the sphere of freedom of conscience and activities of religious organizations" (№8221), which was unanimously supported by the members of the Committee on Humanitarian Policy and Information Policy.

This proposal was supported by Metropolitan Epiphanius, who said in his Christmas message: “Just as pro-Russian parties and information structures are banned, dependence on the enemy in the economy, energy, transport and many other areas is broken - subordination to the enemy in religious life should also be prohibited. It is not about the essence of the Orthodox faith, not about the inner life of the Church, not about dogmas and traditions in which the state cannot interfere, but about the administrative connection.”

He emphasized that Ukraine remains a democratic state in which freedom of conscience and religion is strictly observed.  “However, the aggressor has no right to use our openness and freedom as a tool for sowing internal discord and pseudo-spiritual deception.” He called the Moscow Patriarchate “not so much a religious institution as a state agency of the Kremlin to control Orthodox life in Russia and abroad.”

It cannot be said more clearly that I especially recommend for reflection to experts who even today are convinced that this way of organizing the situation in Ukrainian Orthodoxy is contrary to democracy, Orthodox canons and creed.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I made a peculiar solution to the issue of regulating the situation in Ukrainian Orthodoxy. In his Christmas message to Ukrainians, he stated: “We worked hard to grant the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) the status of autocephaly. Now we pray for the unification of all Orthodox believers in the country around the OCU. This is the only possible solution.”

During the Christmas liturgy, Metropolitan Epiphanius made important statements for this unity. He remembered Metropolitan Volodymyr Sabodan (head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, who died in 2014), “who condemned the political Orthodoxy planted from the north and took real steps towards reconciliation between the Orthodox and overcoming church divisions. Disease and insidious actions of ill-wishers did not allow him to complete many good deeds and undertakings. But now the spiritual unity of the Ukrainian Church, which he thought about at that time, is affirmed.”

Epiphanius also addressed the monastic brotherhood of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra: “The time has come to finally free yourself from the non-canonical rule of Moscow over you. To follow Tomos, to start a new page of the life of the Lavra as a truly monastic abode, devoted to serving the one Church of Christ and its neighbors - the Ukrainian people. May all the good things that make up the truly thousand-year tradition of the Pechersk monastery continue to exist and flourish, multiplying saving fruits. And everything else that needs to be purified, let it be purified with the help of God and our joint efforts.”

Not condemnation, but a call for unity and joint work for the good of one's own people. This is how the Metropolitan of Kyiv and all Ukraine should act.

For enemies and those who want to serve Russia in the future, the "punishing sword" is held by the state. The Ukrainian citizenship of 13 hierarchs of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate from the unoccupied and occupied parts of our country has been suspended. They also have Russian citizenship, and they openly cooperated with the enemy and even left the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. 

The time of Pharisaism has passed. Our responsibility is to rebuild a strong and effective Ukrainian state.