Russia:Kiev persecution of Orthodox Church to cause sectarian conflict
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A Russian Foreign Ministry official warns that Kiev's persecution of the canonical Orthodox Church could trigger an intra-confessional conflict.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Patriarch Kirill visit the newly constructed Resurrection of Christ Cathedral, the main Orthodox Cathedral of the Russian Armed Forces, near Moscow last June. (AFP)
Ukraine's persecution of the canonical Orthodox Church could result in the largest intra-confessional conflict in modern European history, according to Gennady Askaldovich, the Russian Foreign Ministry's special representative on cooperation in the field of observance of the right to freedom of religion.
The Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzya told a UN Security Council meeting in January that Russia was aware of a number of activities in Ukraine, aimed at the abolition of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, chief of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External Church Relations, warned at the meeting that criminal investigations against Ukrainian Orthodox Church bishops and priests had been filed for implausible grounds.
"At a recent UN Security Council meeting, we drew attention to the threatening consequences of Kiev's state policy of persecution of canonical Orthodoxy, which could lead to the largest intra-confessional conflict in modern European history," Askaldovich said.
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Askaldovich went on to say that the West has initiated a huge offensive against everything Russian, including representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church.
"Since the beginning of the special military operation, we have witnessed a frontal attack on everything that is Russian abroad. This negative process did not bypass the Russian Orthodox Church either. Its representatives in a number of unfriendly countries, as well as clergymen of autocephalous churches, have been subjected to severe moral and psychological pressure," Askaldovich said.
He mentioned that the Orthodox priests are being pressured to denounce Moscow's military action in Ukraine and Russian President Vladimir Putin's policy, to sever ties with the Russian Orthodox Church, and to promote Ukraine's schismatic church.
Orthodox Church clergy addresses UN
Earlier in January, at a UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine, the Chairman of the Department of External Church Relations of the Patriarchate of Moscow Metropolitan of Volokolamsk Anthony told UN delegates of the political repression exercised against Orthodox Church clergy of Ukraine and called on the UN to intervene.
One example he evoked at the meeting was the revocation of Ukrainian citizenship of the Orthodox Church clergy of Ukraine.
"Depriving the citizenship of Ukrainian religious figures is undoubtedly a form of mass political repressions, which contradict the Constitution of Ukraine and international agreements that have been signed by that state," Metropolitan of Volokolamsk Anthony said via videoconference.
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On November 24, 2022, the Russian news agency Interfax reported that Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada registered a bill calling for the imposition of a nationwide ban on the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.
According to the European Solidarity Party, the bill would ban any institutions or organizations which are in part or totally affiliated to the Russian Orthodox faith from carrying out religious activities "in canonical, organizational and other issues," it said in a message on Telegram.
It further added that the bill aims to defend Ukraine's national security as it associates "the liberation of Ukraine from the Russian Orthodox Church [to] another step towards independent Ukraine."
Read next: Kirill: Russia, Ukraine are one nation, church persecution 'pathetic'
On May 27, 2022, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine declared its complete break up from the Russian Orthodox Church due to disagreements over the war in Ukraine.
Orthodox Bishop Kirill, who has been Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus' and Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church on 1 February 2009, has backed Russia's military campaign in Ukraine, calling on supporters to rally to fight Moscow's "external and internal enemies."
Due to this, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church ceased the commemoration of Patriarch Kirill.
Following the move, the Moscow Patriarchate said he "understood" their decision to be caused by external pressure.
