Ukrainian religious scholar calls the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia “a project of the Soviet special services”

Oleksandr Sagan, a lobbyist for the OCU, head of the Department of Religious Studies at the Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences, called the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia “a project of the Soviet special services.” Sagan argues that the autocephaly of the OCCLS cannot be taken seriously, as it was granted during Czechoslovakia’s time under Soviet influence. He said this in an interview with Radio Liberty.

“After the Second World War, the Czechoslovak Orthodox Church, as it was then called, was under the strict control of the Moscow special services and the Moscow Patriarchate. In 1951, the church received the Tomos of autocephaly from the Moscow Patriarchate. A council of hierarchs sent from Moscow began to form this church anew. As Sagan notes, it was completely controlled by the Moscow Patriarchate, whose policies were completely in line with the interests of the Soviet Union. In fact, the church became a satellite to the Moscow Patriarchate,” – the religious scholar noted.

Sagan added that the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia is under the tremendous influence of the Russian Orthodox Church. In this regard, the Patriarchate of Constantinople is making tremendous efforts to remedy the situation.

“It was a project of the Soviet special services. Usually, autocephaly is created in countries where the majority of the population is Orthodox. This does not apply to the Czech Republic or Slovakia. Moscow took this step on purpose to have more opportunities to promote its narratives. Since the creation of the church, primates have been sent from Moscow. The influence of Moscow Orthodoxy on the Czechoslovak Church was dominant, Moscow actually supervised it. Constantinople is now making a lot of efforts to remove it from this influence, but the personnel policy that has lasted for decades is making itself felt,” – he added.

Earlier, we reported that the Czech Senate Security Committee called on the government to initiate an inspection of the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia for cooperation with the Russian Orthodox Church. The committee believes that the OCCLS, through its cooperation with the Russian Orthodox Church, has come under the influence of Russian special services.