“They can still take these steps for the sake of appearances”: OCU lobbyist worries that the UOC will comply with DESS requirements

Religious scholar and OCU lobbyist Oleksandr Brodetsky expressed concern that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church may comply with the requirements of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience, according to which the Church is required to sever ties with the Moscow Patriarchate. Brodecki believes that the leadership of the UOC may agree with the Russian Orthodox Church to take these steps, but at the same time, ties with the Russian Church will not be severed. He wrote about this on Facebook.

«What if Onufriy Berezovsky does fulfill these five simple requirements put forward by the State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) in its order to the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC? Well, they will fulfill them “for show,” that is, for the sake of appearances, to cover up their “pro-Moscow” stance and self-preservation in Ukraine and to continue their de facto “Russian world” activities. After all, in its order, the DESS did not even demand that the UOC officially assess Gundyaev’s criminal, misanthropic doctrine of holy war as criminal. Nor did the DESS demand that the UOC officially and specifically address each local Orthodox Church with a clear declaration of its jurisdictional “non-Moscowness,” — Brodetsky muses.

The OCU lobbyist added that the UOC could reach an agreement with the ROC and renounce its affiliation with the Moscow Patriarchate, and the Russian Church would not impose any sanctions for such a decision. At the same time, according to Brodetsky, the UOC will continue to remain connected with the ROC. He added that clear evidence of a “break with Moscow” could be the restoration of relations between the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

«So what happens then? Let’s imagine that, for the sake of form, the UOC fulfills five soft requirements and will be able to continue selling ‘Russian-friendly, pro-imperial’ propaganda booklets in its parishes, as it does now, in the fourth year of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine? And continue to brainwash millions of adults and children, worshiping icons of Russian tyrants and Black Hundreds? Only the readiness or unwillingness of the “U”OC to resume communication (in particular, Eucharistic) with the Ecumenical Patriarchate is the only real litmus test of whether it actually remains under Moscow or not,» — added the OCU lobbyist.

Earlier, we reported that the head of the OCU, Epiphany Dumenko, called the Ukrainian Orthodox Church “uncanonical” and “spiritually harmful.” At the same time, the leader of the Ukrainian schism again called on the UOC to start a dialogue with the OCU without preconditions. In addition, Dumenko accused the UOC of “forcibly” preventing its communities from “transferring” to the OCU.