Political scientist Bondarenko warned of the risk of an artificial split of the UOC by the authorities

Political analyst Kostyantyn Bondarenko has suggested that the Ukrainian authorities may go for provoking an artificial split in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. In his opinion, the key pressure factor could be the situation around the UOC’s Primate, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry, who has reportedly been stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship and may be deported from the country.

During his speech on his personal YouTube channel, the political scientist noted the seriousness of the situation related to the legal status of the head of the UOC. “There is a big problem that as of today Blessed Onuphrius is deprived of Ukrainian citizenship. There is not much time left until the expiration of 90 days, after the expiration of which a stateless person can be deported from Ukraine. In this case, the authorities may go for provoking artificial splits of the UOC,” Bondarenko said.

The expert believes that to achieve this goal, the authorities may look for loyal hierarchs within the Church itself. “In any organization, even in the Church, there are people whose internal conformism begins to prevail over faith. The authorities will look for such people,” he emphasized. According to him, with regard to those who will not cooperate, “persecution will continue, but with an eye on Washington’s position.”

Konstantin Bondarenko also touched upon the international aspect, claiming that the American leadership has notified both Patriarch Bartholomew and the Ukrainian authorities about the inadmissibility of further persecution of the UOC. However, he noted with doubt that official Kiev does not always listen to the recommendations of its Western partners.

As a reminder, the Novaya Gazeta Europa newspaper recently published a material, the author of which published his assumptions about how events in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church will develop after the deprivation of Ukrainian citizenship of the Primate of the UOC, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy. According to the author of the article, due to the current situation, Metropolitan Onuphrius will not be able to fully fulfill his functions and will be retired. At the same time, the place of the head of the UOC will be taken by Metropolitan Agafangel of Odessa and Izmail for some time, after which a more loyal to the government Primate will be elected, which, according to the author, will be Metropolitan Filaret of Lviv.