Rift between Constantinople and Moscow may have grave repercussions in Ukraine (03/10/96)

Rift between Constantinople and Moscow may have grave repercussions in Ukraine

by Marta Kolomayets
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - The recent rift between the Constantinople and Moscow patriarchates could have serious repercussions in Ukraine, according to Patriarch Filaret, the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate.

The current conflict between the ecumenical patriarch, Bartholomew, and the Moscow patriarch, Aleksey II, caused by the former's recognition of the Estonian Orthodox Church may indeed mark the beginning of the end of the Russian Orthodox Church's "spiritual empire," added Patriarch Filaret. He told journalists at a Kyiv news conference on March 5 that this feud between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Patriarchate of Constantinople could speed efforts to win recognition for his own Church.

According to Interfax-Ukraine, Patriarch Filaret is ready to dispatch his hierarchs to Greece next week to further study the situation. Then, Patriarch Filaret has said, he will address a request to the ecumenical patriarch exploring the issue of granting the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate autocephalous status.

But this is unlikely to happen, said Victor Yelensky, editor of a monthly magazine called Luidyna i Svit (Man and the World), an expert on today's religious situation in Ukraine.

"Back in October 1993, when Ukraine's government officials went to Istanbul to lobby for recognition of the Church by the ecumenical patriarch, he set conditions stating that if your Orthodox Churches unite, I will recognize you," explained Mr. Yelensky.

With three Ukrainian Orthodox Churches vying for territory and parishes in Ukraine since almost the time of Ukraine's declaration of independence in 1991, it is hardly likely that they will unite any time soon.

"I don't really see any chance of Patriarch Filaret and Metropolitan Volodymyr Sabodan of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate uniting into one Church," noted Mr. Yelensky, implying that this is a power struggle between two leaders.

(Earlier, other religion experts in Ukraine had pointed out that Patriarch Bartholomew is hesitant to recognize the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in order not to offend Moscow Patriarch Aleksey II).

The third Church, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, gained more parishes after hierarchs split off from Patriarch Filaret in October and joined Patriarch Dymytriy of the UAOC.

However, if Metropolitan Volodymyr, whose jurisdiction encompasses more than 6,000 parishes - more than the Russian Orthodox Church of the UOC-MP has on the territory of Russia - broke away from Aleksey II, this would truly mark the end of the imperialist Moscow Church. That, in turn, could cause a schism in relations between the Constantinople patriarch - who holds a first-among-equals status of the patriarchs among the Orthodox world - and Moscow's Alexey.

This spring, if the sobor of the UAOC, which has 1,500 parishes, decides to unite with Metropolitan Volodymyr, Patriarch Filaret would be left as the leader of the richest, but also the smallest, of the Orthodox Churches, with about 1,500 parishes.

According to Mr. Yelensky, Metropolitan Volodymyr has considered autocephalous status for his Church, but has not made any moves toward that end. Sources close to his Church administration say he is stifled by some of his hierarchs and brethren, and Moscow's iron grip, which does not allow him to make many appearances outside the walls of the Monastery of the Caves.

"The question is whether Metropolitan Volodymyr has it in him," added Mr. Yelensky.

On the other hand, Patriarch Filaret of the UOC-KP has seized this opportunity to underscore the "essence of the imperialist Moscow Church."

"The time has come to restore historical right. An end must be put to Moscow's spiritual empire," he said during a press conference at his residence. He told reporters that, like Estonia, independent Ukraine deserves to have its own Church free of outside control, especially since Orthodoxy in Eastern Europe originated in Kyiv in the year 988.

On February 20, the ecumenical patriarch decided - after almost four years of unsuccessful negotiations with Moscow - to take under his jurisdiction the parishes of the Estonian Orthodox Church as they had requested.

The Moscow Patriarchate, to which the Estonian Orthodox Church in Estonia had been subordinated, then decided to break off relations with Constantinople. Patriarch Filaret explained to reporters that the Russian Orthodox Church had forcibly taken the Estonian Orthodox Church under its wing in 1940, when this territory was subjugated by the Soviet Union.

Patriarch Filaret has evaluated the recent developments as a schism in ecumenical Orthodoxy, which he believes is a consequence of the actions by the Moscow Patriarchate, which first split the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, then the Orthodox believers of Estonia and Latvia, and now ecumenical Orthodoxy.

According to a recent report from the Catholic News Service, if the Moscow Patriarchate's position does not change and a permanent schism occurs, many observers say this would be one of the biggest breaks in the Christian world since the East-West schism of 1054. However, CNS reported on a February 26 interview with ITAR-TASS in which Patriarch Aleksey had termed the current rift temporary, hinting that a solution might be found.

"The tragic events surrounding the Orthodox Church in Estonia have dealt a blow to the centuries-old unity in the Orthodox world," said the Moscow Patriar-chate in a memorandum issued to explain its break with the Orthodox leadership.

According to Reuters, "the Russian Church clearly fears that independence for the Estonian Church, now under temporary Finnish jurisdiction, could open the floodgates to other Churches no longer wishing to have their affairs run by Moscow."

"This definitely opens up new opportunities for the Orthodox Church in Ukraine," said Mr. Yelensky, as the world's Orthodox Churches are beginning to take sides with either Constantinople or Moscow.

But for Patriarch Aleksey - who omitted the name of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew from the list of heads of Orthodox Churches during services on February 23 - this rift also marks personal tragedy. Born and raised in Estonia, where his father serves as a parish priest, Patriarch Aleksey served as the vicar of the eparchy of Tallinn and all Estonia before he was elected patriarch.

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