by Giulia Kakavas

Even before the war between Russia and Ukraine began, there were already existing conflicts that started in 2018-2019 when the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the primus inter pares, recognized the autocephaly independence of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) and before that in 1990 when the national Orthodox Church of Ukraine, was separated institutionally from the Russian Orthodox Church. 

This is a crucial aspect in order to understand what is going on right now and why there is fear for a possible schism. Ukraine is a country with a population of forty million, most of the population belongs to the Greek Orthodox Church, while the rest of it – especially in the Lviv region, near the border with Poland – belongs to the “Greek Catholic” Church and recognize the Pope as well. At the same time, there are also smaller groups of Protestants, Jews and Muslims who are active in Ukraine. Ukraine – as Lucian N. Leustean states – is divided into two main Orthodox churches, the national Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which separated institutionally from the Russian Orthodox Church in 1990, and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate, which remains the largest denomination in the country.

Today, many Christian Orthodox belong to the OCU, which was recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the same who in January 2019 handed out the tomos, granting the autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate. From that moment – as Heta Hurskainen states – the Moscow Patriarchate referred to Constantinople as schismatic, stopped mentioning Patriarch Bartholomew’s name in the liturgy, and dissolved the eucharistic connection with the Ecumenical Patriarchate. For the Moscow Patriarchate, finding a new way to cooperate within global Orthodoxy was essential.  

In fact, before the invasion of Ukraine even began, an ecclesiastical “war” was already under way on Moscow’s initiative with political and diplomatic implications that could lead to a new schism, this time within the Orthodox Church, after that of the 1054 with the Roman Catholic Church and this with the goal of realizing his vision for the creation of the so-called Third Rome.

According to the Greek newspaper Protothema, the Russian “invasion” began in Africa, more specifically on the 29th of December 2021, when the Patriarch of Moscow Kirill, accepted 102 clergy of the Patriarchate of Alexandria from eight African countries, in order to create his own Exarchate in Africa under the name “Klinsky”. In accordance with some theologians, Patriarch Kirill’s move to invade Africa is part of the Kremlin’s plan to control not only the countries it considers to be under its influence but also the Orthodox Church as a whole. 

The Synodal Court of the Patriarchate of Alexandria decided to expel the two clergymen, who are accused of performing a Divine Liturgy and other rites in the area under the normal jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Alexandria, without the permission of Patriarch Theodore and the local Bishops. 

Even though on the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s official site there is a news blackout since the war between Russia and Ukraine started, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, during the Patriarchal Divine Liturgy for Orthodox Sunday in Istanbul – while the visit of the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, was in progress – made the following statement: “Violence and war not only do not resolve differences, but cause pain and death and create more complex problems. The invasion and the war must end now and a new opportunity must be given to dialogue, the pre-eminent vehicle of reconciliation and peace. On the other hand, the Charter of the United Nations expressly prohibits the use of force in international relations”.

The other members of the clergy who have expressed themselves are the Archbishop of Athens and the Metropolitan of the Messenia Region in Greece, dedicating, correspondingly their thoughts and prayers to the victims and whoever is suffering due to the current situation and condemning the fact that international treaties and agreements are being violated and that the outcome of this situation will lead only to political and ecclesiastical mutations. 

Bibliography:

The Russian-Ukrainian conflict