As the Russia-Ukraine war continued, the tension between the two countries spread to the churches. Two priests working in the Kyiv Patriarchate, which declared its independence by leaving the Moscow Patriarchate in 2018 due to Russia’s attack on Ukraine, clashed at the funeral of a Ukrainian soldier. At the funeral held for the Ukrainian soldier who died during the clashes with the Russian forces in the church in the village of Yalanets in the city of Tomashpil in the Vinnitsa region, the High Priest of the church, Mikhail Vasilyuk, made a speech criticizing the attacks of Russia. In Vasilyuk’s speech, some people who attended the ceremony reacted to the priest because of the words “The Kremlin regime is committing war crimes”. Another pro-Russian priest, declaring his allegiance to the Moscow Patriarchate, left the soldier’s coffin and walked to the pulpit. The pro-Russian priest, who attacked Vasilyuk on the pulpit by holding the pilgrim on his neck, was blocked by the soldiers at the ceremony. Vasilyuk responded by pushing the pro-Russian priest who had attacked him.
PRO-RUSSIAN PRIEST IN DETENTION
While the name of the pro-Russian aggressor priest has not been disclosed yet, it was reported that he was detained by Ukrainian soldiers after the attack. Church activist Sergey Timkov, who recorded the moment of the attack, made a statement on his social media account regarding the events at the ceremony, saying, “The Moscow priest attacked the High Priest of the Ukrainian church, Father Mikhail. Father was also slightly injured.”
In a written statement made by the Moscow Patriarchate yesterday, it was stated that the history of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine is common and that Ukraine and Belarus do not have the right to self-determination.
SEPARATION OF UKRAINE FROM THE ORTHODOX CHURCH OF RUSSIA
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has been affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church for centuries. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine wanted to establish a completely independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church from Russia. The importance of the separation of churches has increased even more after Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the outbreak of conflict in eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian officials claimed that the Russian Orthodox Church serves Russia’s interests and supports separatists in Ukraine, arguing that the church issue is a “national security issue”.
The Fener Greek Patriarchate accepted the request of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to separate from the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow on October 11, 2018, and the Fener Greek Patriarchate officially approved the decision on January 5, 2019, which envisages the independence of the Ukrainian Church by separating from Russia. .
(UAV)