The Ukraine - ecclesiology and schism

The conflict in Ukraine is not just military and political it is, as anyone with an awareness of the history of that country and the wider region knows, also a religious one. That may be missed by secular commentators and reporters in the mainstream media but it is of great significance to the people of the Ukraine and to our understanding as observers, the more so the more sympathetic we are.

The Pillar has a series of useful articles, for which I will reproduce the links in their text:

This week, Anatolii Babyinkyi, [ their Ukraine correspondent ] writes about how we got to this point, and examines Vladimir Putin’s much discussed but little understood concept of Russkiy-mir — the Russian world — and how Vatican diplomacy has played into Moscow’s religious and political worldview.

This is essential context for what is happening. Read the whole thing here.

Religion is a big part of understanding the history and culture of Ukraine, and its relationship with Russia. While there is the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Ukraine is majority Orthodox and is home to two Orthodox Churches. 

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Patriarchy of Moscow, which claims spiritual authority over the neighboring country. The Orthodox Church of Ukraine is an independent Church, led by its own patriarch. In 2019, the Patriarch of Constantinople, together with many of the oldest and largest Orthodox Churches, recognized the independent OCU, causing Moscow to break communion with nearly half of the world’s Orthodox.

Since the invasion began last week, Ukrainian Christians of all Churches — Catholic, OCU and UOC — have been calling on the Patriarch Kirill of Moscow to denounce the war and call for peace. Instead, Kirill said that Ukrainians and Russians are one people, and called to Christian unity — unity under his authority. 

This week, several Ukrainian bishops of the UOC — the one under Moscow’s authority — announced they were no longer going to be acknowledging Kirill in their liturgies, which prompted the Moscow patriarch to declare them in schism. 

The Orthodox landscape in Ukraine is undergoing real-time change, and it will likely continue to shift as Russian forces continue their attacks. The implications of these religious shifts for the political situation are real — both in Ukraine and in Russia. Stay up to speed here.

In addition The Catholic World Report has insightful articles at How the Ukraine conflict is reshaping relations between Churches and two by George Weigel at The religious roots of Ukrainian resistance and at Impending Russian attack on the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom in Kyiv?. This site also has an interesting piece by Adam DeVille at Opinion: Addressing Russian delusions about past, present, and future