So who is Putin’s friend – UOC or “father of the Tomos”?
Petro Poroshenko and Vladimir Putin. Photo: True
One of the main levers of this pressure was the Church being accused of “serving the aggressor”.
Poroshenko accused the UOC that all divine services in Her temples “begin with prayers for Putin”, he called the canonical Church the “fifth column”, while the OCU, in contrast to the UOC, was called “Putin-free Church”. As a result, the then president said that the UOC, “since it was the Russian Church”, has nothing to do in Ukraine: “My dears, you have nothing to do here. There is nothing for your Church to do in Ukraine ... Go home. To Russia."
Today, a recording of Poroshenko’s conversation with Putin, which took place in 2015 shortly after the tragic battles in Debaltseve, appeared on the Net. The battles, which killed many Ukrainian soldiers.
A friendly and slightly ingratiating tone, obsequious chuckles, congratulations on the holidays – the fifth president of Ukraine did not at all look like a fierce denouncer of the “aggressor state”, as we used to see him in public speeches, in particular, in those speeches when he accused and insulted the believers and the hierarchy of the UOC.
Is there anything unexpected in this? Probably, not. We always knew that those who violently accuse others of the lack of patriotism are far from being most sincere and most patriotic themselves.
Filaret, Epiphany, Drabinko, Poroshenko ... The more the individuals, who participated in the OCU project, reveal themselves, the more we have the right to be proud of our Church, which under the tremendous pressure of such “patriots” almost completely ranged Herself from the stinking political project "Local Church".
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