Expert: Bolsheviks already tried to create a "pocket church" in the 1920s

Political expert Konstantin Bondarenko. Photo: screenshot of video from the First Cossack youtube channel

In the 1920s, the Bolsheviks already tried to create a "pocket state church"; the same thing is happening now with the OCU in Ukraine. The head of the Ukrainian Politics Foundation / UP Foundation, historian, political expert Konstantin Bondarenko said this on the air of the First Cossack.

"There is nothing new. If we are talking about Orthodoxy, then an attempt to create a kind of pocket state church out of the OCU, as opposed to the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, is the same pattern used by the Bolsheviks back the 1920s. I mean the Renovationist Church, which also received the Tomos and support from Constantinople,” the expert noted.

He also noted that later in the 40s "Constantinople tried hard to forget that they once gave something to someone."

The Renovation Church also enjoyed all kinds of assistance from the state, added Konstantin Bondarenko.

“In churches, the Renovationists hung portraits of Trotsky, for example, or Lenin next to icons – it was considered a new ‘with-it’ sign. Now we are witnessing the same thing in the OCU, which was created with direct assistance of the authorities. Despite the fact there are no portraits of Poroshenko, one can see flags and national emblems alongside icons and hear the Ukrainian anthem instead of prayers,” the expert noted.

Earlier, the analyst explained when the course of the President of Ukraine in relation to the UOC will change.

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