UOC-KP accuses OCU edition of supporting "spiritual war" against Ukrainians

Announcement of the conference in Germany. Photo: Spiritual Front

The UOC-KP criticized the publication "Spiritual Front of Ukraine" for announcing an international conference titled "Orthodox Christianity and Identity Politics", which includes participation from Moscow theologians but excludes Ukrainian theologians. This was reported by the UOC-KP Diaspora on their Facebook page.

The publication states that the conference aims to "explore the changes that have occurred in Orthodox Christianity", the "universal and ecumenical vision of a series of ethnocentric narratives where the Church is viewed as a fundamental characteristic of the nation" (Ukraine, Orthodox diaspora, etc.), and "religious nationalism as the most important issue in Orthodoxy after the fall of Byzantium". The UOC-KP interpreted this conference as viewing Ukrainian identity as a threat and a major problem for "universal Orthodoxy".

The UOC-KP was particularly outraged by the list of conference participants from various countries, including Russia.

"This raises a rhetorical question: 1) What kind of 'spiritual front of Ukraine' supports this spiritual war against us outside Ukraine instead of defending the identity of Ukrainians? and 2) Why are there no Ukrainian theologians from Kyiv at this 'international' conference organized by so-called Greco-Russian 'Orthodox', but there are Moscow theologians?" the UOC-KP publication stated.

As UOJ reported, Iryna Farion called this conference an extremely threatening trend, which has always stemmed from the very concept of the "Greek" or "universal" Church, as well as the "Roman" one.

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