Like Comrade Stalin

Patriarch Bartholomew. Photo: Romfea

During a sermon at the St Nicholas Church in Istanbul on 6 December, Patriarch Bartholomew offered "special prayers for those Russian clergy and laypeople who support their suffering Orthodox brothers in Ukraine and face brutal persecution and imprisonment for opposing the inhumane policies of President Putin and the un-Christian rhetoric of Patriarch Kirill."

"May their example awaken the conscience both within their country and beyond," said the Patriarch.

Beautiful and fair words. But there are a few points of confusion.

Patriarch Bartholomew has no influence over the persecution of these clergy and laypeople (and in reality, there are very few of them). However, he most certainly could have an impact on the suffering of thousands of the clergy and laypeople of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), who are enduring incomparably greater persecution. He could even do so privately, without making a public statement. All he would need to do is make a few calls: to Serhiy Dumenko and to the Office of the President of Ukraine. He could have at least mentioned the persecution of the UOC in his sermon – after all, the Ukrainian Ambassador Roman Nedilsky was present at the service.

But Patriarch Bartholomew remained silent. Just as he remained silent when Dumenko followers seized the cathedral in Cherkasy, beat Metropolitan Theodosiy over the head with a baton, broke the legs of parishioners, shot at them with traumatic weapons, and so on. And this was not just in Cherkasy; similar cases have occurred across the country – hundreds, if not thousands of them. The UN, OSCE, top US officials, and leaders of the Local Churches all speak about it. Only Patriarch Bartholomew does not. And his silence is deafening.

After Stalin’s death, when the USSR underwent a de-Stalinisation process and the horrific crimes of the Stalinist regime became widely known, the people simply couldn’t believe it. For some time, there was a popular belief that all these crimes were committed by Stalin’s entourage, and that Stalin himself was deceived. In other words, Comrade Stalin was actually a good person. It sounds naïve, but many believed it at the time.

Is it possible that, in time, similar things will be said about Patriarch Bartholomew?

Shall we believe it?

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