Isn't it the proclamation of autocephaly that government wants from the UOC?
Viktor Yelensky. Photo: TSN
In the latest interview with TSN, Viktor Yelensky, the head of DESS, stated that the authorities "do not demand that the UOC proclaim autocephaly".
"All that is mentioned in the directive is to withdraw from the ROC and provide evidence of this. This should be a decision of the statutory bodies of the UOC," the official said.
But here perplexing questions arise.
In the DESS "study", where officials found a connection between the UOC and Moscow, a third of the text is devoted to a historical overview of autocephalies and autonomies in Local Churches. They say, look – after the decisions of the Council in Feofaniya, the status of the UOC is not autocephalous, and therefore it remains part of the ROC. And although this was not stated explicitly, DESS hinted that in order for the authorities to believe that the UOC broke relations with the ROC, it must proclaim its autocephalous status.
Now Yelensky assures that all that is needed is a "decision of the statutory bodies" of the UOC to leave the ROC.
However, since 2022, the DESS website has posted the new Statute of the UOC, where all mentions of the Moscow Patriarchate have been removed. There are also two letters from Metropolitan Onuphry, where he declares a separation from the MP.
So, DESS has the Statute of the UOC and the letters of His Beatitude Onuphry. What could be higher than the resolutions of the UOC Council and the statements of its Primate? What more "evidence" and "decisions of statutory bodies" do you need?
It seems the answer is simple. DESS seeks from the UOC precisely the official proclamation of autocephaly with obvious consequences: its declaration as a schism in Moscow, moving into the "gray" canonical zone, and ultimately self-destruction.
This is the straightforward plan of the atheist Yelensky. Previously, he wrote scientific works praising Lenin's actions to destroy the Church. And now he has moved to practice.
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