UGCC cleric: Cossacks' faith does not mean Ukrainians must ne Orthodox

UGCC cleric R. Ostrovsky. Photo: YouTube channel “Orthodox Easterners”

Roman Ostrovsky, rector of the Kyiv Three Holy Hierarchs Theological Seminary of the UGCC, commented on the YouTube channel “Orthodox Easterners” on the argument that since the Cossacks fought against the Union, modern Ukrainians, too, should be Orthodox rather than Uniates.

According to Ostrovsky, such reasoning is fundamentally flawed.

He confirmed that “the Cossacks supported the Orthodox Church – in particular, Hetman Sahaidachny joined the brotherhood – this is a fact, and it truly helped defend Orthodoxy” from Catholicization.

“But to conclude that everyone must be Orthodox because the Cossacks were Orthodox is simply faulty reasoning and a wrong way to conduct dialogue,” Ostrovsky said. According to him, “faith is somewhat different; it is about unity with Christ, about the sacraments.”

The UGCC cleric wryly noted that “unfortunately, not one of Christ’s apostles was a Cossack.”

“So being Orthodox and a Cossack is not a mandatory condition for salvation,” he observed, adding that too many myths have been created around the Cossacks.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that, according to Shevchuk, certain processes in the sixteenth century divided the Christians of Ukraine.

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