Weapons are iincompatible with priesthood – but not for UOC clergy?
The Ecumenical Patriarch has every opportunity to protect UOC clergy from mobilization.
The Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate has ruled that possessing and using weapons is incompatible with the priesthood and violates the canons of the Orthodox Church.
Meanwhile, reports emerge almost daily of Territorial Recruitment Center (TRC) officers abducting Ukrainian Orthodox Church priests. Some of the mobilized clergy have already been killed on the front lines.
Such incidents have become so widespread that the Phanar cannot possibly be unaware of them. Yet Patriarch Bartholomew has not said a single word in defense of UOC clergy, despite his regular contacts with Zelensky and other senior Ukrainian officials.
Moreover, in 2018, the Patriarch claimed that following the "revocation" of the 1686 act transferring the Kyiv Metropolia, all bishops and clergy in Ukraine were now clerics of his Church. We do not share the Phanar's reasoning, but this claim cannot be ignored.
Patriarch Bartholomew frequently and willingly speaks about the suffering of the Ukrainian people, but his statements invariably remain general in nature. This is understandable: he is a pastor, not a politician, and has no direct means of alleviating the suffering of the country's people.
The mobilization of clergy, however, is another matter. Here, the Ecumenical Patriarch has every opportunity to intervene on behalf of Ukrainian priests. It seems unlikely that Zelensky would turn down a request from the Ecumenical Patriarch if he were to make one.
Yet no such appeal has been heard. Apparently, the Synod's ruling that priests must not bear arms does not apply to Ukrainian clergy.
