UOC after the ban and hatred as a tool for destroying Ukraine's future
The project to ban the UOC has entered its decisive stage, with pressure being exerted on MPs and media doing their utmost to fuel the situation. What will be in the end?
Judging by the latest news that a certain Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Constantinople Patriarchate is being registered in Ukraine and that signatures of deputies under the anti-church bill 8371 have already been collected, the authorities have devised a simple carrot-and-stick combination. Passing the law to ban the UOC is the stick, and the newly created religious structure is the carrot. You can switch to this structure and supposedly find the long-awaited peace from church seizures, searches, criminal cases, and defamation in the media. And switching over doesn’t seem like a crime since the structure is canonical. If you don’t like the OCU with its "ordained" under anathema, here’s a canonical alternative. But if you don’t switch, we’ll make your current persecutions seem like a warm May breeze.
In this article, we will neither detail the prospects of implementing such a scheme and where it might ultimately lead nor predict whether the legislative ban on the UOC will occur or not. Instead, we will try to analyse the consequences of the actions already taken against the UOC, which in recent weeks have approached a rubicon, a point of no return.
As an example, let’s take a video titled "Не вистачає голосів. Хто захищає УПЦ(МП) в Україні?" ("Not Enough Votes. Who Protects the UOC (MP) in Ukraine?"), which was released two weeks ago on the well-known resource "Bihus.Info". It’s not original; there are many similar videos, but they all share two things: hatred towards the Church and a lack of evidence for it.
The video begins with the words: "Today's episode is about Moscow priests. Another one." "Moscow priests" is an obvious insult used by all the Church's adversaries to refer to its clergy. But it’s also a collective term referring not only to the priests but also to all 6 million believers (according to the officials themselves), since the Church is not just the clergy; it’s all believers in Christ. So, the video starts with an insult, for which one would be sued in a civilized legal state. And throughout, it is filled with similar insults like: "FSB church", "traitors", etc.
But as Sherlock Holmes said, "Your accusations are so serious that they should be supported by equally serious evidence." If caches of weapons, hiding sabotage groups, correspondence with specific instructions to undermine Ukraine's defense capacity or funds for "special tasks" were found in UOC monasteries, if something concrete and significant was discovered, and on a large scale, that could indeed be grounds for accusations against the UOC. But what has been "dug up" against the UOC in almost two years of active persecution by the authorities? Almost nothing. For example, the "Bihus.Info" video presents the following evidence.
"Disclosing positions of the armed forces to the enemy"—this is about the suspicion handed to Metropolitan Arseniy of Sviatohirsk. He is accused of mentioning in a sermon the settlement near which pilgrims heading to the Sviatohirsk Lavra were detained at a checkpoint. But wait a minute, couldn't Metropolitan Arseniy have found any other way to convey this information than to announce it publicly in a sermon? And who needs such information anyway: no exact coordinates, no number of vehicles or personnel? Isn't it already clear that there are checkpoints in frontline settlements? In general, this accusation is simply absurd. But since it is being voiced, it means no more serious accusations of "disclosing positions" could be found. Moreover, the presenter does not specify that SBU representatives came to Vladyka Arseniy seven months after this "treasonous" sermon was delivered. Nor does she mention that the enemy did not use the "coordinates" provided and that there were no problems with the checkpoint.
"Praising Putin" – this is about an incident in Khmelnytskyi region, where in April 2024, the SBU charged the rector of one of the churches with allegedly praising Putin. If "Bihus. Info" had bothered to find out what happened, they would have discovered that the rector's name is Fr. Mykola Khlan, the accusations against him were made a year ago, in May 2023 when a single (one!) witness claimed that the priest "repeatedly spoke negatively about the transition of churches from the UOC-MP to the OCU". This, by the way, is his constitutional right! And there was no praise of Putin. But a year later, some "expertise" emerged, which "confirmed the facts of the cleric's criminal actions" but did not provide any evidence of "praising Putin" even after a year. No video recordings, no witness testimonies. How transitions between denominations turned into praise is unclear. But fake information that the UOC "praises Putin" has been planted in society.
"Calling to pray for the Rashists" – this is about the searches of Archpriest Mykola Danylevych in connection with his activities in developing UOC overseas communities. He wasn't even detained at the time, and all the evidence seized from him were merely library cards for Russian libraries issued to him during his student days a decade and a half ago.
"Evading mobilization" – this is about the rector of one of the churches in the Khust Eparchy of the UOC, who is accused of calling Russian aggression a "civil war", urging to evade mobilization and making unflattering remarks about Jews. It is written that this was also confirmed by expertise. We know the quality of such expertise. Where a person says "aggressive crowd" in Ukrainian (“аhresyvnyi natovp”), the experts hear "aggressive NATO".
All this so-called evidence was accompanied by a corresponding video sequence so that it was not difficult to identify it. Apparently realiszng how propagandistic and unproven these accusations are, the presenter made a caveat: "It should be emphasized that this is not an investigation, but a blog, the purpose of which is to show how dangerous this Moscow filth is. A separate lawsuit would be nice for the "Moscow filth" but we'll continue.
The video did not do without mentioning the very case, which was used as an excuse to launch a large-scale attack on the Church. It was when in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra several women after the liturgy sang a cantus with the words: "Mother Rus’ is waking up". The cantus is quite harmless, its main idea is glorification of the Most Holy Mother of God, but for those who want to destroy the Church the word "Rus’" is a reason to shout: "Oh, horror!" and start persecuting the UOC. Nobody would have paid attention to this chant if the reason to start reprisals against the UOC hadn’t been specially searched for.
The "Bihus.Info" presenter also recalled the arrest of UOJ employees when the SBU reported that it had "neutralized a large FSB network". You can read about the seriousness of this evidence in the articles "Three months of absurdity and torture of UOJ journalists: for what?" and "Why are UOJ authors facing life imprisonment? New evidence". These articles provide a detailed examination of the criminal case against Orthodox journalists. In a word, such persecution should shame the authorities, as they are targeting journalists simply for publishing news.
Particularly noteworthy is the passage stating that "one of Pavel Lebed’s associates" (Metropolitan Pavel) helped organize provocations near the Lavra. Allegedly, Anatoliy Shariy, suspected of state treason, advised him on how best to film these provocations to show the world how the authorities oppress the UOC. So, the presenter admitted that these provocations against the UOC did take place. But those to blame are not the provocateurs who came to desecrate the shrine and insult believers but those who recorded it all. Thus, when an open satanist and homosexual calling himself "Magician Veliar" staged a blasphemous magical ritual of "burying the UOC" near the Lavra, it was considered normal and patriotic. But when this was filmed and shown to people, it became "Russian narratives". The same approach applies to church seizures. Breaking down church doors with sledgehammers and cutting locks with angle grinders is good, but showing it is a crime.
And finally, "Bihus" presented the "terrifying" number of "traitors of Ukraine" from the website chesno.org. Let's set aside the question of the reliability of the information on this site. But the "Bihus" presenter makes a dramatic statement: "Let's do the following. We go to the 'Traitors' register created by the Chesno movement, select the 'Priests' category." It turns out that 56 UOC priests are listed as "traitors". The presenter also dramatically implies that this is a very large number, meaning, according to the logic of the entire video, the UOC has no right to exist in Ukraine. But here's the problem, if the presenter had just as artistically suggested selecting the 'Law Enforcement' category on the same site, we would see the number 303. In the 'Politicians' category, there are 683 people, 'Judges' – 306 people, 'Media' – 123 people. This clearly indicates that this "Bihus" video is purely propagandistic and has nothing to do with the principle of journalistic objectivity. However, the presenter directly stated that this was not an investigation "but a blog, the purpose of which is..." likely to defame the Church.
This eloquently characterizes the level of "evidence" on which serious accusations against the UOC are based and how this incites hatred towards priests and believers in society.
Even if the accusations against these 56 priests are justified, can their guilt be extended to over 12,000 UOC priests? Can this be the basis for banning the Church with 6 million members in Ukraine? But let's return to the above-mentioned question: what will remain after the UOC is banned?
One passage by the "Bihus" presenter is interesting: "The Moscow Church is not a single legal entity that can be sued and – poof – no more Moscow priests." She lamented that the initial version of bill 8371 proposed that each registered UOC community could be banned, and only through the courts. However, the concept of "poof and no more Moscow priests" needs a closer look. What does it mean "no more"? Is this Stalin's "no person, no problem"? Where should the 6 million believers go?
Let's think: the UOC is banned, formally it no longer exists, but what remains?
Firstly, these 6 million believers will remain. Those who wanted to join the OCU have long since done so. The overwhelming majority of UOC members have remained loyal, and it's expected that after a legislative ban, their faith will only strengthen. These millions will remain, but their religious rights will be severely restricted.
Secondly, these people have already developed, and will further develop, a resentment towards their state. You cannot simply trample on the religious feelings of 6 million citizens. Many believers are currently fighting on the front lines in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Many have died or been injured, have buried their loved ones. Many have sincerely given their last pennies so that volunteers could buy and deliver much-needed vehicles, ammunition, clothing, food and other supplies to the front lines. And now the state is taking away from them the most sacred thing – the Church. Essentially, the authorities are betraying these people, turning them into enemies.
Thirdly, and this may be the most important, after the UOC is banned, all the hatred and enmity that politicians, activists and media resources like "Bihus" have stirred up in Ukrainian society will remain. All this will remain within our society and will bear its terrible fruits. Will our state prosper if people within it are divided into first and second-class citizens? Will our country develop if millions of its citizens feel deprived of basic human rights? Instead of uniting the people during the war, discord, hatred, and intolerance towards close ones and neighbors are being artificially incited. This makes the prospects for Ukraine's development, to put it mildly, not the most optimistic.
