Ukrainian authorities have placed the abbot of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra under house arrest. This is the culmination of a political and church dispute that also has consequences on other continents.
The showpiece of the Cave Monastery: the Uspenski Cathedral
Police searched the home of Metropolitan Pavlo, head of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, on Saturday. The public prosecutor accuses him of inciting religious hatred and justifying Russia's war of aggression. The accused denies this. The cleric once again condemned Russia's attack on “our state”, ie Ukraine, in the Ukrainian media. What Russia and Putin have done is unjustifiable, he stressed.
For weeks, the Ukrainian government has been trying to throw around 200 monks and 400 seminarians from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) out of the cave monastery. Culture Minister Olexander Tkatschenko had terminated the lease with the UOK on March 29. The UOK is now suing and refusing to leave the cave monastery.
Secret service against monks: search of the Kiev Cave Monastery
The Ukrainian government accuses the clergy of secretly working for Russia, which monks and seminarians deny. “From day one, the UOK spoke out very clearly and officially against the war, against Russia and for the defense of Ukraine,” Thomas Bremer told DW. The Catholic theologian and expert on Eastern Europe is a professor emeritus at the University of Münster and one of the best experts on orthodoxy. He doubts that the UOC is headed by Moscow. Many UOK soldiers fought in the Ukrainian army.
Abbot's shackles
So far, according to Bremer, there has been freedom of religion in Ukraine. Still: “What we are now observing, the measures against the UOK, these are actions that threaten religious freedom.” A video showing a Ukrainian policeman putting shackles on Metropolitan Pavlo is currently being widely shared on social media. Hundreds of believers gathered in front of the monastery in solidarity with the priest. Representatives of the Ukrainian government assure that there will be no violent evacuation of the monastery complex.
Faithful supporters: Metropolitan Pavlo in front of the Cave Monastery
Meanwhile, the UOK is receiving unwanted support from the wrong side – and that complicates the situation: there are protests from official Russian bodies. Representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) have criticized the persecution of the UOC, as has former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. The patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kirill, has always been close to the state. His clergy bless weapons used in the war of aggression against Ukraine.
Complicating the situation is a rival Orthodox Church in Ukraine that is backed by the government. The Ukrainian government has long maintained the separation of church and state. That changed in 2018 when she promoted the establishment of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OKU). It was created with the blessing of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew, the so-called Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in Istanbul.
Ukrainian Orthodox are divided
When the clergy of the ousted UOK have moved out of the cave monastery – that's what the government in Kiev wants – then the religious of the OKU they support should move in there and continue the services. It is unclear whether the OKU even has enough monks to be able to manage the spacious monastery area with over 140 buildings.
The Schism in Orthodoxy
In addition, the OKU is not recognized as a legitimate church by most other Orthodox churches. Because, explains Thomas Bremer, the head of the OKU, Metropolitan Epiphanius and most of his bishops, were “consecrated by someone who, as a self-proclaimed patriarch, was expelled from the church”. So there are doubts as to whether – from an ecclesiastical point of view – the bishops of the OKU are bishops at all.
As a result, only four of the world's 15 Orthodox Churches have recognized the OKU – the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Patriarchate of Alexandria in Egypt and the Orthodox Church of Cyprus. All four churches are comparatively small. The Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow has broken off contact with them.
Extensive area: who will be in the future inhabit the monastery complex?
That means: There is a schism within the orthodoxy because of the dispute in Ukraine. Meanwhile, the Albanian Orthodox Church has proposed that representatives of all Orthodox Churches meet in a council to find a solution to the Ukrainian church dispute. The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew rejects this. The OKU reports to him. Other Orthodox Churches should recognize this. A compromise is not in sight, says Thomas Bremer: “Orthodoxism is currently in a dead end. The situation is very muddled.”
The Russian Orthodox in Africa
The Ukrainian church dispute also has consequences that go far beyond Ukraine. For example in Africa, where there are orthodox churches in several states. So far, all Orthodox Churches respect that the Patriarchate of Alexandria in Egypt is responsible for this continent. However, since the latter has supported the OKU, the Russian Orthodox Church (ROK) has broken with this tradition. She is now building up her own structures on the continent, founded two dioceses and ordained priests. Clergymen who were previously subordinate to the Patriarchate of Alexandria are transferring to the ROK.
There is a struggle for African orthodoxy, agrees Thomas Bremer. The ROK act as if the separation was permanent. In Africa there are also the so-called old oriental churches, i.e. the Copts and the churches in Ethiopia and Eritrea. The Russian Orthodox Church is also expanding its relations with them. Representatives from Eritrea were recently received in Moscow.