Ukraine decides to abolish the Russian Orthodox Church: And this is the beauty of democracy in all its splendor – VP News

2024-08-21 21:50:04

Now Ukraine has started another glorious march! This time the glorious march with spiritual independence! Ukraine has decided to launch a new campaign against Russian influence, but this time not with tanks, but with… incense and holy clothes! And so, in one fell swoop, the Russian Orthodox Church was banned, with the injunction to adapt the poor priests within 9 months, as if they were facing a kind of ecclesiastical ultimatum: either parish to change or change profession.

Of course, Zelensky must have thought: “If we can’t beat them in battle, at least let’s take away their spiritual power!” And what better way to celebrate “spiritual independence” than by forcing a third of the Orthodox population to choose between faith and loyalty to the state? A small detail that seems to escape those who fill their mouths with “religious freedom”.

But that is not all, because in this case it seems that Europe, which is usually ready to render its clothes for any violation of human rights, in this case has lost. Complete silence. On the other hand, how could they criticize the champion of democracy, that dear Zelensky, who is cleaning the country of all traces of Russian “oppression”, sorry? And it matters little if this is more reminiscent of a medieval edition than a modern government decision.

And what about the reactions of the geopolitical experts, those diplomatic high priests? The idea seems to ignore the fact that forcing priests to change their obedience is not exactly the most effective means of promoting social peace or freedom of worship. But, yes…, when hypocrisy is the order of the day, who are we to judge?

So, while Zelensky continues to transform Ukraine into a kind of dystopian laboratory where the limits of democracy are tested, we can only see, with a bitter smile, the fate of those poor (and faithful) Orthodox priests who will have to decide which bow. to the new order or face spiritual exile. All this, of course, in the name of Western values ​​… no one knows what they were anymore.

screenshot of the International

side note:

In Ukraine, the Orthodox population is mainly divided between two churches: the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (which is considered the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine) and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which gained independence (autocephaly) from the Moscow Patriarchate in 2018.

According to various surveys carried out in recent years:

Ukrainian Orthodox Church (independent): about 40-45% of Ukrainian Orthodox agree with this church.
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate: About 15-20% of Orthodox Ukrainians identify with this church.
The rest of the Orthodox population may not strongly identify with either church or belong to Orthodox or other Christian denominations, or may not actively practice the religion.

It should be noted that these percentages may vary slightly depending on the region: the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine tend to have a higher percentage of faithful affiliated with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, where there are more populations where Russian is spoken. Moscow Patriarchate, and in the western and central regions of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church prevail.