A high-ranking bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church’s Ukrainian branch has paid a visit to Ukrainian troops in the war zone – a move that is at odds with the church’s officially neutral position on Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The branch, called the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, has not officially supported any of the sides. It has been accused of being a tool of the Kremlin – a charge that it denies. In contrast to the Moscow Patriarchate, the rival Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate has unambiguously supported Ukraine’s war effort.
Oleksandr Drabinko, metropolitan of Pereyaslav-Khmelnitsky and the late Kyiv Metropolitan Volodymyr Sabodan’s former right-hand man, confirmed to the Kyiv Post on March 30 that he had taken a trip to help Ukrainian troops in the war zone last week – the first such visit by a Moscow Patriarchate bishop. He added, however, that he could not elaborate in detail.
A church delegation headed by Drabinko visited troops of the State Special Transport Service in Slovyansk and Artemivsk in Donetsk Oblast and performed a church service there, Oleksandr Andrushchenko, chief editor of the Faith and Honor religious magazine, wrote on March 29 on the kapelan.org.ua news portal.Drabinko “thanked them for maintaining security in the city and adjacent villages by risking their lives and wished them to return home alive and well,” said Andrushchenko, who organized the trip.
Drabinko also gave them humanitarian aid, including food, personal hygiene products and medicine.
“This was the first time when an Orthodox bishop (of the Moscow Patriarchate) performed a liturgy and gave communion (to Ukrainian troops),” Andrushchenko said by phone.
Bishop Kliment, the spokesman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Kyiv Metropolitan Onufry, said by phone that he could not comment on the trip because he did not know if it had been authorized by the bishop of Donetsk Oblast.
“The church doesn’t support any of the sides,” Kliment said. “It is always beyond politics and urges everyone to stop the use of force.”
However, clerics of the church are allowed to help the Ukrainian army as chaplains and volunteers.
“Since soldiers are part of our flock and they were church goers during peacetime, our church provides spiritual support to those who comply with the nation’s laws and go to the front,” Kliment said.
Meanwhile, some clerics of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine have supported Kremlin-backed separatists.
In November, Bishop Ioanniky, the senior cleric of Luhansk’s Transfiguration and St. Nicholas Cathedral, blessed Ihor Plotnitsky, head of the Luhansk People’s Republic, during his inauguration.
Kliment argued that the priests who supported Kremlin-backed separatists were either banned from service or retired and could not be controlled by the church hierarchy. Ionikiy retired as bishop of Luhansk Oblast about four years ago, he said. “It’s impossible for our bishops to track all of them down. An old and sick man was used by some people, and then it was cynical to publicize and hype it,” he said, referring to Ionikiy.
But Serhiy Dmitryev, head of the Kyiv Patriarchate’s social work and charity department, dismissed this argument, saying that no penalties had been imposed on the retired priests and bishops who backed Russian-backed insurgents.
“The Moscow Patriarchate is effectively fueling a civil war because some bishops help Ukrainian troops and others help separatists,” he said by phone.
Dmitryev believes that Drabinko was reluctant to comment on his help for Ukrainian troops because he had been intimidated, and that other Moscow Patriarchate priests are afraid to support Ukraine for fear of being fired. The Moscow Patriarchate adheres to its neutral position because “they don’t know who will win – Russia or Ukraine,” he said.
Kyiv Post staff writer Oleg Sukhov can be reached at [email protected].
