Ukrainian Church Persecution

GUEST VIEWPOINTS

National Herald

The Persecution of Christianity and the Violation of Democratic Norms

April 16, 2023

By Theodore Karakostas

FILE – Metropolitan of Kyiv and all Ukraine Epiphaniy officiates at a historic Divine Liturgy for the Great Feast of the Nativity of Christ at the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Theotokos in the Lavra of Kyiv. (Photo Autocephalous Church of Ukraine)

The violation of religious freedom is simultaneously a violation of democratic norms and procedures. The protection of all all communities regardless of religion or ethnicity is mandatory if a country is to be considered democratic. After the 9/11 attacks, the United States made sure that American Muslims would be protected following the mass slaughter of Americans. Democracies protect individuals and communities that have nothing to do with the actions of a small number of radicals and extremists.

Governments that target entire communities are fascist or authoritarian at the very least. For example, Nazi Germany targeted the Jewish community for persecution that subsequently evolved into the Holocaust. Turkish leaders under the Young Turks and Mustafa Kemal targeted Greek, Armenian, and Assyrian Christians for genocide. The Turkish government in September 1955 organized a campaign of hatred against the Greek Orthodox of Constantinople and encouraged angry mobs to physically assault (and murder) Greeks and to destroy their homes, businesses, and Churches.

Between 1994 and 2011 there were at least half a dozen terrorist attacks or assassination attempts against the Ecumenical Patriarch because Turkish officials accused the Patriarch of conspiring against Turkey. All the above comes to mind in the midst of the chaos that is taking place in Kiev, Ukraine. The Monastery of the Great Lavra in Kiev has been standing for over one thousand years and has belonged to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. There is a schismatic sect that calls itself the ‘Orthodox Church of Ukraine’ that is backed by the authorities and is attempting under the cover of law to expel the monks who reside their despite the fact that the monks have done nothing wrong.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church under the spiritual leadership of Metropolitan Onuphry has condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the war. The Church has been working to provide relief for all citizens. Despite this condemnation, the Church has been demonized by various politicians. Over the past several years, Churches have been seized by supporters of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and legislation has been introduced that would force the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to change its name simply because it is under the ‘omophorion’ or spiritual authority of the Patriarchate
of Moscow.

Now, the question of being under the spiritual authority of a Church in a hostile land is not an unfamiliar one for those of us who are Greek Orthodox. Those of us in America, Australia, and parts of Greece, such as Crete and Mount Athos are under the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which is located in Turkey. Turkey is hostile to Greece and has been threatening to invade the Greek islands. This has not led the Greek government to hysterically overreact by confusing the spiritual center of Greek Orthodoxy (Constantinople) with the evil ambitions and ideology of the present Turkish regime.

Roman Catholics throughout the world are under the spiritual authority of the Pope of Rome. From 1922 until 1943, Italy was a fascist dictatorship under the authority of Benito Mussolini. From 1943 until 1945, Rome was under Nazi occupation. No governments around the world questioned the loyalty of Roman Catholics because the Papacy was located in a city ruled by Fascists and Nazis.

So, it is preposterous and absurd, as well as immoral, for the Ukrainian government to attempt to outlaw the Ukrainian Orthodox Church simply on the grounds that it is under the omophorion of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The Monastery of the Great Lavra in Kiev has enormous spiritual significance for both Ukrainians and Russians. It is for Ukrainians and Russians what Aghia Sophia of Constantinople is for Greeks. We Greeks know and feel the pain of what has been done to Aghia Sophia over the past three years as it has been converted again into a mosque. The monks of the Great Lavra in Ukraine are peaceful and the synod under Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev have made very clear their condemnation of the Russian invasion. The suffering Ukrainian Church has reacted to the persecution of the last several years with peaceful and prayerful resistance (the persecution began long before the invasion).

The monks of the Great Lavra of Kiev are humble and peaceful. They have done nothing to harm their country, but they have been maligned and slandered.

The international silence in response to their government’s plans to expel them is disturbing. The intrusion of politics into the spiritual life of Orthodoxy is deplorable. Democratic governments behave in the manner of the United States after the 9/11 attacks. They protect all citizens, especially communities that may be vulnerable.

The Ukrainian government is sponsoring legislation against, and inciting hatred against a religious community. Is this not what a country like Turkey has done in the past against the Greek Orthodox, Armenian, and Jewish communities? No community anywhere should be targeted merely because of where it chooses to worship. This is discrimination and persecution – and an affront to democracy which protects freedom of worship and civil rights for all.