Letter To Politico

The following is in response to the inaccurate and propagandistic article “The end of days for Russia’s Church in Ukraine”. I am a Greek Orthodoxunder the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. I am neither Russian nor Ukrainian but I have a knowledge of Orthodox theology and ecclesiology. There is no such thing as “Russia’s Church”. The Eastern Orthodox Church is Jesus Christ’s Church. The real and legitimate Church is the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under Metropolitan Onuphry who happens to be under the “omophorion” of the Patriarchate of  Moscow.

The so called “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” is a fake Church established by politicians and the American government using Patriarch Bartholomewof Constantinople whose Patriarchate in Turkey faces extinction and needs western support. Orthodox Christians believe that the Orthodox Church is the true Church of Christ. Adherents of every religion naturally believe theirs is the true faith. 

By creating the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine”, Ukrainian officials and American officials have made a mockery of the Orthodox Church and are in effect saying that the Orthodox Church is make believe and has no more significance than a political party or NGO. Orthodox Christians find this offensive as they are outraged by the persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church by a variety of Neo-Nazis and other fascist extremists. The Ukrainian government has created a sectarian conflict when it should be working to create national unity.

I am a Greek American under the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Turkey. Does that make me pro Turkish? Roman Catholics throughout the world are under the spiritual authority of the Pope of Rome. When Mussolini was in power in Rome, and when the Nazis occupied Rome did that bring into question the loyalty of Roman Catholics throughout the world during the Second World War? 

Western politicians, diplomats, and journalists have made very clear that freedom of religion is under threat.We believe Jesus Christ is the head
of the Church, and the Church will always survive despite two thousand years of persecution. Millions of Orthodox Christians worldwide take encouragement from the bishops, priests, monastics, and faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (the real one) who are confessors at a time of persecution and martyrdom. 

Everyone wants an end to the immoral war in Ukraine. Targeting a specific community for persecution because the government does not like its religious choices is fascism. Politico seems to ignore the sinister implications of targeting a community because of its religion, while ignoring the Neo Nazi Azov battalions in eastern Ukraine. Angry mobs targeting Ukrainian Orthodox Churches openly display the swastika and other symbols of hate. 

Your coverage of the Church issue in Ukraine is contemptible and deplorable. But, Orthodox Christians look to Christ for relief! In the long term, Christ’s (not Russia’s) Church will be the one to prevail. That thing that the Ukrainian government and the State Department created with Patriarch Bartholomew will not even exist in a few years. The Churches they have stolen from the legitimate Church are empty. 

The “Orthodox Church of Ukraine”is a caricature of an Orthodox Church. Its mysteries are devoid of grace and its clergy are unordained 
lunatics. 

Theodore Karakostas