A new prelate for Ukraine: the sound of eggshells cracking
HISTORIANS may record the fact with bewilderment. As conflict rages on between Ukraine and Russia's proxies, the most extensive religious structure on Ukrainian soil is still one whose ultimate masters are in Moscow. As of yesterday, that structure—the Ukrainian Orthodox church (UOC) under the Moscow Patriarchate—has a new leader. Or to be precise, its acting leader, Metropolitan Onufry (pictured above), was formally enthroned as Primate in one of Kiev's holiest places—amid a chorus of good wishes from Russian and Ukrainian leaders who certainly do not wish one another anything but harm.
A terse announcement by the UOC said the ceremony was attended by representatives of the 12 of the world's 15 nationally or regionally based Orthodox churches, while the remaining three had sent "valid excuses". The arcane quarrels of the Orthodox world came into view when it was reported that a representative of the Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarchate, which has a kind of "moral primacy" in global Orthodoxy, declined to participate fully on grounds that he was not given the place of honour which his institution deserved. Orthodox squabbles are wonderfully resilient. You can be pretty sure that on the day some catastrophe forces mankind to flee planet Earth and colonise the moon, Orthodox clergy will be studying the church canons to see who has primacy on lunar soil—and disagreeing.
But as the dust settles after yesterday's colourful rites, what can Metropolitan Onufry actually do to assuage his conflicting masters: spiritual ones in Moscow and earthly ones in Kiev? The messages which the newly enthroned Primate is getting could hardly be more different. His ultimate spiritual boss, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, often stresses the "spiritual unity" between followers of his church in Russia and Ukraine. That might sound like a warm and fuzzy sentiment, and it is certainly better than simply beating the drums of war in support of Russia and against Ukraine. But this "spiritual unity" explicitly excludes Ukrainians who adhere to rival religious groups: Orthodox institutions like the Kiev Patriarchate which take a patriotic line, and the powerful Greek-Catholic church which flourishes in western Ukraine.
Meanwhile the UOC's earthly overlords—starting with Ukraine's President Petr Poroshenko—are giving the prelate the very opposite message. In the interests of national unity at this critical time, the UOC should seek reconciliation with other churches on Ukrainian soil. In deference to this pressure, the UOC said last week it was open to a "sincere and constructive dialogue" with other Orthodox denominations within the country.
In yet another gesture to its earthly masters, the UOC called today for peace in eastern Ukraine, where Ukrainian forces are fighting hard to retake cities now controlled by pro-Russian fighters. "We call on everyone who has unlawfully taken up arms to lay them down and seek ways to resolve the conflict peacefully," the council of UOC bishops said. On the face of things, that is a pro-Ukrainian statement; presumably the militias who control several eastern cities count as "unlawful" fighters. But a diehard pro-Russian nationalist might take the statement the other way round, insisting that the militias were legitimate and Kiev's forces, by some weird logic, illegal.
By speaking in such riddles, the new Ukrainian hierarch probably thinks he can secure himself a minimum of political space, and retain the ability to minister to a flock which is psychologically and in some cases physically wounded. Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, the brainy young external-affairs chief of the Russian Orthodox church, said as much in a pointed word of congralulations to the new hierarch: "As behoves a true pastor, His Eminence does not make sharp or disputable statements, nor does he take sides but seeks as commanded by Saint Paul to "become all things to all men, that [he] might by all means save some..."
