Protodeacon Andrey Kuraev: If Bartholomew grants autocephaly, UOC-MP will no longer be Church of the majority

In an interview for the Echo Moscow, Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev, a well-known Russian theologian, suggested that if Patriarch Bartholomew grants the Tomos of autocephaly to Ukraine, the UOC as part of the Moscow Patriarchate, “will soon cease to be the Church of the majority.” Instead “the autocephalous Ukrainian Church will become the majority Church.”

At the same time, the number of those who consciously want to remain part of the ROC will be very small, “Certain parishes, people, monasteries will still express a desire to remain under Moscow. They want to symbolically identify themselves as part of the ROC. Maybe they will constitute 3% -- it does not matter how much. But someone will be willing to.”

The position of Andrei Kurayev radically contradicts the repeated intimidation of the UOC-MP's speakers that in the event that the Tomos is granted, an equal parallel jurisdiction will be created and the split between Orthodox Ukrainians will be preserved for many years. Obviously, in Moscow, they are aware of the manipulative nature of such statements.

At the same time, Protodeacon Andrey expressed fears about possible repressions against a small group of believers, which in fact will constitute the ROC in Ukraine. “The question is that these 3 % of the eccentrics are not subject to repression. Something along the lines of: if you are not re-registered, you do not have a right to own this temple, you do not have a right to publish your own magazines or books, to establish your own schools ... It is easy to impose numerous restrictions on these “strangers.” We see how this is done in Russia, when a religious organization is declared undesirable.”

The position of Andrei Kurayev radically contradicts the repeated intimidation of the UOC-MP's speakers that in the event that the Tomos is granted, an equal parallel jurisdiction will be created and the split between Orthodox Ukrainians will be preserved for many years. Obviously, in Moscow, they are aware of the manipulative nature of such statements.

Regarding possible seizures of church shrines which are currently in use by the Moscow Patriarchate, Andrei Kuraev thinks, “The Moscow Church has no possessions there. And this is exactly what exasperates the Ukrainian hierarch and Moscow. According to Ukrainian legislation, only parishioners are the owners of the churches. These particular parishioners of this church. And not the diocese.” Consequently, if the parishioners decide to move to the newly established autocephalous Church, the Church leadership of the UOC-MP will not be able to prevent it.

It should be noted that in a recent interview, Andriy Yurash, the profile official of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine, noted that people have the right not to become members of the new Church. “Our Constitution and the law allow us to do this,” he emphasized.

Interestingly, the largest monasteries of Ukraine in the subordination of the Moscow Patriarchate – Kyiv Pechersk Lavra and Pochayiv Lavra – are not owners, but only temporal users of church real estate belonging to the State of Ukraine.