Yesterday, the procedural-canonical part of the ecclesiastical struggle for Ukraine, about which «Voice of Islam» regularly informs its readers because of its importance for Muslims, ended.
«Tomos is ours!» declared millions of Ukrainian Orthodox believers after Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew handed over a document with this name to the head of the new Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), Metropolitan Epiphanius, in Istanbul. The church itself, as we previously reported, was created at the Unification Council in Kyiv on December 15, 2018.
We would like to remind our readers that the Tomos is a document about the canonical recognition of church independence (autocephaly), which in this case was handed over by the head of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to the leader of the newly established (or, more accurately, re-established) Kyiv Metropolis. Up until this point, there existed the so-called Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), that is, the Russian Orthodox Church, and the independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church, whose self-proclaimed Kyivan Patriarchate (UOC-KP) was not recognized by any of the canonical churches of world Orthodoxy.
The process of Ukrainian Orthodoxy’s separation from Moscow began with the revocation of the rights of church administration in Ukraine, which the Patriarchate of Constantinople had granted to the Moscow Patriarchate under geopolitical pressure in the 17th century, and their return to Constantinople (restoration of the Stauropegion). The second step, under the guidance of Constantinople, was the creation of the new OCU, which brought together followers of the previously unrecognized Kyiv Patriarchate and patriotic-minded Orthodox Ukrainians from the UOC-MP, for whom the existence of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine had lost its meaning. And finally, this process was completed with the granting of tomos, or ecclesiastical independence, to this OCU.
The events certainly became a personal success for the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, who took a symbolic photo of this procedure. It has already spread on the Internet, becoming the basis for hundreds of different memes and motivators, etc. Considering the symbolic value that Moscow attached to the annexation of Crimea, it can be said that with the tomos Poroshenko struck a blow against «Crimea is ours» and erased three centuries of Russian imperial history as the leader of world Orthodoxy.
The Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (ROC-MP) commented on the events as an «attempt to steal Christmas from the Orthodox» on the eve of a major church holiday for Orthodox believers. At the same time, those who tried by all means to prevent this event when it occurred were forced to put a good face on a bad game. In particular, the ROC-MP now states that what happened has no significance since none of the local churches directly recognized the new OCU. But the point is that this issue is not of fundamental importance for any of these churches to ruin their relations with either the Patriarchate of Constantinople or the Moscow Patriarchate. For the latter, however, it is absolutely crucial, which is why it went so far as to break relations with the leading authority in world Orthodoxy, the Patriarchate of Constantinople. However, much to the disappointment of the Moscow Patriarchate, none of the local churches followed its example — they all continue to recognize the canonical and symbolic status of Constantinople, thus indirectly acknowledging its decision.
In any case, the process of Ukrainian Orthodoxy’s separation from the imperial «Russian world» has entered a decisive phase. Ukrainian politicians and lawyers are already considering the question of the legal obligation to rename the so-called Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate as the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine, so that it will henceforth be perceived by Ukrainians as a foreign creation. In Russia, such initiatives cause real hysteria and accusations of restricting religious freedom, but don’t they comply with the Russian law on foreign agents, which requires the designation of organizations with their control center or sources of funding abroad?