The Ecclesial Crisis In Ukraine

"...a thoughtful and objective treatise for understanding the ecclesiastical crisis that has been created by the Ecumenical Patriarchate's granting autocephaly to schismatic groups in Ukraine." - +TIMOTHEOS, Metropolitan of Bostra (Patriarchate of Jerusalem) "We pray to the Almighty God and the Most-Holy Theotokos that this division ends quickly and Church order will reign again. We are pleased that writings such as this work by Metropolitan Nikiforos are working towards this correction." +LONGIN, Bishop of New Gracanica and Midwestern America (Church of Serbia) "This lively analysis presents the situation of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine in an accessible way to both theologians, the faithful, and all people interested in the topic of the unity of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine." +ABEL, Archbishop of Lublin and Chelm (Church of Poland) "This is a serious study of a crisis in the life of our Orthodox Church worldwide that deserves to be widely read as we seek to understand the underlying issues more clearly and find a conciliar solution that brings both unity and peace." +JURAJ, Archbishop of Michalovce and Košice (Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia) This is essential reading for all Orthodox believers to better understand what the Ukrainian crisis means for the future of their Church. It will also assist others to see beyond the characterization of the crisis as a political event in the context of relations between Russia and the West. It makes clear that at its heart this is an ecclesiological dispute calling out for a conciliar solution. In the autumn of 2018 the Russian Orthodox Church broke communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople following the latter Synod's announcement of their intention to create an autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU). In December of that year a formal council was convened in Kiev and this new ecclesial body was created from two Ukrainian groups previously considered schismatic by all of the Orthodox churches worldwide. All of this transpired without any attempt by the Ecumenical Patriarchate to seek a consensus of all the Orthodox churches before embarking this course of action. More than two years later the newly created OCU remains unrecognised by the overwhelming majority of the world's Orthodox believers notwithstanding that it has in that time been been recognised as Orthodox by the Patriarchate of Alexandria and the Churches of Cyprus and Greece. But even this recognition has not been without significant dissenting voices. Among these is the Abbot of the renowned Kykkos monastery in Cyprus, Metropolitan Nikiforos. In this pithy text he eloquently explains why the actions of the Ecumenical Patriarchate have created a schism in the Orthodox Church worldwide and how in turn they reflect the promotion of a new ecclesiology that distorts the traditional understanding of the Orthodox Church as headed only by Christ Himself. He is clear that the only road to healing and unending schism is a return to a form of inter-Orthodox relations which respects both conciliarity and hierarchy. In doing this he stresses his utmost respect for the historical place of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and the hope that it will turn back from the path it is currently on to resume its rightful place in the plurality of the Orthodox Church.

This volume explores the churches of Ukraine and their involvement in the recent movement for social justice and dignity within the country. In November of 2013, citizens of Ukraine gathered on Kyiv's central square (Maidan) to protest against a government that had reneged on its promise to sign a trade agreement with Europe. The Euromaidan protest included members of various Christian churches in Ukraine, who stood together and demanded government accountability and closer ties with Europe. In response, state forces massacred over one hundred unarmed civilians. The atrocity precipitated a rapid sequence of events: the president fled the country, a provisional government was put in place, and Russia annexed Crimea and intervened militarily in eastern Ukraine. An examination of Ukrainian churches’ involvement in this protest and the fall-out that it inspired opens up other questions and discussions about the churches’ identity and role in the country’s culture and its social and political history. Volume contributors examine Ukrainian churches’ historical development and singularity; their quest for autonomy; their active involvement in identity formation; their interpretations of the war and its causes; and the paths they have charted toward peace and unity.

Crisis and Reform provides an excellent overview of the ecclesiastical structures in Eastern Slavic lands from their Christianization to the late sixteenth century.

"The bitter separation of Ukraine's Orthodox churches is a microcosm of its societal strife. From 1917 onward, church leaders failed to agree on the church's mission in the twentieth century. The core issues of dispute were establishing independence from the Russian church and adopting Ukrainian as the language of worship. Decades of polemical exchanges and public statements by leaders of the separated churches contributed to the formation of their distinct identities and sharpened the friction amongst their respective supporters. In The Orthodox Church in Ukraine, Nicholas Denysenko provides a balanced and comprehensive analysis of this history from the early twentieth century to the present. Based on extensive archival research, Denysenko's study examines the dynamics of church and state that complicate attempts to restore an authentic Ukrainian religious identity in the contemporary Orthodox churches. An enhanced understanding of these separate identities and how they were forged could prove to be an important tool for resolving contemporary religious differences and revising ecclesial policies. This important study will be of interest to historians of the church, specialists of former Soviet countries, and general readers interested in the history of the Orthodox Church"--Publisher's website.

For several years now, Russia has been trying to justify her neo-imperialist policies towards Ukraine, promoting the vision of a common “Orthodox civilization,” in reference to the religious and cultural spheres. The Russian Orthodox Church is an important element of “soft power,” whose help the Kremlin authorities are seeking in conducting their policies towards the so-called “near-abroad.” Ukraine comprises an exceptionally important place in this sphere. This book analyzes the role of religion and Eastern Christian communities in Ukrainian social and political life, and the political, social, cultural and civilizational conditions for the development of religious life in Ukraine. Particular attention is focused on the problem of institutionalizing Eastern Christian communities after the collapse of the USSR. This monograph presents the conditions under which this process in post-Soviet Ukraine is carried out and the way in which it is linked to the functioning of the Ukrainian political system. This allows one to gain a new perspective on this system and capture its essence more fully. Primarily, this concerns the question of its democratic or non-democratic character. The book is an interdisciplinary research monograph, and, as such, will be useful to researchers interested in the post-Soviet space from the perspective of various disciplines, including political sciences, history, sociology and religious studies. The research and editing of the book were supported by National Science Centre Poland – grant number 2011/01/B/HS5/00911.

What do the division between the Orthodox Churches in Ukraine and the current Russian-Ukrainian crisis have in common? Analysing the relevant official documents of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church on reconciliation, the author traces how this Church comes to terms with the burdened pages of Ukrainian history and their repercussions for the current struggling of Ukraine on the way to democratisation. The relations between the Ukrainian Churches, the Polish-Ukrainian and the Russian-Ukrainian relations, the memory of the Jewish presence, and the national cohesion in the country according to the official Church pronouncements constitute the core of the book.

The Church is commonly viewed as an earthly institution, and is much less frequently recognized as a spiritual and heavenly reality called by God “ to make disciples of all nations” (Matt 28:19). This structured and integrated work offers a vision of a Christian Orthodox political thought in which the Church is neither sidelined as having no relevance to this present life, nor dominated by temporal questions or popular movements at the expense of its eternal salvific mission.The author grounds the mission of the Church in the present world both on an understanding of God as Trinity and in her mission to baptize diverse cultures. To do this effectively the Church must recognize and adapt to local and contemporary political and social trends and patterns. It must exemplify the Gospel as a way of communal and social life, not allowing itself to be reduced to an impersonal ideology manifested within the sphere of imagination, opinions, or a private individualistic existence.Drawing upon this philosophy, the author proposes a way for believers to understand questions of both domestic politics and international relations with a view to bringing the world into the Kingdom of God. He suggests specific steps that could be taken to heal and strengthen inter-Orthodox relations, addressing in particular the canonical challenges of the Orthodox diaspora and tensions between the Greek and Slavic components of the Church. He addresses specifically the conflict between the majority Orthodox nations of Russia and Ukraine. Whilst his specific proposals will by no means enjoy universal acceptance, they can serve as a springboard for further dialogue as the Orthodox world seeks to apply these principles in all nations, whatever their current political circumstances may be.

The bitter separation of Ukraine's Orthodox churches is a microcosm of its societal strife. From 1917 onward, church leaders failed to agree on the church's mission in the twentieth century. The core issues of dispute were establishing independence from the Russian church and adopting Ukrainian as the language of worship. Decades of polemical exchanges and public statements by leaders of the separated churches contributed to the formation of their distinct identities and sharpened the friction amongst their respective supporters. In The Orthodox Church in Ukraine, Nicholas Denysenko provides a balanced and comprehensive analysis of this history from the early twentieth century to the present. Based on extensive archival research, Denysenko's study examines the dynamics of church and state that complicate attempts to restore an authentic Ukrainian religious identity in the contemporary Orthodox churches. An enhanced understanding of these separate identities and how they were forged could prove to be an important tool for resolving contemporary religious differences and revising ecclesial policies. This important study will be of interest to historians of the church, specialists of former Soviet countries, and general readers interested in the history of the Orthodox Church.