Foreign cells of the Russian Orthodox Church are starting to break away from the Moscow Patriarchate over an ongoing war in Ukraine. The first of the Western cells to sever ties with the ROC was that in Amsterdam.
- Russia’s military campaign against Ukraine is already leading to a split between the ROC and the UOC. Every soldier who sets foot on the territory of Ukraine wielding a weapon becomes another gravedigger of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine.
- Patriarch Kirill is just as much a war criminal as Russian President Vladimir Putin. On the first day of the invasion, Metropolitan Onufriy, chief of the UOC-MP, appealed to the Russian leader with an appeal to immediately stop the fratricidal war, which fell on deaf ears. Meanwhile, Patriarch Kirill directly supported Russian aggression against Ukraine.
- The longer the war goes on, the more dissatisfaction with Patriarch Kirill of Moscow grows among Orthodox believers in Ukraine.
- Not only did Kirill fail to address his Ukrainian flock with words of support, but, in fact, he blessed Putin’s war on Ukraine. A number of dioceses of the UOC-MP have ceased to mention the patriarch’s name at divine services and many are already demanding that their church declare independence from Moscow.
- The very staying in prayerful and Eucharistic communion with the Moscow Patriarchate, even after decisions are made not to mention Kirill’s name at a Divine Liturgy, portrays UOC-MP believers as enemy collaborators and traitors.
- Russian methods of warfare are dishonest, cynical, and criminal. Unable to win the war on the battlefield, the occupiers are destroying civilian infrastructure and purposefully targeting UOC-MP churches.
- The perfidy of the Russian army has shaken the loyalty of many Ukrainian citizens to the Russian Orthodox Church, which directly supported Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. Therefore, post-war Orthodoxy in Ukraine will undergo serious cultural and civilizational shifts.
- Further sharp statements by Russian and Ukrainian priests are increasingly pushing the UOC-MP away from Moscow. According to the latest survey by Rating, 52% of UOC-MP parishioners support the idea of severing ties with the Russian Orthodox Church, with only 13% opposing the move.