Ukrainian faithful on otpust
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Editor’s Foreword:
This is abridged… as Mr Anisimov enthusiastically beats up purveyors of schismatic gibberish to the detriment of his point (he makes me look restrained… damn, we gotta mark that one down!). Some of it only makes sense to those of us with extensive knowledge of Russia. Therefore, material is omitted… but none of it’s essential to Mr Anisimov’s point. In any case, I only have a limited amount of time for translation. I also want you to read the good stuff that he has to say.
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The interview with Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople on the TV channel Vesti caused an anxious reaction amongst those in the Philaret schism {the so-called Ukrainian Orthodox Church/Patriarchate of Kiev (UOC/KP: editor}. We can express it as follows, “The patriarch didn’t say anything, but if he did say anything, it wasn’t about us. Well, if he did, it’s not in that sense, and if anything was in that sense, it was in the wrong tone. If it was in that tone, he didn’t mean it that way, he meant to say something else, but if he meant to say something, he used the wrong words, those aren’t right, but if you look at what he said, he said nothing”. Again and again in a circle. In any case, “It’s a provocation ginned up in Moscow”.
You wonder why Philaret’s lot tries to obscure the obvious. In fact, two sentences from the Patriarch’s TV interview caused all their panic. The presenter asked [the Patriarch] this question, “Let’s look at the [canonical] territory of the [Moscow Patriarchate]. In the Ukraine, the Church has suffered from schismatics, but in recent years, many of the fallen found their way back into the bosom of Mother Church. Some still have doubts. What would you say to these people?” Patriarch Bartholomew said, “They shouldn’t hesitate; they should join themselves to the canonical Church, which is the ark of salvation. Today, at lunch, I told Vladyki Vladimir (the First Hierarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church/Moscow Patriarchate) that I wished that he’d see a solution to this problem in his lifetime and an end to this schism”.
Of course, we all wish that the schism would cease to exist in the Ukraine, for schism isn’t pleasant, but would they foment a new one? Is there any patriarch in world Orthodoxy who hasn’t called upon those stumbling in schism to do this? However, Denisenko (who calls himself “Philaret”) carries on, he doesn’t rush to enter the ark of salvation, and he doesn’t allow his deceived flock to enter either. They’ll keep up their lie. However, their first cries of “Help!” attract, as usual, the Uniates. Although, strictly speaking, what do Uniates have to with Orthodox anyway? Taras Antoshevsky, the head of the Uniate website RISU, in an interview with Kommersant, said, “The division should be overcome, but this doesn’t mean that the UOC/KP must crawl on their knees to Moscow”. Where did he get that? Where did the patriarch say or suggest that? Why are the Uniates so convinced that our schism must develop that way? On the other hand, is it a fact that those who’re born to crawl can’t fly? Why should schismatics crawl to Moscow, and not to the nearest Orthodox parish? Glory to God, there are more than 11,000 [parishes] in the Ukraine, and every one of them embodies the ark of salvation. In Kiev, Mikhail Denisenko may be under an anathema, but all he has to do is to cross to the opposite side of the street by the Botanical Gardens, you can spit across it, in fact. However, Antoshevsky insinuates that schismatics have to travel over three seas to Istanbul, as “in speaking about a return to the canonical Mother Church, Bartholomew didn’t mention the Moscow Patriarchate. However, he has repeatedly said that the Church of Constantinople is such a mother church for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church”. Who crawls amongst them at least until the middle of the Dnepr? “Why it’s our Uniate friends… they’re not our enemies”. Where did that liar Antoshevsky hear that Patriarch Bartholomew called the schismatics to return to the Church of Constantinople? You can’t go back from whence you didn’t come out. Our schismatics have never been in the Church of Constantinople, they broke away from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in 1990, and that’s where they should return. Therefore, the Patriarch said to the First Hierarch of the UOC, His Beatitude Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev and all the Ukraine, that he wished that the Philaret and autocephalist schisms would die out during his lifetime. What’s so incomprehensible about that?
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The UOC/MP faithful… standing tall against the schismatics and the Uniates
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By the way, the Uniates, rather than see an orderly end to the spread of the Ukrainian schism, truly think that we’re demanding that they crawl [to us]. After all, the Unia is no less a disaster for Christianity than schism is. Maybe, this will take a historical path… they might go [to the Church] in Byelorussia (although, that’s unlikely), and, then, to the Mother Church of Constantinople. They must do penance for the murder of St Nikifor, the Exarch of the local Church of Constantinople, and for the hundreds of thousands of Orthodox Christians killed in the era of the Polish Rzeczpospolita. They must repent for the ruin of thousands of Orthodox monasteries and churches, and for the “sea of blood and tears” shed over the centuries in the Ukraine due to the Unia. The Local Church of Constantinople considers the Unia sinful, it’s an ecclesiological heresy that has no right to exist, it isn’t Christian. It’s no wonder the organisers of the Unia such as M. Rogoza et al, just as Denisenko (the so-called “Philaret”) is, are anathema. Therefore, the Patriarch of Constantinople would be delighted with the abolition of the Unia, along with all of Orthodoxy. It would be no less a happy occasion than the end of the Ukrainian schism would be. The current Unia (referring to Galician Uniates in general) was a simple matter. They broke away from the UOC/MP in 1990, but they took great care not to crawl too far away from Orthodoxy. Many of its priests and laity before the violent imposition of Catholicism were Orthodox, many with authority in the Church; they were an integral part of our people. In short, the Uniates should seek out the schismatics and crawl back with them. It’d be nice if this were to happen during the lifetime of His Beatitude Metropolitan Vladimir.
The schismatics received a curious consolation from the young Lvov Uniate theologian Andrei Yurash. He suggested that the Philaret crowd and the autocephalists shouldn’t shudder in convulsions because of the “bitter statements” of Patriarch Bartholomew. Yurash recalled that Patriarch Bartholomew, speaking in Odessa in 1995 (in fact, it was 1997), called the Ukrainian schismatics “demon spawn”. Of course, compared with this definition, let’s say that a call to enter the ark of salvation to end the schism is almost a lark. In any case, is the first case truly opposed to the second? Yurash explained the statements of the Patriarch and the pomp-and-circumstance given him in Russia as peculiarities of Byzantine diplomacy, which, by the definition used by “religious scholars”, consists of “Jesuitical and sophisticated techniques sprinkled with flattering lies”. He concluded, “He won funds and means of influence from the MP”, but he encouraged the schismatics by saying, “There’s no guarantee that it will always be so”. He reported that, previously, Patriarch Bartholomew held secret negotiations with schismatics in Istanbul and expressed his sympathy [with them]. “The depth of the expression of these sympathies will depend on the specific material and spiritual gifts that his guests can bring to the Phanar”, Yurash concluded. Yurash advised the schismatics thusly, “Therefore, your hierarchy must be, simply put, ‘shut their mouths’, put their ambition to the side, suppress their personal desires, and to call upon the Phanar to negotiate terms on which a dialogue can be resumed, and outline future church structures that would be part of world Orthodoxy, not only the rubble of its Moscow variety”. These arguments drawn from “religious scholarship”, I’d say, are weak. If Constantinople’s for sale, then, why, in the above-mentioned narrative of Yurash, in Odessa, where none of the authorities met with Patriarch Bartholomew, did he make far more menacing statements against the schismatics than in the welcoming atmosphere of Russia? Perhaps, in the Church there’s still something other than corruption? However, be that as it may be, the schismatic “hierarchy” didn’t heed Yurash’s wise advice and didn’t even think to shut up, at least, the excommunicated Mikhail Denisenko (the so-called “Philaret”) and his henchman Evstraty Zorya still remained on the rampage.
Get the following picture… when the highest hierarchs of the Local Orthodox Churches came to the Ukraine to talk with the authorities about the schism, they said that the Church, through its canons and the grace of God, declared schism sinful. On the other hand, the Church is true and gracious; it calls everyone to repent and to return to its bosom. We didn’t hear nor see it, because there was an information blockade, and when it was broadcast abroad, it was called rigged provocation, some organised a commotion against it. The visit of Patriarch Bartholomew to Russia was very widely publicised in church and secular media, the news reported and television broadcast his sermons and speeches. Where’s the darkness? The most active, dare we call them hysterical, efforts to refute the words of Patriarch came from one of those anathematised, Evstraty Zorya. His comments on this occasion weren’t in the nature of news posts. This is understandable… suddenly, the schismatics hear the Patriarch, and he said that they should immediately return to the canonical Church, to the ark of salvation… what’s one to do? Viktor Yanukovich is the spiritual child of Elder Zosima Sokur of Donetsk, he truly loathes schismatics and considers them as Patriarch Bartholomew did, as “demon spawn”. President Yanukovich met with the Patriarchs of Alexandria, Moscow, and Constantinople, and with elders on Mount Athos, who, without any equivocation, spoke out on “who’s what” in the Ukraine. Patriarch Bartholomew even urged Viktor Fyodrovich to promote the restoration of the unity of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. This couldn’t but alarm the schismatics. Shall they cease to exist? That’s unknown, but it’s obvious that without the support of the authorities, it’ll be much harder for these parasites to prey on the faith of our people.
July 2010
Vasili Anisimov
Head of the Press Service of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)
Bulletin of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)
As quoted in Interfax
http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=print&div=11531
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Wanna see Orthodox people… look at the Cossacks! Now, that’s REAL!
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Editor’s Afterword:
This isn’t from a private website or news agency… this was issued by the UOC/MP through its official media by the official press officer of Metropolitan Vladimir. They’re standing tall… they’re eating their Wheaties… they’re telling the schismatics and Uniates “what for” without equivocation. That’s the ticket. It’s not a mealy-mouthed JP mewling and grovelling in front of papists, Episkies, and Proddies, being applauded by slack-jawed SVSers and konvertsy. I’ll tell ya what, Stokoe! Peddle your rubbish to Mr Anisimov! Be sure to tell him how you applaud JP kissing up to the heterodox (especially, how he sucks up to Uniates) and how you approve of big payoffs to defrocked priests. Hoo boy… I’d PAY to see those fireworks! I’d LOVE to see Anisimov slice and dice the konvertsy after they bleat about being “nice” and being “loving”. Wouldn’t ya want to see a bunch of real down-home Cossacks go after the HOOMies? I’ve been reading Vasya too long tonight… it’s getting my true-blue Russian dander up!
Damn… I gotta be “nice” or I’m going to be accused of being “hateful” again. That’s NO fun. I’ll tell you what… after you’ve read this, you can see that I’m not an “isolated case”… I’m quite in the real Russian Orthodox mainstream. Here’s my challenge to you… do you want to join us happy Russian Orthodox warriors and fight for what is right and true? Good… you young ‘uns… keep silent until you learn a thing or two. You’ll be better for it. You don’t? Okay… why don’t you join the Episcopalians? Or, become Uniates (as Freddie’s kid is reputed to be)? Or, go off and create your own pure little sect? Trust me… you’ll be happier there than with us. As for the rest of us… raise your glass and smile! The Good Lord’s creation is grand… and there’ll be no phoney pietistic looks tolerated here. Be good, all.
BMD
Editor’s Postscript:
A priest sent me the following:
You said it… they’d be happier there, because they are really Prods and that’s all they want, their own little “church” in their own image… like all the other Prod “churches”, they’re nothing but a sect…
Well, JP was photographed smiling at Quentin L Cook, the “Apostle” of the Mormons. If “like calls unto like” and “birds of a feather flock together”, what does this tell us about JP? After all, the Mormons are emphatically NOT Christians… and the last time I looked, the UOC/MP WERE Christians. Photo-ops for militantly godless non-Christians… but NOTHING for brave Orthodox confessors. Send JP no cash… starve him out.
BMD
Barbara-Marie Drezhlo
Voices from Russia 
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