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Tadeusz A. Olszański: “An independent state needs
an independent Church“ The fight for canonical independence for
Ukrainian Orthodoxy. OSW Commentary No. 272, 11.06.2018
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP) and the
Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) have submitted a request
to the Ecumenical Patriarch (i.e. the pa-triarch of Constantinople, the
supreme head of all Orthodox Churches) to grant autocephaly to Ukrainian
Orthodoxy. On 19 April the Ukrainian parliament, at the request of
President Petro Poroshenko, expressed its support for this measure. The
President himself expressed his support on 22 April. There are numerous
indications that a positive decision regarding this issue has already
been made, and a relevant thomos (patriarch's decree) will be announced
any time this year Proclamation of the Ukrainian Autocephalous
Particular Orthodox Church (Ukrayinska Pomisna Avtokefalna Pravoslavna
Tserkva, UAPOC) will likely trigger a new wave of confessional conflicts
across Ukraine, including a likely schism in the Ukrainian Orthodox
Church, which recognizes the primacy of the patriarch of Moscow (UOC).
It is beyond any doubt that a certain portion of believers and clergy,
which today is difficult to estimate, will remain loyal to Moscow and
that the Moscow Patriarchate will make every effort to support Ukrainian
structures of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). The government of
Ukraine, for its part, will try to prevent the development of these
structures. From the political point of view, both the expected granting
of autocephaly to Ukrainian Ortho-doxy and the likely conflicts
resulting from this are favourable to President Poroshenko because they
increase both his and his party's chances of re-election in the
elections planned for 2019. On the one hand, he will gain new trust from
patriotically minded voters, on the other hand, opponents of
autocephaly will coalesce around pro-Russian parties. This in turn may
help promote a pro-Russian politician to compete with Poroshenko in the
second round of presidential voting as a weak counter-candidate whom the
current president would defeat relatively easily.
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