Despite Claims to the Contrary, UOC MP Maintains Close Ties with Moscow, Church Documents Show

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Mar. 10 – The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate has insisted in recent months that it has broken its ties with the Moscow Patriarchate; and it is on the basis of those claims that many in the West have criticized Kyiv for its moves against the UOC MP as an organization run from abroad by the country that has invaded Ukraine.

            But new documents now in the possession of the Apostrophe news agency show that despite its public position, the UOC MP continues to maintain close ties with the Moscow church and that the latter thus plays a key role in deciding what steps the UOC MP will take (apostrophe.ua/article/society/2023-03-10/russkiy-mir-v-ukraine-kak-moskovskiy-patriarhat-derjit-svyaz-z-rpts/50932).

            As such, the Ukrainian government is fully within its rights of taking steps against the UOC MP as a foreign agent and those who defend the UOC MP and condemn Kyiv for such actions are either misinformed or choose to accept what the evidence shows in order to defend Russia and attack Ukraine.

            These documents, photostats of which are included in the Apostrophe article show, its author Artur Gor says, that the UOC MP’s denial of subordination after 2014 and then the changes in its charter last year have not led to the separation of the UOC MP from Moscow or prevented Moscow from continuing to treat the UOC MP as a subordinate part of its church.

            Ukrainian religious specialists like Lyudmmila Filippovich and Igor Kozlovsky say that the Ukrainian people and the world need to know about this collaboration with the Russian invader by the UOC MP and recognize the need to enforce the law and disband a group that remains in clear violation of Ukrainian legislation and national interests.