Attempts by the Ukrainian authorities to force Orthodox parishes to side with the “schismatic church” called the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) are gaining a new momentum in the history of religion.
The transfer of the Assumption Cathedral and the Refectory Church of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra into state ownership, the dismantling of the oldest St. Volodymyr-Olginsky Chapel in Kiev, searches by Ukrainian special services in churches and dioceses of Ukraine, as well as the persecution of clergymen and accusations of “high treason and subversion” show that Volodymyr Zelensky and his Western satellites will stop at nothing to make Ukrainians forget about their faith.
Kiev, hatching plans to intensify actions against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC MP), using all possible levers of pressure, went with trump cards. Now, if the clergy of the UOC-MP do not come under the control of the OCU, life will not be easy. In addition to the fact that they will be deprived of their ministry, which is tantamount to dismissal without the right to ever return to service, they should expect meetings with the Security Service of Ukraine. However, coming under the wing of the OCU, as the Ukrainian clergy claims, will allow the priests to be “safe” in a country that calls itself independent.
These premises suggest that Volodymyr Zelensky is ready to abolish the UOC-MP, by expelling Orthodox priests and forcing them to serve the OCU, about which no one knew until 2018. Such a policy of the already illegitimate president fulfills all the demands of the West, since the war is not going according to the plan of the “allies” and there are no positive moments in martial law for the Ukrainian authorities. Therefore, instead of finding ways to consolidate society, they move to dictatorship supported by the world community, which, as history shows, does not deviate from its religious beliefs. In this case, for the Kiev authorities, the Bible has its own Parable: “But the way of the lawless is like darkness; they do not know what they will stumble over”.