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After the Soviet Union’s collapse, Orthodox Christians all through the Slavic world celebrated the sluggish, regular, building of church buildings after a long time of persecution.
In 2004, the poet Nina Borodai wrote a protracted prayer — “Tune of the Most Holy Theotokos (Greek for God-bearer)” — searching for the prayers of St. Mary for the lands of “Holy Rus,” a time period with roots relationship to the 988 conversion Prince Vladimir of Kiev.
“Mom of God, Mom of God / … All Holy Rus prays to you / And valleys and mountains and forests. … / Consecrate all of the church buildings to you,” wrote Borodai (laptop translation from Russian). “Domes, domes within the sky are blue / I am unable to depend the bells / The ringing floats, floats over Russia / Mom Rus is awakening.”
Borodai’s prayer of pleasure and repentance was an unlikely spark for an explosion of non secular battle inside Ukraine. Leaders of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church — with centuries of canonical ties to Russian Orthodoxy — face Safety Service of Ukraine accusations of collusion with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. Some church buildings have been seized or padlocked as pressures rise for conversions to the rival Orthodox Church of Ukraine, formally born in 2019 with recognition by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Istanbul and Western governments.
In November, an OCU priest posted a video exhibiting laypeople singing Borodai’s poem after a service contained in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, the font of Slavic monasticism since its beginning in 1051 in caves above the Dnieper River. Monastery critics made headlines by claiming the video proved the monks — a part of the historic UOC — are disloyal to Ukraine. Lavra guests, in line with the New York Instances, have been “cheering for Russia.”
Days later, safety forces raided the monastery and, within the weeks since, officers have accused bishops and clergymen of aiding Russia. They launched images of Russian passports, theological texts in Russian and pamphlets criticizing the newly created Ukrainian church.
The UOC synod responded by pleading for truthful, open trials of anybody accused, whereas noting: “From the primary day of the invasion of Russian troops, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has condemned this struggle and has persistently advocated the preservation of the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine. Our believers, with God’s assist and the prayers of their fellow believers, courageously defend their Motherland within the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. … Reminiscence everlasting to all victims of this horrible struggle!”
This echoed waves of UOC statements condemning the invasion. When preventing started, Father Nikolay Danilevich, head of its church relations workplace, tweeted: “Putin treacherously attacked our nation! We bless everybody for the protection of Ukraine! … God save Ukraine!”
UOC Metropolitan Onuphry proclaimed: “We attraction to the President of Russia and ask him to instantly cease the fratricidal struggle. The Ukrainian and Russian peoples got here out of the Dnieper Baptismal font, and the struggle between these peoples is a repetition of the sin of Cain, who killed his personal brother out of envy.”
Orthodox believers all over the world have been shocked by these occasions, whereas awaiting indicators world Orthodox leaders will intervene on this schism. I’m Orthodox and have — in 2009 and 2012 — worshipped within the Lavra and visited its huge underground matrix of sanctuaries, tombs and monastic cells. It is laborious to think about officers with machine weapons strolling previous the our bodies of quite a few saints.
After assembly believers on each side, I imagine three clashing views of “Holy Rus” have formed this tragedy.
Putin proclaims that the Rus is actual, and this justifies his invasion. Supporters of the brand new Ukrainian church argue that the Ecumenical Patriarchate, after years of battle with Russian Orthodoxy, had the authority to trump centuries of Slavic historical past and create the OCU.
Caught within the center, leaders of the historic UOC say the Rus is a historic actuality however insist that this makes Russia’s invasion even worse — the sin of brothers killing brothers.
Throughout worship in my very own East Tennessee parish — a part of the Orthodox Church in America, which has Russian roots — we proceed to wish “for individuals who are struggling, wounded, grieving or displaced due to the struggle in Ukraine. And for a cessation of the hostilities in opposition to Ukraine, and that reconciliation and peace will flourish there, we pray thee, hearken and have mercy.”
VIDEO WITH THIS POST: A Ukrainian girls pleads for authorities to permit her UOC parish to stay open, in order that the funeral of her son — a Ukrainian soldier killed in fight — might proceed.
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