The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate as a Potential ‘Tool’ of Russian Soft Power in the Wake of Ukraine’s 2013 Euromaidan

Abstract

This article considers the religious and spiritual aspect of the Euromaidan protests; specifically, the role of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate and to what extent the UOC(MP) can justifiably be seen as a tool of Russian ‘soft power’ cultural and ideational influence. It examines the degree of institutional and ideological leverage that Moscow is able to exercise over the Ukrainian church, and then explores the position of the church during the protests, and how this has affected the authority and legitimacy of its standing as an opinion leader in Ukrainian society in the wake of the ‘Revolution of Dignity’.

Notes

1 ‘The Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation’, adopted by decree of the President of the Russian Federation, 12 February 2013, available at: http://www.rusemb.org.uk/in1/, accessed 6 November 2016.

2 ‘The Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation’, adopted by decree of the President of the Russian Federation, 12 January 2008, available at: http://en.kremlin.ru/supplement/4116, accessed 6 November 2016; ‘The Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation’, adopted by decree of the President of the Russian Federation, 12 February 2013, available at: http://www.rusemb.org.uk/in1/, accessed 6 November 2016; ‘Strategiya natsional’noi bezopasnosti Rossiiskoi Federatsii do 2020 goda’, adopted by decree of the President of the Russian Federation, 12 May 2009, available at: http://www.scrf.gov.ru/documents/99.html, accessed 15 May 2009; ‘Kontseptsiya gosudarstvennoi podderzhki i prodvizheniya russkogo yazyka za rubezhom’, adopted 3 November 2015, available at: http://kremlin.ru/acts/news/50644, accessed 15 August 2016; ‘Gosudarstvennaya programma Rossiiskoi Federatsii “inostrannym deyatel’nosti”’, MID, adopted 29 April 2014, available at: http://www.mid.ru/foreign_policy/news/-/asset_publisher/cKNonkJE02Bw/content/id/62782, accessed 15 August 2016.

3 The notion of ‘compatriots’ is broader than merely ethnic Russians or citizens living beyond the borders of the Russian Federation. It also includes populations—whether ethnic Russian or not—outside Russia that consider themselves as bearers of Russian culture, or whose ancestors lived on the territory of the Russian Federation or the Soviet Union (Federal’nyi zakon ot 24.05.1999g. No. 99-F3 ‘O gosudarstvennoi politike Rossiiskoi Federatsii v otnoshenii sootechestvennikov za rubezhom’, adopted 24 May 2005, entered into effect 1 June 1999, available at: http://www.kremlin.ru/acts/bank/13875, accessed 15 August 2016).

4 ‘Fond russkii mir’ (Russian World Foundation), available at: http://russkiymir.ru/fund/, accessed 18 June 2017.

5 ‘Appeal by Metropolitan Hilarion, the First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, on the Celebration of the 1,025th Anniversary of the Baptism of Rus’, Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, New York, 19 June 2013, available at: http://www.synod.com/synod/eng2013/20130619_enmhappeal1025.html, accessed 19 September 2016.

6 As such, this study does not consider attempts at lobbying by ROC or UOC(MP) clerics to directly influence individual policy makers. In such cases, the church would be one lobbying group among others contending for influence.

7 ‘Relihiyni orhanizatsiï v Ukraïny (stanom na 1 sichnia 1997 r.)’, RISU, January 1997, available at: http://risu.org.ua/ua/index/resourses/statistics/ukr1997, accessed 18 September 2016.

8 ‘Relihiyni orhanizatsiï v Ukraïny (stanom na 1 sichnia 2004 r.)’, RISU, January 2004, available at: https://risu.org.ua/ua/index/resourses/statistics/ukr2014/55893/, accessed 20 September 2018.

9 2014 data given for comparison.

10 ‘Ukrainian Orthodox Church—Kyiv Patriarchate’, RISU, 16 November 2011, available at: https://www.risu.org.ua/en/index/reference/major_religions/∼UOC-KP/45457/, accessed 25 September 2018.

11 ‘Relihiyni orhanizatsiï v Ukraïny (stanom na 1 sichnia 2014 r.)’, RISU, January 2014, available at: https://risu.org.ua/ua/index/resourses/statistics/ukr2014/55893/, accessed 23 September 2018.

12 The UAOC was declared independent of the Moscow Patriarchate in 1921 but was disbanded in the 1930s as Soviet atheism took hold. It functioned largely in exile during the Soviet period, with the exception of a relaxation of restrictions on religion during World War II, and was re-established in Ukraine in 1990. As with the UOC(KP), the UAOC has de facto autocephalous (‘self-headed’) status; its head cleric does not report to any higher-ranking bishop, but is not officially recognised by all canonical Eastern Orthodox churches. Discussions have taken place about the unification of the UAOC and the UOC(KP), but as yet these have come to nothing.

13 ‘Relihiya, tserkva, suspil’stvo I derzhava: dva roki pislya Maidanu’, Razumkov Center, Kyiv, 2016, available at: http://old.razumkov.org.ua/upload/Religiya_200516_A4.compressed.pdf, accessed 24 September 2018.

14 ‘Kil’kist’ viruiuchykh Kyïvs’koho patriarkhatu v Ukraïni perevyshchyla kil’kist’ Moskovs’koho’, Dzerkalo tyzhnia, 15 May 2014, available at: http://dt.ua/UKRAINE/kilkist-viruyuchih-kiyivskogo-patriarhatu-v-ukrayini-perevischila-kilkist-moskovskogo-143319_.html, accessed 7 September 2016.

15 ‘Viruyuchim yakoi tserkvi, konfesiï Vi sebe vvazhaete?’, Razumkov Tsentr, 20 April–2 May 2006, available at: http://razumkov.org.ua/ukr/poll.php?poll_id=300, accessed 6 November 2016.

16 As of January 2014, it could count 214 affiliated monasteries, 10,456 clerics, 20 educational establishments, 4,232 Sunday schools and 109 periodicals.

17 ‘Statut UPTs’, Ukrains’ka pravoslavnaya tserkva, available at: http://orthodox.org.ua/page/statut-upts, accessed 1 November 2016.

18 ‘Statut UPTs’, Ukrains’ka pravoslavnaya tserkva, available at: http://orthodox.org.ua/page/statut-upts, accessed 1 November 2016.

19 Author’s interview with Andrei A. Zolotov, a Russian journalist with interest in religious affairs, Moscow, 6 July 2011.

20 ‘Metropolitan Agafangel of Odesa and Izmail Calls to Protect Russian Language in Ukraine’, RISU, 18 October 2011, available at: http://risu.org.ua/en/index/all_news/orthodox/uoc/44919/, accessed 24 April 2016.

21 ‘UOC-MP Prepared to Switch to Services in Ukrainian’, RISU, 7 February 2013, available at: http://risu.org.ua/en/index/all_news/orthodox/uoc/51223/, accessed 24 April 2016.

22 ‘Reps of UOC-MP Deny Validity of Anathema Declared on Ivan Mazepa’, RISU, 22 March 2013, available at: http://risu.org.ua/en/index/all_news/orthodox/uoc/51699/, accessed 24 April 2016.

23 ‘UOC-Moscow Patriarchate Remembers Victims of Holodomor’, RISU, 22 November 2012, available at: http://risu.org.ua/en/index/all_news/culture/religious_ceremonies/50314, accessed 24 April 2016.

24 The Russian Orthodox Church also commemorates the famine but emphasises the human tragedy that affected not only Ukrainians but also peasants in several Soviet countries including Russia, thereby not acknowledging the genocidal intent inherent to Ukrainian claims. By contrast, Metropolitan Volodymyr is on record as describing it in terms of a ‘genocide’, although Metropolitan Oleksandr claims he ‘misspoke’ on this point and emphasised that the issue should not be politicised. ‘Moscow Patriarchate Church Calls Holodomor “Genocide”’, Kyiv Post, 14 November 2008, available at: https://www.kyivpost.com/article/content/ukraine-politics/moscow-patriarchate-church-calls-holodomor-genocid-30908.html, accessed 15 August 2016; ‘Pro-Moscow Orthodox Church in Ukraine Calls Famine of 1933 Genocide’, Zerkalo nedeli, 21 November 2008, p. 1.

25 ‘Rep of Kyivan Patriarchate: Decision of Synod of UOC is Step towards Liquidation of its Independence’, RISU, 23 February 2012, available at: http://risu.org.ua/en/index/all_news/orthodox/uoc/46983/, accessed 24 April 2016.

26 ‘Committee of Ukrainian Orthodox Church Bring [sic] its Statutes in Line with Statutes of Russian Church’, RISU, 21 March 2012, available at: http://risu.org.ua/en/index/all_news/orthodox/uoc/47398/, accessed 24 April 2016; Goble (2017).

27 ‘Autocephaly About More Than Religion’, RISU, 21 September 2018, available at: https://risu.org.ue/en/index/monitoring/72726, accessed 27 September 2018.

28 ‘EuroMaidan Rallies in Ukraine—Nov. 21–23 Coverage’, Kyiv Post, 25 November 2013, available at: https://www.kyivpost.com/article/content/euromaidan/euromaidan-rallies-in-ukraine-nov-21-23-coverage-332423.html, accessed 15 June 2017.

29 Mitrofanova (2005) notes the following currents of political Orthodoxy: political fundamentalism, contemporary pan-Slavism, neo-Eurasianism, Orthodox Communism and Russian nationalist quasi-Orthodoxy. As she notes, in practice it is only possible to distinguish between these different versions as ideal types since they are ultimately different facets of the same ideology (Mitrofanova 2005, p. 37).

30 ‘Orthodox Christians to Hold Sacred Procession in Kyiv’, Interfax: Russia & CIS General Newswire, 2 December 2013.

31 ‘Prayer for Eliminating Discord to be Chanted in all Eastern Orthodox Churches in Ukraine’, TASS, 30 November 2013, available at: http://tass.ru/en/world/709667, accessed 1 November 2016.

32 ‘St Michael’s Cathedral, Refuge and Field Hospital for Kyiv Protestors’, Euronews, 19 February 2014, available at: https://www.euronews.com/2014/02/19/ukraine-st-michael-s-cathedral-refuge-and-field-hospital-for-kyiv-protestors, accessed 20 June 2016.

33 ‘Self-defense Units Created in Lviv Region’, Kyiv Post, 10 December 2013, available at: https://kyivpost.com/article/content/euromaidan/self-defence-units-created-in-lviv-region-333387.html, accessed 24 September 2018; ‘Who are Ukraine’s “Ultras”?’, RFE/RL, 27 January 2014, available at: https://www.refrl.org/a/ukraine-protests-sports-fans-euromaidan/25244357.html, accessed 24 September 2018.

34 ‘AUCCRO Condemns Violence Committed Against Peaceful Protestors and Against Law Enforcers’, RISU, 10 December 2013, available at: https://www.risu.org.ua/en/index/all_news/state/national_religious_question/54569/, accessed 24 September 2018.

35 ‘Prayer for Eliminating Discord to be Chanted in all Eastern Orthodox Churches in Ukraine’, TASS, 30 November 2013, available at: http://tass.ru/en/world/709667, accessed 1 November 2016.

36 ‘Rallies in Support of Kiev Protestors Staged Across Ukraine’, BBC Monitoring Ukraine & Baltics, 13 December 2013. Source: Ukrayina TV, Kyiv, in Russian 1700 GMT, 11 December 2013.

37 ‘Patriarch Kirill Calls for Preserving Unity of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus’, TASS, 3 January 2014, available at: http://tass.com/russia/713726, accessed 16 August 2016.

38 ‘Russian Church Urging People of Ukraine to Avert “Spiritual Blinding”’, TASS, 26 December 2013, available at: http://tass.com/non-political/713066, accessed 16 August 2016.

39 ‘UOC-MP Priest Blessed Berkut to Fight to the Death against Euromaidan Protesters’, RISU, 14 February 2014, available at: http://risu.org.ua/en/index/all_news/state/national_religious_question/55335/, accessed 24 April 2016.

40 Stepan Bandera (1909–1959) was a Ukrainian nationalist leader who is controversial for his collaboration with the Nazis in his pursuit of independence for Ukraine.

41 ‘UOC(MP) Metropolitan Blesses a Priest to Provide Spiritual Guidance for DPR Fighters’, RISU, 6 October 2015, available at: http://risu.org.ua/en/index/all_news/community/religion_and_policy/61309, accessed 2 May 2016.

42 ‘Separatist Priest to be Ordained as Bishop at Lyiv-Perchersk Lavra’, RISU, 1 February 2016, available at: http://risu.org.ua/en/index/all_news/community/religion_and_policy/62356/, accessed 20 April 2016.

43 ‘They Perform Their Function: Expert Explains Why UOC(MP) Refuses to Serve Burial Services to ATO Soldiers’, RISU, 4 July 2016, available at: https://risu.org.ua/en/index/all_news/community/religion_and_policy/63873, accessed 25 September 2018.

44 ‘Bishops of the UOC(MP) Remained Seated when President Poroshenko was Reading Names of Heroes of Ukraine’, RISU, 8 May 2015, available at: http://risu.org.ua/en/index/all_news/community/religion_and_policy/59943/, accessed 24 April 2016.

45 ‘Metropolitan Onuphry: The Blame for the War That is Going On is Attributable Not to God, but to Man’, RISU, 20 July 2015, available at: http://www.pravmir.com/interview-with-metropolitan-onuphry-about-the-war-in-donbas/, accessed 13 June 2017; ‘Glava UPTs MP obyasnil svoi postupok v Rade trebovaniem mira’, Vesti, 9 May 2017, available at: http://vesti-ukr.com/donbass/99078-glava-upc-mp-objasnil-svoj-demarsh-v-rade-trebovaniem-mira-v-donbasse, accessed 13 June 2017; ‘Onufriy: “Moi postupok v Rade - prizyv k prekrasheniyu voiny”’, Vesti, 30 May 2015, available at: http://vesti-ukr.com/donbass/101757-onufrij-moj-postupok-v-rade-prizyv-k-prekraweniju-vojny, accessed 13 June 2017.

46 ‘Report by Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev [sic] and All Ukraine to the Russian Orthodox Church Bishops’ Council (November 29–December 2, 2017)’, The Russian Orthodox Church Department for External Church Relations, 30 November 2017, available at: https://mospat.ru/en/2017/11/30/news153525/, accessed 25 September 2018; ‘Svyatogorskaya Lavra v gody voennogo protivistoyaniya na Vostoke Ukrainy’ Svyato-Uspenskaya Svatogorskaya Lavra, available at: www.svlavra.church.ua/istoriya/materialy-stati-publikacii/svyatogorskaya-lavra-v-gody-voennogo-protivostoyaniya-na-vostoke-ukrainy/, accessed 25 September 2018.

47 ‘Monks from the Kiev-Caves Lavra Stand Between Police and Demonstrators in Kiev’, Orthodox Christianity, 22 January 2014, available at: http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/67776.htm, accessed 31 October 2016.

48 ‘Poslannia Predstoiatelia UPTs shchodo vidznachennia 1000-littia muchenyts’koï konchyny sviatykh kniaziv Borysa i Hliba’, Sinodal’nii Informatsiino-Prosvitnits’kii viddil UPTs, 15 May 2015, available at: http://news.church.ua/2015/05/14/poslannya-predstoyatelya-upc-shhodo-vidznachennya-1000-littya-muchenickoji-konchini-svyatix-knyaziv-borisa-i-gliba/, accessed 1 November 2016.

49 ‘Web-Atlas Tserkvi’, Ukrain’ska Pravoslavna Tserkva, available at: www.church.ua/karta/, accessed 25 September 2018.

50 ‘Volins’ki svyashcheniki proveli v ostannyu put’ zabiglogo v ATO ukrains’kogo voina’, Sinodal’nii informatsiino-prosvitnits’kii viddil UPTs, 13 August 2018, available at: www.news.church.ua/2018/08/13/svyashhennosluzhiteli-volinskoji-jeparxiji-proveli-v-ostannyu-put-zagiblogo-v-ato-ukrajinskogo-vojina/, accessed 25 September 2018.

51 ‘Metropolitan Hilarion: There Always Be [sic] Spiritual Unity Between the Russian and Ukrainian Nations’, The Russian Orthodox Church Department of External Relations, 15 September 2014, available at: https://mospat.ru/en/2014/09/15/news107982/, accessed 19 October 2016.

52 ‘Archbishop Ihor Isichenko of UOAC Called Existence of Pro-Ukrainian Group in UOC-MP Abstraction’, RISU, 1 March 2012, available at: http://risu.org.ua/en/index/all_news/orthodox/uoc/47073/, accessed 24 April 2016.

53 ‘Poroshenko Believes Ukrainian Orthodox Church Will Get Autocephaly’, Interfax: Russia & CIS Presidential Bulletin, 12 May 2016.

54 ‘Kil’kist’ viruiuchykh Kyïvs’koho patriarkhatu v Ukraïni perevyshchyla kil’kist’ Moskovs’koho’, Dzerkalo Tizhnya, 15 May 2014, available at: http://dt.ua/UKRAINE/kilkist-viruyuchih-kiyivskogo-patriarhatu-v-ukrayini-perevischila-kilkist-moskovskogo-143319_.html, accessed 7 September 2016.

55 Compare, for instance, the figures reported here: Coyle (2016), Markovich (2016).

56 Most of these transfers, though by no means all, have taken place since the Euromaidan.

57 ‘Fotofakt: “Pravii sector” vikhvalyaet’sya zakhoplennyam khramu’, Sinodal’nii informatsiino-prosvitnits’kii viddil UPTs, 12 June 2016, available at: http://news.church.ua/2016/06/12/fotofakt-yak-kijivskij-patriarxat-zaxoplyuje-xrami, accessed 7 November 2016.

58 ‘Proekt Zakonu pro vnesennya zmin do Zakonu Ukraini “Pro svobodu sovisti ta relihiini organizatsii” (shchodo zmini relihiinimi gromadami pidlehlosti)’, Verkhovna Rada Ukraini, available at: http://w1.c1.rada.ua/pls/zweb2/webproc4_1?pf3511=58255, accessed 26 September 2018.

59 ‘Ukrainian Councillors Demand Removal of Monastery from Pro-Russian Church’, BBC Monitoring Ukraine & Baltics, 16 May 2016.

60 ‘Proekt postanovi pro priinyattya za osnovu proektu Zakonu pro osoblivnii status relihiinikh organizatsii, kerivni tsentri yakikh znakhodyat’sya v derzhavi, yaka viznana Verkhovnoyu Radoyu Ukraini derzhavoyu-ahresorom’ Verkhovna Rada Ukraini, available at: http://w1.c1.rada.gov.ua/pls/zweb2/webproc4_1?pf3511=60234, accessed 26 September 2018. See also ‘Church-related Bills Nos. 4128 and 4511: Main Points’, RISU, 17 May 2017, available at: https://risu.org.ua/en/index/all_news/state/legislation/67015, accessed 26 September 2018.

61 ‘Ukraine 2015 International Religious Freedom Report’, US Department of State, 10 August 2016, available at: https://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/2015/eur/256253.htm, accessed 16 August 2016. This proposal has reportedly been quashed in court.

62 ‘A UOC(MP) Church in Babi Yar Set on Fire Again’, RISU, 22 April 2015, available at: http://risu.org.ua/en/index/all_news/community/extraordinary_situations/59802/, accessed 24 April 2016.

63 ‘Metropolitan Onufriy called Avakov to Objectively Investigate the Murder of the UOC (MP) Priest and Nun’, RISU, 12 August 2015, available at: https://risu.org.ua/en/index/all_news/state/church_state_relations/60796/, accessed 14 June 2017.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Victoria Hudson

Victoria Hudson, British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of War Studies,King’s College London, The Strand, London, WC2R 2LS, UK. Email: [email protected]