As the law banning religious organisations affiliated with the aggressor country is being prepared and comes into force, the Ukrainian mass media is publishing articles saying that the Moscow Patriarchate is getting ready for unity, but that due to its conflict past with the OCU, it needs to stay under the canonical umbrella of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and then one day it may enter into dialogue with the OCU. The hypothesis is «flavoured» with accusations bysome church theorists (most of whom neither livein Ukraine nor serve in Ukraine) that neither side (neither the MP nor the OCU) wants unity. Thisis a kind of levelling the parties. Our resource decided to try to investigate howtruly sincere are the intentions of the MP hierarchy in Ukraine to change the vector andmove away from Moscow. After all, peopleshould be prepared for the changes. Are there atleast minimal attempts to transform the mood oftheir own faithful and the ordinary, not alwayseducated clergy? The monitoring conducted by our team wasintended to determine whether the clergy of theMoscow Patriarchate make any changes in theeducation of the faithful. Since unity is the fruitof the efforts of all, both the faithful (who in theUOC-MP have great trust in their clergy) and theclergy themselves. During six weeks, we monitored the tone andnarratives of both social media posts created forordinary believers of the Moscow Patriarchateand the messages of official representatives ofthis jurisdiction. We analysed them on theFacebook pages of the resource. Then wesummarised them and asked renowned analysts inUkraine, people who have undisputed authority insociety, to comment. First, let’s briefly enumerate the key messages ofthe Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine, which areconveyed on the pages associated with thisjurisdiction. 1. «The authorities are God-fighting», they are «de-Christianising» society. 2. The OCU is «graceless», we should not betrayour patriarch (Kirill). 3. Priests and faithful continue to share theirthoughts about «persecutions», the wrongness ofautocephaly and «an attack on faith», dependingon their level of intelligence. «Persecutions» areto come before the coming of the Antichrist, «westand in the faith». 4. The demand to renounce Moscow is «a demandto renounce the faith of the fathers». Co-servingwith the OCU will mean «loss of grace». 5. Official speakers of the MP, such as Klyment Vecheria, resort to the usual fake clichés: …
Does the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukrainewant independence from Kirill?
