Ukrainian Orthodox archbishop warns of possible bloodshed

The granting of autocephalous canonical status to the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate, and its subsequent attempts to
claim holy sites, could lead to bloodshed throughout Ukraine, warned Archbishop
(Metropolitan) Ilarion, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow
Patriarchate, in an interview with a Greek news agency published on June 30. He
pointed out that Filaret, the patriarch of the Kyiv patriarchate, recently said
the newly canonized church will lay claim to the Moscow Patriarchate’s most
holiest sites, including the Caves Monastery in Kyiv and the Pochayiv
Monastery, which it won’t surrender willfully, Ilarion said. “If the
schismatics begin to take control of the monasteries, thousands will gather to
defend these abodes and blood will be shed,” he said.

Recall in April, Ukrainian President Poroshenko
formally asked Bartholomew I of Constantinople, the ecumenical patriarch of the
Orthodox Christian Church, to grant autocephalous canonical status to the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate, which is the world’s largest
Orthodox Christian church without canonical recognition. The only canonical
Orthodox church in Ukraine currently is the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow
Patriarchate.

Zenon Zawada: We take
these warnings seriously and see a high potential for widespread civil unrest
with a decision to not only grant canonical status to the Kyiv patriarchate,
but any attempt to claim the property of the Moscow patriarchate. At minimum,
the conflict has the potential to radicalize the public further ahead of next
year’s elections.

This unrest could also serve as a pretext for Russian
President Putin to yet again intervene militarily, but this time in all regions
of Ukraine, considering that among the most contested religious sites, the
Pochayiv Monastery, is situated in western Ukraine.

Poroshenko seems to have raised this issue ahead of
the 2019 elections in order to mobilize his pro-Western electorate. Yet he
could be opening a Pandora’s box with risky implications for the nation’s
territorial integrity.