By Efi Efthymiou
The recent events in Chernivtsi painfully stress the deadlock in which Orthodoxy in Ukraine currently finds itself, despite Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew’s efforts to unite Ukrainians under an Autocephalous Church.
According to reports from orthodoxtimes.com, individuals with no connection to the Church attacked believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under Metropolitan Onufry at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Chernivtsi.
The footage circulating on social media is heartbreaking. Young people wearing masks and hoods—more reminiscent of hooligans than Orthodox believers—attacked worshippers outside the cathedral, including a priest fleeing from the violent crowd. The group then appeared to drag a man several meters along the ground after punching him.
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Sources from Kyiv speaking to orthodoxtimes.com describe this as a recurring tactic. “They send groups of young people unrelated to the Church, essentially hired hooligans, to attack believers of churches under the jurisdiction of Metropolitan Onufry’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church.”
Additional sources told orthodoxtimes.com that city authorities had decided to transfer the Chernivtsi Cathedral to the jurisdiction of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), under Metropolitan Epifaniy.
“The problem is that there is no legal procedure describing how to transfer churches from one jurisdiction to another, so believers are forced to resolve this painful issue by their own means. The faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church form a substantial community,” they explained.
Meanwhile, sources noted that the Orthodox Church of Ukraine is often represented by radical young people, not always true believers but individuals hostile to anything Russian. Since the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is associated with the Russian Orthodox Church, such violent clashes are inevitable, these insiders revealed.
Crucially, orthodoxtimes.com reports that the majority of churches seized—whether forcibly or otherwise—by the OCU remain closed.
“Hooligan groups come, expel the faithful and priests from the churches, lock the doors, and leave the temples shuttered. There are neither believers from the OCU nor priests to perform services there,” sources from Kyiv confirmed.
The responsibilities of all parties involved are heavy. Until Metropolitan Onufry and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church clearly and officially declare independence from the Moscow Patriarchate and restore Eucharistic communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate—which Metropolitan Antony of Borispol currently blocks—the Ukrainian public will continue to associate Onufry’s Church with Russia, the aggressor occupying parts of Ukraine.
Similarly, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine has yet to realize that the methods employed by Metropolitan Yevstratiy of Bila Tserkva are ineffective. Despite government support, the people do not trust them. The Ecumenical Patriarch’s intention when granting Autocephaly to the OCU was not to incite division, yet the ongoing seizure of churches only results in locked, unused churches and failure to convince the wider world.
It is also telling that priests of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine are involved in or even encourage these violent actions, openly posting about them on social media. Orthodoxtimes.com has learned from reliable sources that some OCU clergy privately endorse these tactics but refrain from public comments.
Following the Chernivtsi incident, an OCU cleric posted on Facebook, referring to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under Onufry as a “sect of the Moscow Patriarchate” and questioned “why we still tolerate this Church.”
As reported previously by orthodoxtimes.com, the hoped-for mass transition of believers from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (under Metropolitan Onufry) to the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine (under Metropolitan Epifaniy) never materialized at the scale desired by the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Consequently, efforts to unify have faltered, much to the satisfaction of Ukraine’s northern neighbors.
The Orthodox faithful in Ukraine remain unconvinced to follow the new Autocephalous Church, and the tactics used to enforce church transfers dishonor everyone involved.
The paradox—often misunderstood by other Orthodox Churches—is why, amid a brutal war against Russia, Ukrainians continue to fight among themselves. This division reveals the deep fractures within Ukraine’s Orthodox community.
Perhaps it is time for the Ecumenical Patriarchate to take decisive steps to ease the situation, as increasing numbers of people begin to blame the Phanar and Patriarch Bartholomew personally for the ongoing division and lack of unity in Ukrainian Orthodoxy.
Incidents such as those in Chernivtsi starkly illustrate how Metropolitan Bartholomew’s calls for dialogue and unity are currently perceived in Ukraine.
