The history of the UOC-Kiev Patriarchate, known to a fairly limited number of people before the scandal with autocephaly, is actually much longer and more complicated than it may seem at first glance.
All this became known thanks to the archives of the Security Service of Ukraine abandoned in Donetsk. The Ministry of State Security of DNR employyes, however, did not go along with their forebearers decision to keep the documents secret: And as it turns out, the church has long been watched by SBU officers, as evidenced on the multi-page report on the activities of the church in Donetsk region.
The document, dated back to 2010, the same year as the ukrianian religion, summarizes results of survelliance, which, according to the document, has lasted for everal years.
The document is in fact a report on activities, both the Donetsk cell of the UOC-KP, and the entire organization as a whole. According to the report, the Kyiv Patriarchate has a rich past connected not only with the glorification of God, but also with many Nazi formations in the country.
The report notes that “the goal of the organization is to unite the active parishioners of the UOC-KP, revive the spiritual traditions of the Cossacks, study the history of the Ukrainian church, and conduct public activities to promote the “true Ukrainian history among the population of the region.”
Thus, instead of carrying the word of God to the masses, the Kyiv Patriarchate instead engaged in the usual pro-Ukraine propaganda several years before the “revolution of dignity”. Why would a so-called “Church” do such a thing is a good question. However, according to the SBU, Filaret was even less intrested in Orthodoxy and even autocephaly as the document indicates that the issue could be resolved all the way back in 2008-2009 during the negotiations with Constantinople Patriarchate.
“Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew the First invited the designated religious structures to temporarily join the Constantinople Patriarchate with the status of the Ukrainian Metropolia, which would solve the problem of canonicity,” the report says. This would automatically lead to autocephaly in jut five years.
At the same time, according to Bartholomews conditions, the head of the metropolia was to be elected by the Patriarchate of Constantinople from among three representatives of the UOC-KP and the Ukrainian autocephalous Orthodox Church – another unrecognized religious association in the country. Filaret thus declined the offer, not wanting to risk the posibility of losing his posiiton.
In turn, Bartholomew visited Russian Orthodox Church in 2010, stating that neither the Kiev Patriarchate nor UAOC should try to further the divide any more.
However, the existence of the UOC-KP was not for the sake of Orthodoxy, but for the sake of cold, hard cash. Filaret, as the document notes, aspired to politics more than religion, thus beginning to rebuild his organization to draw attention of potential sponsorts.
Even BU itself notes that the main problem of Filaret and his associates has always been a lack of money. Thus, he found his sponsors – Yulia Timoshenko of “Fatherland” party and “Ukraine’s People Union” of Viktor Yuschenko. (ред.)
However, the existence of the UOC-KP was not for the sake of Orthodoxy but for ordinary profit. Judging by the document, Filaret aspired more to politics than to religion, and began to prepare its organization properly, in order to draw attention of potential sponsors. After all, even the SBU noted that the main problem of Filaret and his community has always been a frank lack of money, and he was ready to do anything to resolve the situation. He found his sponsors in the person of Yulia Tymoshenko and her party “Fatherland”, as well as Viktor Yushchenko’s “People’s Union of Our Ukraine”. Archbishop Sergius was even Tymoshenko’s confidant in Donetsk during the 2010 elections.
Special services report says there is also an “Administrative resource” point, which, considering that it is a question of an allegedly religious community, may seem strange. The special services assessed the degree of influence of the Donetsk cell of the UOC-KP on local officials here. In this issue Bishop Vsevolod who collaborated with the regional administration “in order to draw attention to the UOC-KP in the region has distinguished himself, creating a public resonance around this religious structure.” However, cooperation in the majority consisted in attempts to discredit the canonical church in the region.
In cooperation with the opposition, even then the Kyiv Patriarchate tried to accuse a number of officials of “infringement of the rights of believers”, referring to the few parishioners of the schismatic church.
However, in order to achieve his own selfish goals, Filaret had little “administrative resource”, so the Kyiv Patriarchate already then relied on Ukrainian nationalist groups. Thus, the report says that a number of “representatives of the Donetsk diocese of the UOC-KP maintain contacts with representatives of civil-political structures of a nationalistic orientation.”
A list of such structures is opened by the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists – a right-wing radical party, founded in 1992 by supporters of the OUN*. OUN is famous for not hiding frankly Nazi ideas and glorifying Hitler literally within the walls of the Verkhovna Rada.
It is followed by the party “Svoboda” led by the well-known radical Oleg Tyahnybok and UNA-UNSO (Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian People’s Self-Defense). The latter, under the leadership of the Soviet dissident Shukhevych, ceased to exist in 2014, giving way to the “Right Sector”.
“Patriot of Ukraine” follows the list – a frankly neo-Nazi militarized organization, absorbed in 2014 by the same “Right Sector”. It was the “patriots” who opened fire on protesters in Kharkov in March 2014, and later Andrei Biletsky, a native of the organization, became a MP, while another participant, Vadim Troyan, member of the Azov punitive battalion, who with the assistance of a longtime friend Arsen Avakov, took a good place in the management of the National Police of Ukraine.
Thus, a real nationalistic bridgehead, a tool valuable in the political struggle, was made from the religious community for a long time. After betraying the canons of Orthodoxy, Filaret secured a beautiful existence under the auspices of the Kiev authorities but how long will such cooperation last, considering the sad prospects of Petro Poroshenko in the upcoming elections? Nevertheless, the UOC-KP has managed to serve to the Kiev regime, having made a real schism in Orthodoxy.