Archbishop of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate Clement speaks about the time-schedule of the church re-registration in accordance with Russian legislation, sharply increased cultural function of the UOC-KP and delayed fight with the Moscow Patriarchate.
“Some representatives of the Crimean authorities have already claimed that they would decide which confessions are traditional and which ones are not.”
– Probably, today people are concerned the most about the situation with the Kyiv Patriarchate church in Crimea. Are you forced to re-register in accordance with Russian legislation and what is your attitude to this problem?
– Today we have the situation when not only the administration of the Kyiv Patriarchate’s Crimea Diocese and parishes of the Kyiv Patriarchate but also all non-governmental human rights organizations registered before the annexation of Crimea should be re-registered up to January 1, 2015.
There are two problems: political and spiritual. Firstly, if we re-register, it means that we virtually recognize that Crimea is the Russian territory. Otherwise, we don’t have the right to do any activities. I can’t even pay for public facilities of the church (a legal entity) as an individual person.
– Do you have any thoughts about that because January 1 is near at hand and it is the deadline for re-registration?
– I don’t have any thoughts about this issue because it is necessary to understand the laws in order to think about something. But during the last month some representatives of the Crimean authorities have already claimed at the meetings of the “Crimean Ministry of Culture” that they would decide which confessions are traditional and which ones are not.
– Did you get any instructions on this issue?
– No, I didn’t get any clarifications. But it is not an indicator. Here is an example: I sent a request to Aksenov asking how the re-registration process will take place in April this year. Aksenov sent a writing direction to the “Ministry of Culture”. The “Ministry of Culture” wrote to the departments and offices. As a result, there are directions but I didn’t get any answer.
– Tell me, please, is there such terms as traditional and non-traditional churches in the religious terminology?
– There are no such legal terms. It is a personal opinion of that man who starts this topic. It is a political theme.
They say that the Kyiv Patriarchate is not traditional. What do they mean? Is it not traditional as an administrative or spiritual unit? If they have in mind an administrative unit, then it is an additional confirmation that the present Crimean “authority” violates all the Constitutional laws, Putin’s orders about the existence of a civil society.
They simply don’t need the Kyiv Patriarchate as the center of everything Ukrainian. That’s why it is not traditional in terms of policy.
The Babarotskaya Diocese of Kyiv Patriarchate was registered in Moscow since 1992. Also the Kyiv Patriarchate’s Diocese was registered in Belgorod. There is a question: if it is possible to register KP’s Dioceses in Moscow and Belgorod, why they can’t be registered in Crimea?
In a context of spirituality, what does it mean if we are said that we are not traditional? Does it mean that the orthodoxy is not traditional in Russia? Then logic suggests that if the KP is not traditional in Russia, so the Moscow Patriarchate is also not traditional. It is absurd.
– Do you plan to arrange a meeting of parishes to solve the re-registration problem?
– In accordance with both the law of Ukraine and Russia, there should be parish meetings to make a decision about transferring of a religious organization to one or another jurisdiction. But it is necessary to know the subject, laws and regulations in order to hold such meetings. We have the subject but there are no laws and regulations. It is senseless to discuss the re-registration until the Crimean authorities define a clear mechanism of re-registration and religious organizations receive official letters.
“People, who used to go to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate being Ukrainian mentally, come to us”
– How many parishes stay in Crimea?
– Now there are 11 parishes and 9 priests. But there were 18 parishes and 15 priests earlier.
– Did the number of parishioners decrease in these circumstances?
– No, it didn’t. The number of parishioners increased because the church not only began to play a spiritual role but also turned into the Ukrainian spiritual center. It means that people pray in the morning and then they have a chance to communicate with people from their Ukrainian society.
– And how did you realize that the number of people increased?
– It was visually.
– But the number of parishes decreased.
– It doesn’t affect the number of parishioners in the church because parishes are located across all territory of Crimea. Now our parishes were closed in Kerch and Krasnoperekopsk. People from these areas don’t come to Simferopol. Therefore, if you count people at prayers, you will see that their number increased. But if we talk about people who can get some spiritual support and feeding, in some way their number decreased.
However, closed parishes don’t mean a general lack of feeding because priests continue to work with parishioners without the possibility to serve the liturgy. Confession, communion and baptism services are held. Each person makes arrangements with the priest individually and reconcile own schedule with a schedule of worship services in our open churches. Parishes are increasing now because all Ukrainian public places are closed. People, who used to go to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate being Ukrainian mentally, come to us. Such people stopped to attend the UOC-MP because they don’t want to participate in activities that have nothing in common with spiritual salvation. There is no policy in the Kyiv Patriarchate church today. We don’t discuss the situation that exists in Ukraine now because people are tired. They are tired of the war, hatred and lie. The church makes every effort to help people to heal spiritually. It is our main task.
– You are talking about the cultural function of the church now. Can you estimate whether the church had this function earlier, during all the 23 years of independence?
– Yes, of course. The church of KP in Crimea always performs two functions: spiritual and cultural. But when a person has an opportunity to receive information in Ukrainian, listen to the radio, watch TV channels and participate in activities of other organizations, then there are less people participating in cultural activities of the church.
But today, when almost all organizations ceased to exist, these people went to the church.
“Thanks to God and the Kyiv Patriarchate, Ukraine is saved as a state”
– Can you estimate the efficiency of Ukrainization of the Kyiv Patriarchate church?
– Only several organizations in Crimea have been working in the Ukrainization area over the period of independence. The church is one of them. The most important work was related to the opening of Ukrainian classes. However, you shouldn’t lay the blame for Ukrainization faults on people.
You need to ask, what is wrong with the state? Why haven’t been Ukrainian schools opened for 23 years of independence? Why haven’t been Ukrainian churches opened? Neither any president, nor any prime-minister and deputy of Ukraine supported the solution of this problem. It is the irony of circumstances: Kuchma has built a church and Yanukovich provided the Kyiv Patriarchate with a territory. That’s the whole Ukrainization. Everything else is public organizations that have been saying for 23 years that Crimea is a part of Ukraine.
The presence of the Moscow Patriarchate is a very painful question for us. If there was the one local church in Ukraine and the authorities understood that the UOC-MP is the fifth column, which always would be the ideological opponent of the Ukrainian state, then there would not be the annexation of Crimea and Donbass problem.
But, unfortunately, our current government also doesn’t pay any attention to that.
– Did the Kyiv Patriarchate take any measures to convince people not to attend the Moscow Patriarchate churches?
You shouldn’t put a question in such a sharp manner because the faith is a free choice. One can say that thanks to God and the Kyiv Patriarchate, Ukraine is saved as a state.
– Do you try to have a dialogue with the Moscow Patriarchate today?
– I have never had and won’t have. At first, they should repent the violence they have responsibility for and then we will talk. After all, all their actions were focused on propaganda: preaching, the newspaper “Rusich” and “Novorusich”, which were distributed in churches and monasteries even in Kyiv. God for them means presidents and patriarchs talking about the great Russian people. They made ordinary people gods. Ukraine is in blood today because of their speeches.
– Does the church do some work outside the church?
– It’s impossible. It is needed to have a lot of permissions. It is very hard in Russia.
– And how do you organize your cultural work?
– We do that in our church. Children learn the Ukrainian language in our Sunday school. There are many legal issues. I come in Kyiv, get advices and then come back and tell people about that. We solved the problems with expired photographs in passports, re-registration of property and issuance of passports for pupils. We solve these problems because regardless of whether we want it or not, people should have a job and housing. They don’t have a place to go and even if they left Crimea, a sad experience shows us that they are not welcome here. People need to adjust to the given actualities of life but it requires the learning of the legal basis. We are doing that right now. Both worship services and a safe stay of our parishioners in Crimea are important for us.
