Head of UGCC: "Russian World" Has Nothing to Do with the Church

[RISUNews]

Today Christians are tired of religious divisions. This is felt among the Orthodox, who cannot understand why they are divided into three churches, and among the faithful of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, who are asking when there will be one national church, Patriarch Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the UGCC, said in an interview for the newspaper Lviv Regional Council.

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[Peter_J]

Today Christians are tired of religious divisions. This is felt among the Orthodox, who cannot understand why they are divided into three churches, and among the faithful of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, who are asking when there will be one national church, Patriarch Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the UGCC, said in an interview for the newspaper Lviv Regional Council.

The case of the Ethiopian/Eritrean Catholic Church – more specifically, the 1995 changes in Eritrea – is an interesting case (not that I expect a similar arrangement to be made in Ukraine):

In 1995, two new eparchies, Barentu and Keren, were established in Eritrea,[3] and the Latin Church apostolic vicariate was abolished. **Eritrea thus became the only country where all Catholics, whatever their personal liturgical rite, belong to an Eastern Catholic jurisdiction.[1] **

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_Catholic_Church

 

[manualman]

Disclaimer: I’m in way over my head here, but something in the article just… bothered me. It felt more like a political power struggle than about leading people to Christ. I can’t put my finger on it and don’t wish to point at anybody in particular (could be the journalist, even). Am I off or is there just much more nationalism involved in Eastern Christianity?

 

[CDB1718]

Disclaimer: I’m in way over my head here, but something in the article just… bothered me. It felt more like a political power struggle than about leading people to Christ. I can’t put my finger on it and don’t wish to point at anybody in particular (could be the journalist, even). Am I off or is there just much more nationalism involved in Eastern Christianity?

I don’t see how a patriarch saying the church is above politics and must stand united despite politics would make an American think Eastern Christians are uncommonly nationalistic.

To say that nationalism is a secular pressure certain Eastern Europeans face makes the Eastern Christian Churches nationalistic is the same as saying a culture of death is a secular pressure Roman Catholics face in certain first world western countries makes the western Church more deadly. It’s not a fair conclusion to draw.

Patriarch Sviatoslav is clear and consistent in saying the church isn’t in the business of politics, churchmen are not to be involved in politics, and the church won’t kowtow to politics.

The Ukrainian Church is divided because of politics that were largely beyond it’s control, with large political powers dividing the Ukrainian land and therefore the Ukrainian people. He says he works for unity despite it and won’t bend to secular pressures that try to divide a people or a Church for political exploitation.

 

[manualman]

Thanks. I was hoping that I was just lacking enough context and it sounds like that’s it.

 

[WetCatechumen]

If the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Kiev Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate united under Patriarch Sviatoslav in the Ukrainian Catholic Church, there’d only be one Church.