INTERVIEW. His Beatitude Metropolitan Volodymyr

How close to the Church our political leaders actually are, why the divine services  are not conducted in Ukrainian, the opposition priests and the priests on cool foreign-made cars - these and other are the topics of our conversation with one of the most reputable world's hierarchs, the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Volodymyr (Sabodan), Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine.       

 

- Your Beatitude, all of us witnessed how on the eve of the Holy Feast of Pascha Victor Yushchenko personally distributed the Holy Fire, brought from Jerusalem, to the heads of the Ukrainian Churches.  Is the head of the state occupied with his business or does he intrude into the sphere, where the laics, even the high-ranking ones, should stay aside and pray?    

- The official delegation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church received the Holy Fire from the hands of the Patriarch Theophilus of the Holy City of Jerusalem. Then the shrine was delivered to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra by the special flight in the container-lampad. There we distributed the Holy Fire to the representatives of the dioceses of our Church and to the faithful. Regarding the action of the president and representatives of other Christian confessions at St.Sophia, it reminds the Gospel story about Apostle Peter, who, following Christ, turned back and saw another apostle, following them.  Then Peter asked: "Who is that?" The Lord answered him: "What is that to you? You follow Me!" And so we do - we try not to evaluate the actions of the authorities, but simply to follow Christ, keeping the Holy Orthodox faith and the Holy Orthodox Church.   

- Since we started speaking about the powers that be... The mayor of Kyiv Leonide Chernovetsky has repeatedly declared that he is a true orthodox Christian and attends the divine services in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. At the same time  - the patronage, if not membership, of Leonid Mykhailovych  in the God's Embassy sect. Vladyka, do you approve of such confessional multi-vectoredness, as our political leaders say?      

- The Church is not  a reconnaissance unit, able to detect precisely, what the confession the parishioner belongs to. We always believe the word of the one who comes and witnesses of his faith, knowing that while one can cheat us, it is impossible to cheat God.   Regarding the Kyiv mayor's visits to Lavra, it happens very seldom and I have never seen Leonid Mykhailovych at the divine service in Lavra on a usual Sunday. The tradition of the functionaries to visit different churches of different confessions on Pascha or Christmas, which developed after the fall of the atheist rule, is in my view a vestige of the post-soviet era.   Everyone is to know what Church he belongs to and what temple he is a parishioner of.   It concerns a mayor, a prime-minister or a president. 

- In the media they speak about some internal church opposition (in  the UOC) to an increasing degree. The heads of the Dioceses of Odessa and Donetsk openly declared their dissent with the policy of the Kyiv Metropolis. They even had arranged demarche in Moscow (on the eve of elections of the new Patriarch - Author). Your Beatitude, the opposition is a must for the deputies, but in the Church - where may it lead us?  Maybe to yet another split (a plague on me for saying such things!)?

- In the Church there may be dissidence, of which Apostle Paul had already spoken.  The main thing is that this dissidence should not break the God-commanded unity. And since by the present I do not see any preconditions for any divisions in our Holy Church, I think those talks about "oppositions" to be not only ungrounded, but even harmful.  And if there is a discussion in the Church on some or other questions, it's a witness of our openness and restoration of conciliarity. 

 

- Last year Fr. Dmitry Sidor, notorious because of the Rusins' movement (one of the activists for the autonomy of Transcarpathians - Author) greeted the believers by the Internet, quoting for some reason the Paschal Epistle of the Patriarch of  Serbia. Vladyka, could you tell,  does the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church spread to Transcarpathians or they have already changed to the Patriarchate of Serbia there?  And is the Church going to admonish one of its pastors, who puts in doubt not only the church unity, but also the state integrity of Ukraine? 

- The Church does not approve of participation of the clergy in political struggle. We sincerely pray that the pastoral attitude of Fr. Dmitry dominate over political. And there is nothing wrong with the fact that a priest in his address to the flock quotes the hierarch of the One in Christ Orthodox Church, of the Serbian Church. The Transcarpathians are under jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.   



- In Ukraine for almost twenty years the talks about autocephaly (independence from the Moscow Patriarchate) have not abated.  To your mind, what actual harm of benefit, on the contrary, can full independence of the UOC bring about?    

- At present the discussions on the change of the existing canonical status (whether it is autocephaly or not) of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church are irrelevant, since they do not work for strengthening of the unity of our Church, but can bring about new splits.  For me, the unity of our Church is more important than its canonical status.  The UOC should have the status that the entire Church wants to have: both the clergy and the faithful.  And there is no unity of opinion on the issue, therefore we realize that forcing of events will cause only aggravation of splits between the Orthodox people.   

- Vladyka Volodymyr, to your opinion, does the policy regarding the church problems pursued by President Yushchenko work for the unity and consent in the Church?     

- I'm heartily grateful to the President for his respect of the Church and non-interference into our internal matters. I understand his desire to restore unity of the Ukrainian Church. But I'm sure that the government and the politicians, in their desire to help the Church, should not ignore the opinion of the Church itself and her rules as well. Unfortunately, in our country the authorities develop and try to realize the scenarios of reunification on their own, without having asked the Church's advice. 

- Very often on the sites of our powers that be one can see the messages like "Yulia Volodymyrivna to pray at St. Jonah Monastery" or "Victor Fedorovych to pray at Kyiv Caves Monastery Tomorrow". To my mind, displaying (or replication) of one's intention to visit the God's church is a pure public relations campaign. Or am I wrong?    

- The fact that the politicians are not ashamed of their religiosity is positive, since they are example for many millions of people. But I know that many of them come to church only when the TV and photo-cameras are working. 

- Officially, one may conduct services in the UOC in any language (including Ukrainian), but in practice the Ukrainian language parishes are few, and most of them are in West Ukraine.  Why is there no Ukrainian language parish in Kyiv, since in the missionary perspective it might be a great success?    


- The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has never set a task of Ukrainization of the liturgical services. On the contrary, our parishes are guardians of tradition of using the Church Slavonic language of worship. Moreover, the majority of our parishioners advocate preservation of this tradition.  And Ukrainization is often demanded by people who seldom go to church and do not know the beauty of the church singing and reading. We use Ukrainian when we perform social services on the days of state holidays or while blessing the monuments, offices or enterprises.   
 

"Where there's cash, there is a temptation for a priest"  


- In the last elections Deputy Abbot of Lavra, Vladyka Pavel stood for elections to the Kyiv City Council. But doesn't the resolution of the Council of the UOC, prohibiting the clergymen to take part in elections, concern not all the representatives of the UOC?    

- The prohibition for clergy to stand for election was approved in order that clergymen should pay more attention to their flock and the church matters.  However, in her canonical practice the Church  sometimes allows digressions from the established church norms for the Church's benefit.  At present Archbishop Pavel as Deputy Abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra often has to settle financial and ownership matters at the level of the city authorities.   So if the status of the Kyiv Council deputy will help him in resolving actual problems, an exclusion from general rule can be made. However, the administrative assignments of Vladyka Pavel should not interfere with his archpastoral ministry.  


- Let's face it - now the profession of priest becomes more and more profitable affair. Sometimes one can see a priest driving to the church in a car, which is not within the pocket of every businessman, to say nothing about simple parishioners. Does the UOC administration undertake anything to prevent further commercialization of the Church?    

- The Church has to resolve the questions of her material welfare on her own - for the sake of her missionary, liturgical, educational and social activities.  And where there is cash, there is temptation for a priest. But all the material matters of the Church should be conducted in the limits of the Christian conscience and state legislation. Compliance with all that depends individually on one or another church hierarch.    

Concerning profitability of the priest's profession, it is not so plain here.  The majority of our priests serve in the parishes, whose income is more than moderate. On the contrary, for them the means of material support are being raised at the diocesan and deanery levels. And again, the Church does not demand money from anyone. The donations are voluntary, and a believer can buy an icon or a candle in the church by the price corresponding to his level of income.  


- Thank You very much, Vladyka Volodymyr, for having found some time to talk to us.


- God's help and guardian angel for your readers!
 

Interview taken by Vitaly Tsvid

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