CONCERNING THAT CHURCH CLOSURE IN THE UKRAINE…

Many of you spotted and shared this story, so many in fact, that I have to comment about it, which was, I suppose, the motivation behind so many of you passing it along to me. And I suspect that what caught the attention of many of you was what caught my attention. So, my thanks to all of you for bringing it to my attention, and with that, into the story we go:

Kiev orders closure of Christian churches Ukrainian Orthodox Church property is being seized over “ties to Moscow”

Now, the story is clear enough: the Mayor of Kiev has ordered the closure of parishes that are part of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, that jurisdiction which maintains its jurisdictional and sacramental ties to the Patriarchate of Moscow, and therefore, with the Russian Orthodox Church. The move, as the article notes, follows a similar seizure earlier of the famous Monastery of the Caves, a monastery closely and historically linked to the founding of Orthodoxy in all the Russian lands, and therefore of symbolic importance to Ukrainian, Byelo-Russian, and Russian Orthodox alike, and indeed, to the wider world of Eastern Orthodoxy:

Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitschko on Friday ordered the closure of 74 churches belonging to the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), citing its alleged “direct ties” to the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Klitschko’s decree is similar to that used to seize the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, or Monastery of the Caves, which Ukrainian police stormed last month. The world-famous holy site, which is nearly 1,000 years old, was handed over to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, a rival organization set up by the government in 2018.

The Lavra is technically state property but the church administered it under a 2013 agreement, which Kiev declared null and void earlier this year, claiming that the UOC violated it by having ties to “enemy nation” Russia. Ukrainian courts rejected the UOC’s appeals.

Now on the surface, this may seem a very minor thing in a church that is not centrally organized like the Roman Catholic Church along the lines of the papacy.  Within Eastern Orthodoxy it has always been the standard that a regional church has its own hierarchical and jurisdictional autonomy. Even in the days of the Roman Empire, and particularly in the Eastern portion of the Empire, the ancient bishoprics or Patriarchates of Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, and Byzantium/Constantinople, were all jurisdictionally separate from each other: what Antioch said regarding matters within its jurisdiction had no force in churches subject to Jerusalem, and vice versa. What united these churches was not authority and jurisdiction but rather the content and practice of faith. It was union and communion in substance and not merely formal obedience to a particular hierarch (though that enters the picture too). So under such conceptions, it would seem that the transference of Churches from one jurisdiction (Moscow) to another (Kiev) that are still all but identical in faith and practice should be a very small thing.

This is where it gets complicated. The article hints at the underlying nature of a far-reaching problem when it points out that the reasons for the Ukraine's moves in this respect are the jurisdictional ties of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to Moscow. The implicit  and unstated assumption is that the Ukrainian church, because of this tie, can presumably act as a source of intelligence to Moscow, and of internal dissention to Kiev.  Such political machinations have dogged the churches - East and West - throughout their existence. But in this case there is meat on the bones,  because of a little-known incident within Church history known as the "Sergian Compromise," and about which I've written and blogged before: in the mid-1930s, with the threat from Nazi Germany growing and with it, the very real possibility of another World War that would inevitably involve Soviet Russia, Stalin, in order to secure his regime and solidify the nation, had to strike a deal with the otherwise Communist-hated-and-despised Russian Orthodox Church, which, up to that point, it had been trying (unsuccessfully) to stamp out. As such, he struck a "deal" with the locum tenens of the Patriarchate of Moscow (i.e., with the bishop charged with administration of the affairs of the church until a new Patriarch of Moscow could be elected), one Metropolitan Sergius. (For those unfamiliar with the term Metropolitan, this is an ancient term for the bishop of a major metropolitan city - hence the term - who would be more or less analogous to a Roman Catholic or Anglican Archbishop or Cardinal Archbishop).  In return for the Church's pledge not to criticize the regime, Stalin would allow the church to reopen  a limited number of seminaries to train clergy, provided the Church also allow said clergy to be recruited into the state security services, and spy on and report any subversive activities among other clergy or the laity.   In this arrangement, Stalin basically returned the Russian church to a similar arrangement that occurred under Tsar Peter the Great and the so-called synodal system. The only concrete and major difference being that Stalin would allow the Church to elect a new Patriarch of Moscow, which it did. Effectively, this meant that all Patriarchs of Moscow from Sergius' time forward to now, have some association or link with the state's security services. This became particularly clear during the Soviet collapse, when the current Patriarch, Kiril III, then a Metropolitan, personally initiated the Church's post-Soviet phase of close relationship to Russia's nuclear forces and arsenal. In some respects, it may even be said that were it not for the Church's intervention during that perilous period, the state's control and maintenance of those forces might have dangerously deteriorated. That Russia remains a major thermonuclear power with a very advanced arsenal has as much to do with Kirill as it has to do with Msrs. Putin, Shoigu, Medvedev, or Lavrov.

So the Ukraine does have, at least from purely political bases, for its moves, howsoever repellant those moves may be at a deeper level, and they certainly are repellant when the logic is examined: if one wants to close churches (or for that matter, synagogues or mosques or Hindu or Buddhist temples) because of their ties to foreign cultures and states, then pretty much no one is safe from such closures and seizures, ever.  Nor are such moves ever really undertaken from positions of strength. More often than not, they create the very conditions they're designed to inhibit or destroy, in this case, church undergrounds acting to preserve faith and institutions and - most importantly - contacts and networks, free of state interference. That too, is a very old story, one going back to the very earliest days of Christianity. It will be no more successful for the modern Neros of the Ukrainian government now than it was for the Neros of ancient times.

But beyond this, there is yet another deep story that must not be forgotten, and it is suggested by the very next paragraph in the article:

The newly sequestered sites may be handed over to the OCU or the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which is in communion with Rome, or could even be demolished as “illegal objects” given the government’s annulment of lease and use contracts. (Emphasis added)

The OCU is that Ukrainian Orthodox jurisdiction which I blogged about and even talked about some time ago, which was granted "autocephaly" by the Patriarchate of Constantinople - over the strong objections of the Patriarchate of Moscow - a couple of years ago. It is worth noting that in recent decades the Patriarchate of Constantinople has promulgated claims for itself that can only be qualified as "neo-papal",  and additionally, it should also be noted that its current occupant, Bartholomeios, was educated in Rome at Roman Catholic institutions, and that not only does the Patriarchate of Constantinople receive funding from the Vatican, there have also been strong rumors going back decades that it also gets funding from the British and American intelligence services (in the case of the British, this being in the form of donations from various Anglican jurisdictions).

So the bottom line here is that neither Constantinople, nor its sponsored Ukrainian Church, nor the Ukrainian government, are independent actors either.  And as far as Rome's involvement go, the Orthodox - both Ukrainian and Russian - know that story well: just bow the knee, kiss the red slippers and the Pope's ring, and all will be forgiven...  It is, again, for those with eyes to see and ears to hear, once again another chapter in the endless war against the Eastern churches, and the refusal of the West to see that it, and not the East, is the problem.  This war, in short, is Charlemagne's version of imperial orthodoxy, and the attempted shotgun wedding with the Empress Irene, all over again... The Russian article hints at this by suggesting that the Ukrainian move may be presaging an attempt to place all Ukrainian churches under the unia, i.e., in communion - forced or otherwise - with the Papacy.  That may or may not be true, it may or may not be Russian propaganda, or an actual "move quietly afoot."

But either way, all that's needed now is another Pope Leo III  to mess things up... and the West doesn't even understand him with anything even approximately close to accuracy... And if you are wondering what that is all about, I would urge the reader to get my "tome" from Lulu called God, History, and Dialectic, and to read and thoroughly understand the second volume in particular, because otherwise, you, like Victoria Nuland and the idiots in the Swamp, will not have a clue about what is going on, and why every western effort in the Ukraine is met with failure.... because for the Orthodox, this is existential.

See you on the flip side...

 

Posted in

Joseph P. Farrell

Joseph P. Farrell has a doctorate in patristics from the University of Oxford, and pursues research in physics, alternative history and science, and "strange stuff". His book The Giza DeathStar, for which the Giza Community is named, was published in the spring of 2002, and was his first venture into "alternative history and science".

No Comments

  1. verumdefendere on September 26, 2023 at 2:54 pm

    So far virtually every major development in Ukraine proved to have metaphysical aspect as well political.

    Coinciding with closing of Christian churches (regardless of denomination) the Kiev regime also extended invitation to the well known satanist Marina Abramovic of “Spirit cooking” fame.

    https://ground.news/article/zelensky-asks-marina-abramovic-to-be-ambassador-for-ukraine



  2. DanaThomas on September 23, 2023 at 11:45 am

    Here in the democratic 4th Reich, access to rt.com is blocked!



  3. johnycomelately on September 22, 2023 at 10:40 pm

    The Vatican, Jewish collaborators, Nazis, Nazi puppets, Anglo establishment……stolen religious artefacts, imprisoning Orthodox clergy…..where have I heard this story before….



  4. FiatLux on September 22, 2023 at 8:24 pm

    It looks to me as if the West’s strategy is to take control — through the influence of corporations, banks, and now churches — what it’s not going to win on the battlefield. Of course, skulduggery is a game two can play.



    • cobo on September 22, 2023 at 10:16 pm

      I get the oligarch controlled takeover through financial and institutional politat, but if Ukraine was going to lose on the battlefiled, this wouldn’t be day 575 of the war. At the start, I saw that the jaguar had climbed down the tree of life from heaven and took seat in this.. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=474353290749986&set=a.133316594853659

      I’ll stick with my artist’s intuition until proven wrong. Let’s see who wins this fight, and then we’ll see who wins the politat.



  5. marcos toledo on September 22, 2023 at 6:45 pm

    A question by what right has the Metropoltein of Rome declared himself Quis-Emperor?



    • anakephalaiosis on September 23, 2023 at 4:22 am

      1. Occasionally, during crisis, the early Roman senate needed, to appoint a war general, for a limited time period, to fend off an outer foe, which was the original captain function of a “dictator”.

      2. Julius Caesar made himself into a dictator, for perpetuity, and his successors went further, and elevated themselves into living sainthood, to outlaw dissidence as blasphemy, at the point of death.

      3. Normally, such honourary sainthood was bestowed only, upon distinguished Roman individuals, after their death, which was originally simply a veneration of memorable forefathers, in the cultural pantheon.

      4. The Praetorian Guard, in the shape of the Vatican, continued the imperial tradition, of venerating infallibility, into the pope of popes, which is a psyop, that uses the proto-Scythian narrative, as an excuse.

      5. The proto-Scythian distinction, between the terms Elohim and Yahweh, is not elaborated in the Greek Gospels, because Bronze Age politics wasn’t the immediate goal, when living under the thumb of imperial tyranny.

      6. As a result, the Roman Vatican psyop is now based, on a Greek Gospel psyop, that is based on Bronze Age politics, that in return is verifiable, because the terms Elohim and Yahweh correlate, with the ideas of logic and reason.

      7. It means, that a “second coming” was always in the Gospels’ pudding, when one day – in the future – Elohim and Yahweh, were to be deduced again, as logic and reason, by applying the mental faculty of logic and reason.

      8. It is Odin’s two brothers, Will and Woe, who provide the missing link, from the Bronze Age politics, to present day Scythian revival, which provides an epistemological threat to the Vatican argument, that literally is built upon sand.

      9. This concurs with Alexandr Dugin’s “Fourth Way”, because “liberalism vs. communism”, is basically “free will vs. its restraint”, and a fascistic dictatorship was, and still is, the early Roman senate’s headache, which also had Samuel troubled.

      10. The Scythian solution, to the fascist problem, became the runic run, that provided a riddlesome criterion, that ensured, that only a high-flying bard could elevate, to the highest position of authority, which produces a philosopher king.

      11. Alexandr Dugin’s “Fourth Way” is the runic run, by another name, which is where the Scythian positions worldvide coincidence, with the retrieval of Scythian Christianity, as the heralded “second coming” of logic and reason.

      https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/pnz9jpb73u1gfla/druidry-for-dummies.pdf



      • anakephalaiosis on September 23, 2023 at 4:29 am

        *Scythian positions worldvide coincide…



  6. cobo on September 22, 2023 at 4:47 pm

    It’s war, no holds barred. But after this war, there will be a terribly well armed “traditionalist” movement, ready to take back what they’ve seen stolen. I believe that the leadership will arise in Ukraine, Poland and the former Soviet occupied lands. Sorry if i’m a bit “À Rebours” for this site. That’s what I see.



  7. Robert Barricklow on September 22, 2023 at 11:39 am

    Even in the days of the Roman Empire…. ?
    When did those days… Stop?

    As far as the State versus the Church?
    Those days; too, have never stopped.
    Do their intelligence apparatuses continue to entwine and expand?

    And, like everything else under the Sun….
    Oops!
    Turns out; even the Sun is under attack!
    Nothing is sacred, nor off limits.



  8. mirkogordan on September 22, 2023 at 11:15 am

    Something from yours truly across The Pond.

    Did you know that both Klitschkos, being true and faithful Ukrainians that they are, actually speak very, very bad Ukrainian language with a Russian accent? And in terms of content, sound like retards.

    Did you that government of Kosovo (Which is only existent as a state because of Camp Bondsteel, Big Brother’s second-biggest HQ in Europe) did exactly the same as mentioned in the text above with Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries? And nobody, absolutely nobody, neither the EU nor the US raised their voices.

    P.S.
    Wikipedia is sometimes useful. Look for their article titled: „Destruction of Serbian heritage in Kosovo“.



  9. anakephalaiosis on September 22, 2023 at 7:28 am

    1. The census, that was taken, by governor Quirinius in Judea, was a Roman attempt, to get a handle on the clandestine cultural war, that threatened Pax Romana, and targeted Judahite children, for having innocently repeated forbidden words in the street.

    2. The ban on the word “Yahweh” was a warfare, against the public winter solstice gathering, the annual jubilee, and even though men withdrew to privacy, the disappearance of children, accused of blasphemy, occurred, as a means of suppression.

    3. When the Assyrian empire had deported the ten northern tribes, then their vacant wine farms had been populated, by imperial loyalists, whom the liberated Judahites later had come to rule over, aided by their Scythian kinsman, as military muscle.

    4. When the Romans made the former Assyrian underdogs rulers in Judea, then the Romans inadvertently invoked the underlying conflict, from the 7th century BC, which sheds light on the Scythian scull cup, being used at the Last Supper.

    5. It implies, that the Holy Grail of resistance was calling out the former Assyrian loyalists, who were falsely presenting themselves, as Judahites, which means, that the cultural war was caused, by an identity theft, and thus Christianity was a necessary breakaway.

    6. Today, these former Assyrian loyalists, who now call themselves Jews, continue where they left off, and seek to overthrow the Christian identity systematically, because it is still anchored, in the winter solstice gathering, as Yahweh, which is heathen.

    7. The Jewish royalty of Europe is the Vatican double agents, who have been put into place, to ensure the Catholic takover of Europe, which makes the Praetorian Guard – posing as the Vatican – the successor of the Assyrian empire, by legacy.

    8. The Assyrian empire hunted the ten tribes, beyond Caucasus, over Don and Dnieper, until the ten tribes made a stand, and retaliated, as the Scythians, which is still ongoing today, and two can’t share same identity, and therefore one will have to go.

    9. Today, the Russians make a valiant stand, against the grotesque monstrosity, that cloaks itself as melancholic sentimentality, and comes begging at the door, and bites the hand, that feeds it, and attacks the innocence of children. The Russians are fighting Satan.



    • InfiniteRUs on September 24, 2023 at 7:39 pm

      Odd that about the role of the Rus today. The Rus historically were slavers of other Europeans. Danes were favored by Middle Eastern and North African countries for their light skin, hair and eyes and the Rus happily supplied them once they found out what they could trade them for. It was their main trade. I wonder if the Danes and other Scandinavians didn’t start raiding and capturing English and Irish slaves to trade to the Rus to get the Rus off their backs. The men were castrated to break their spirit and forced to hard labor or as slave soldiers. The women were sold to harems. Nobody were safe though and even the poor and political enemies of their own people were sold by the most powerful oligarch families. Russia went from feudal serfdom to communistic serfdom and only recently became somewhat free in the 1980’s. Monarchies and nobility are just hereditary oligarchy. Since they just recently experienced freedom I guess it makes sense. While European Oligarchs are trying to bring back universal slavery of everyone else but a new hereditary oligarchy for themselves the Russian people and leaders just recently escaping this nightmare system are not eager to return. Westerners seem to have forgotten how horrible this system was don’t seem to recognize it slow creep into being again even though it only ended around 1910. I was surprised to learn that white slavery of indentured brothel women and induced indentured servitude in factories and plantations of poor white European men and children only officially ended in the US in 1910.



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