Africa Recruitment, Law 3894 criticism, Medjugorje Approval, and Estonia's Church Pressured
DivineDiplo #8
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This week
Russian Orthodox Church's Africa Expansion Draws African Students to Ukraine War
Forum 18: Law 3894 Disproportionate and Contradicts International Law
Russian Metropolitan's Actions Raise Alarm in Norway
Vatican greenlights Medjugorje devotion
Estonian Ministry of Interior: MPEOK's Move to Distance from Russia Insufficient
Russian Orthodox Church's Africa Expansion Draws African Students to Ukraine War
A recent publication by the Eurasia Daily Monitor suggests a link between the Russian Orthodox Church’s expansion on the African continent and the mobilisation of recruits for the war in Ukraine. Sergey Sukhankin, a Senior Fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, writes about instances where African students who went to Russia to work on repairing churches in the Ryazan region have joined the Russian military fighting in Ukraine. The reports suggest that these activities may be facilitated by Konstantin Malofeev, who is also known as the “Russian Orthodox oligarch.” Citing Novaya Gazeta Europe investigation, Sukhankin recalls cases of African nationals with links to the Russian church fighting in Ukraine. The Russian Orthodox Church has denied these findings.
Forum 18: Law 3894 Disproportionate and Contradicts International Law
The highly controversial law 3894 on the “Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Sphere of Activities of Religious Organizations” adopted in the Ukrainian Parliament last month has come into force today. It has already drawn much criticism from multiple sources, including the Pope.
Forum 18, a Norwegian freedom of religion organisation, has provided a legal analysis of the legislation. It warned that in its current form, the “law is impossible for the UOC to comply with,” stating that it is disproportionate and that part of it contradicts international law. The law has banned the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine as well as religious organisations that have ties to Moscow.
I highly recommend reading this analysis for anyone interested in the legal aspects of the law and the difficulties in its implementation. One of the questions that the authors raise deals with is the necessity for a “blanket ban” on an entire religious organisation (referring here to the potential ban on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - UOC). The report criticised the legislation as disproportionate, arguing that existing laws in Ukraine sufficiently address national security concerns without targeting entire religious organisations. In particular, the analysis addressed the “Russian World” doctrine, which the law defines in a “confusing language”.
“It is also unclear why such a ban on this concept is necessary when Ukrainian law already bans spreading Russian propaganda and justifying Russia's invasion,” the analysis says.
Reactions and support for Metropolitan Onufry (UOC) are still coming. The Ohrid Archdiocese (North Macedonia) sided with the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The MOC-OA Holy Synod discussed the issue on 12 September. It stated that “millions of believers, who worship in this Church, are now deprived of their fundamental right to religious worship.”
The statement, disseminated widely in North Macedonia, inaccurately portrays the legislation passed. It states that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was outright banned with the adoption of the law.
“Millions of believers, who worship in this Church, are now deprived of their fundamental right to religious worship,” the statement says.
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Read more about the Balkan church leaders’ support of Metropolitan Onufry in the previous Substack post.
Russian Metropolitan's Actions Raise Alarm in Norway
A Russian Orthodox Church bishop, Mitrofan (Badanin), repeated comments about the Russian claim of a region in northeastern Norway have raised eyebrows among those who follow the activity of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Nordic countries. RISU writes that the Russian Metropolitan has repeatedly denied that the Varanger Peninsula is part of Norway. He referred to the region as “our Orthodox land”, stating that it was “given away in 1826 by unscrupulous officials.”
RISU cites Norwegian academic Kari Aga Myklebost (original article: The New Yorker), who described Badanin’s activities as part of broader efforts for “ideological subversion.”
“They use history to legitimatize the idea that this is part of the Russian cultural sphere,” Myklebost has said.
Vatican greenlights Medjugorje devotion
After over a decade of analysis, the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has decided to grant Medjugorje a decree of “nihil obstat.”
According to the press release and shortened analysis, the newly acquired status, or the nihil obstat, “indicates that the faithful can receive positive encouragement for their Christian life through this spiritual proposal, and it authorizes public acts of devotion.”
Furthermore, the document states that the ruling comes because “many positive fruits have been noted in the midst of a spiritual experience, while negative and dangerous effects have not spread among the People of God.”
Medjugorje, located in the southwestern part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, has attracted millions of Catholic believers over the years, who have used it as a pilgrimage site. In 1981, several young men and women reported visions of the Virgin Mary.
The document by the Dicastery states that “the time has come to conclude a long and complex history that has surrounded the spiritual phenomena of Medjugorje. It is a history in which bishops, theologians, commissions, and analysts have expressed a series of divergent opinions.”
In 2019, the Vatican granted permission for the site to be used as a pilgrimage site without confirming the authenticity of the visions.
Estonian Ministry of Interior: MPEOK's Move to Distance from Russia Insufficient
In an effort to demonstrate its separation from Moscow, the Estonian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate (MPEOK) amended its statute. It changed its name by removing the “Moscow Patriarchate” add-on from its title. Tarmo Miilits, a high-level official at the Estonian Ministry of Interior, has sent a letter to the MPEOK criticising the changes as merely cosmetic.
"The initial general assessment is that the submitted text does not fully align with the state's clear expectation, expressed in previous meetings,” the letter says.
“You mention that you have been working to reduce the Russian Orthodox Church's administrative influence in the statute text. However, the state's expectation, based on the Riigikogu's [Estonia’s Parliament] declaration recognizing the Moscow Patriarchate as an institution supporting Russia's military aggression, is that this influence should be completely eliminated,” Miilits has written.
Apart from changing the name, the adopted new statute incorporated changes in administrative, economic, educational, and civil affairs.
As part of the negotiations with the state, the MPEOK earlier announced a possible merger with the smaller Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church (EAOK), which is under the Ecumenical Patriarchate. According to ERR, the EAOK has offered a solution to the MPEOK's canonical uncertainty by offering it the status of autonomous vicariate.
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Andreja
