Divine Dispatch 📫: 25 Dec - 2 Jan, 2025
Hilarion (Alfeyev) is sent to Czechia, ● New Kosovo Autocephalous Church ● Bulgaria schism fears ● Russian compatriots in Dublin, and so much more.
Welcome to Divine Dispatch, a brand new Divine Diplomacy product that tracks the pulse of church geopolitics weekly. If you are new here, welcome!
As you have probably guessed, this is a super-busy period for any news related to the Church, and political elites know how to “use this time of year " to gain extra points among the electorate, especially in the Orthodox world.
My name is Andreja Bogdanovski, and here’s a roundup of church developments from the past week that caught my attention.
📌 Let’s begin 3,2,1
1. 🇸🇾 The Orthodox and Christian communities in Syria are beginning to establish relationships with the new Syrian government. They have received assurances from the new leaders regarding protecting religious freedoms. See here, here, and here.
2. 🇺🇦 UGCC Primate Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk said in an interview that clergy affiliated with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC-MP) have allegedly received funding from pro-Russian oligarchs in Germany to create parallel communities and religious centres among the Russian-speaking Ukrainian diaspora to influence state policy from abroad.
Shevchuk also rejected any claims for possible talks about a unification of his church with the independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine. (Interview for RBC Ukraine). See also my text.
3. 🇻🇦 Pope Francis called Ukrainians and Russians brothers/cousins, sparking reactions across Ukraine.
4. 🇺🇦 Ukraine’s State Service for Ethnopolitics published a breakdown of the number of parishes that transitioned from the UOC to OCU. Between 2018 and 2024, the number of religious parishes fluctuated: 319 in 2019, 30 in 2020, 25 in 2021, 496 in 2022, 471 in 2023, and 218 as of December 23, 2024. The total number of transitions from 2019 to 2024 is 1,559.
5. 🇺🇦, 🇻🇦 The Pope has accepted an invitation to visit Ukraine, according to the Primate of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, who said that his church received assurances for this.
6. 🇧🇬 Bulgarian Court has decided to allow the registration of the Bulgarian Orthodox Old Calendar Church. This has sent shockwaves through Bulgaria's political and ecclesiastical landscape. Some fear another schism, prompting political and church actors to mobilise in an effort to reverse the decision and safeguard the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.
7. 🇷🇺 Hilarion (Alfeyev), the former first diplomat of the Russian Orthodox Church was retired after the Russian church completed an investigation. He was accused of sexual harassment and living a lavish lifestyle in Europe. He will now serve as a priest in Karlovy Vary - Czechia.
8. 🇮🇪 In Dublin - Ireland, a small gathering took place in front of the US Embassy, where several people signed a petition against the treatment of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The petition was addressed to Donald Trump and JD Vance. Among those present was former Latvian city council member and Russian compatriot activist Jurijs Zaicevs, who was afterwards called by the Latvian State Security Service (VDD). In 2014, he was an observer in the illegal Crimea referendum.
9. 🇽🇰 A renewed effort to launch a new Orthodox church emerges in the Balkans – Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Kosovo with a seat in Podujevë/Podujevo (northeast Kosovo).
“We notify all Orthodox Churches in the Balkans, and their clerics for the official formation of the "Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Kosovo.”
10. 🇪🇺 The Russian Orthodox Primate, Patriarch Kirill, was again exempt from sanctions in the new EU sanctions package adopted last month – primarily due to Hungary’s veto influence. Hungary’s foreign minister called the proposal to sanction him - a crazy idea.
📌 In Depth:
Andriy Fert, a lecturer at the Kyiv School of Economics, published a report for Zois Berlin, which unpacks pro-Russian attitudes within the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The research is based on almost thirty interviews with priests and parishioners.
Volodymyr Bureha (Kyiv Theological Academy and Seminary of Ukrainian Orthodox Church) writes about the transformation of the Russian World concept in the past twenty-five years from a soft-power enhancer to a sharp-power tool used to justify the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Interview of Metropolitan Theodosiy (UOC’s Cherkasy Diocese) for Greek church-specialised website Romfea. Metropolitan Theodosiy suffered head injuries and was taken to hospital after violence broke out at a cathedral in Cherkasy, in central Ukraine, in November. The interview was published in Romfea;
Translation in English - published by the Russian Orthodox Church. See my text on this.
📌 My latest articles:
The Tablet
Pope has accepted invitation to Ukraine, says archbishop
· KyivPost
How the Vatican Appeases Putin’s Orthodox Auxiliaries
📌 Developments to watch out:
6/7 January - Patriarch Kirill and Russia’s leadership statements on Christmas which is celebrated on the 7th of January.
6/7 January - Statements of the leadership of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (formerly known as UOC- Moscow Patriarchate). The church celebrates Christmas on this date.
10 January - US President Joe Biden will visit Italy and meet Pope Francis.
January - In the coming weeks, the Russian Duma will debate law amendments banning ‘house churches’ in Russia.
📌 Most popular links from last week’s newsletter:
🇬🇷 Greece is assuming a greater role in protecting Christians in Syria and Libya. See here and here.
📌 Opinion Poll
Results from the first opinion poll are in. Most people who voted don’t consider it likely that the Catholics and the Orthodox will agree on a common date for Easter (67%). There wasn’t a single vote who believed this might happen as soon as this year.
This week’s poll:
Do you expect the new authorities in Syria to respect the religious rights of Christians living in the country?
Feel free to dive into the comments section below and share your thoughts!
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Andreja
Somewhere I read that the ROC also opened 4 new parishes in Portugal. Maybe you were the source for that.