The search for ways to autocephaly and criticism of the “Russian world” ideology became the central topics at the conference of the Kyiv Theological Academy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church

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On October 17, the International Scientific and Practical Conference “Spiritual and Secular Education: History of Relations – Modernity – Perspectives” was held at the Kyiv Theological Academy. It has been held for the sixteenth year in a row, and the general name of this annual conference has also been kept the same for a number of years. However, for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church itself, this conference became an important event, because two key reports of the plenary session of the conference were devoted to the actual issues related to the current difficult situation in Ukrainian and World Orthodoxy.

The first such report was the speech of the rector of the Academy Archbishop Sylvester entitled “Paths to autocephaly: World and Ukrainian contexts”. In particular, the rector formulated two theses: the search for autocephaly does not deny the unity of existence of the Orthodox Church at the world level; there are no canonical obstacles for the UOC to obtain autocephaly.

His Eminence admitted that today at the Pan-Orthodox level there is no unambiguous procedure for acquiring such autocephaly. At the same time, he emphasized that in the current difficult circumstances of the war in Ukraine the pastoral duty of the UOC is to pray for Ukrainian victory. Also, according to his conviction, more active communication of the leadership of the UOC with other local Orthodox churches should contribute to receiving autocephaly.

Equally important was the speech of the vice-rector for scientific and theological work, Professor Volodymyr Bureha. His speech was called “The Genesis of the ‘Russian World’ Ideology at the turn of the 20th-21st centuries and its main features”. This topic is practically important because the recently adopted law of Ukraine “On Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Field of Activities of Religious Organizations” (no. 3894-IX) provides possibility for banning religious organizations if they are engaged in propaganda of the “Russian world” ideology.

In his analysis, the speaker showed the chronological development of this ideological construct: 

• For the first time the phrase “Russian world” was used in 1998 among liberal Russian political technologists;

• In 2001, it was used publicly for the first time by the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin;

• In 2007, the “Russian World” foundation was created by Putin’s decree;

• Since 2009, this construct has been used by the newly elected Patriarch of Moscow Kirill.

As a result of his analysis, Volodymyr Bureha comes to the conclusion that the “Russian world” construct may not be called a “doctrine” – it was consciously developed as a vague and elastic concept; more important, this construct is not a part of the church teaching, and even more, this idea is not theological at all. Therefore, the Professor’s final conclusion is as follows: “In the speeches of Patriarch Kirill, the ‘Russian world’ ideology turned into a so-called civil religion, which may not be confused with divinely revealed teaching”.

The reports we mentioned here can be found in original Ukrainian language on the website of the Kyiv Theological Academy: