JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine expels pro-Russian clergy from Kyiv cave monastery complex” – Politico
“The move comes amid a major schism between Ukraine’s Orthodox churches..”
“… Wednesday is the deadline for the monastery’s 1,000 inhabitants to leave what was their home amid heightened political concerns that some of them were too close to Moscow, and were Russian fifth columnists. … [T]he spiritual head of the world’s Orthodox Christians, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew [of Constantinople], hardened his stance towards the Moscow Patriarchate, saying … that Russia’s Orthodox Church shared responsibility for the conflict in Ukraine. ‘The church and the state leadership in Russia cooperated in the crime of aggression and shared the responsibility for the resulting crimes, like the shocking abduction of the Ukrainian children,’ Bartholomew … said …. In what was taken as a clear criticism of Russian Patriarch Kirill, Bartholomew said the Kremlin has been using the Moscow church as an ‘instrument for their strategic objectives.’ …”
Click here for: “Ukraine expels pro-Russian clergy from Kyiv cave monastery complex; The move comes amid a major schism between Ukraine’s Orthodox churches.” – Politico/ Veronika Melkozerova, Jamie Dettmer
