Kiev targets ‘pro-Kremlin’ senior cleric
Ukraine’s Security Services (SBU) have raided the office and residence of senior cleric Ionafan, accusing him of sowing religious discord and supporting Russia.
Ionafan is the metropolitan bishop of the Tulchin diocese in Vinnitsa Region, subordinate to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), which declared independence and autocephaly from the Moscow Patriarchate earlier this year following the outbreak of the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
“The metropolitan on his own internet resource posted publications containing calls for inciting interfaith hatred. The expertise commissioned by the SBU confirmed the illegal nature of the suspect’s actions,” the security service said in a statement.
The SBU claimed it had seized incriminating materials, including various “printed pro-Russian content and propaganda literature.” Imagery released by the SBU shows assorted leaflets, including one reading “Donbass is Russia,” credit cards issued by the country’s SberBank, as well as a portrait of Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.
A pre-trial probe into the bishop’s alleged activities has been launched. So far, however, Ionafan has not been detained by the Ukrainian authorities.
The priest has firmly rejected the allegations raised by the SBU, claiming that the raid was part of efforts to seize a local cathedral from the UOC. Moreover, the metropolitan implied the “evidence” recovered during the raid of his home had been planted.
“I believe that the aforementioned actions are deliberate and directed against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as a whole and against the authority of the Tulchin diocese hierarchs and sowing confusion among its clergy and believers. And in the future, the capture of its Tulchinsky Christ-Nativity Cathedral in favor of a ‘privileged’ religious organization,” Ionafan said in a statement.
While the cleric did not name the “organization” explicitly, he was apparently referring to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), a breakaway entity established with active help from the country’s authorities and then-president Petro Poroshenko. Ukraine has long experienced religious tensions, with multiple unrecognized entities claiming to be the true Ukrainian Orthodox Church and challenging the authority of the Moscow Patriarchate.
Poroshenko’s efforts, however, caused an open schism within the Ukrainian Orthodox community back in 2018. The rivalry between different churches was further aggravated by the ongoing conflict, with the UOC declaring its autocephaly from the Moscow Patriarchate back in May.
