Showing posts with label Ukraine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ukraine. Show all posts

Tuesday 21 August 2018

Can a state create a church

Normally one would think a state can not create a church, but in the Ukraine this year the country may see the formation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate (UOC-KP) headed by a self-proclaimed leader named Patriach Filaret Denisenko becoming to be accepted by the
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) who is been asked as first among equals (primus inter pares) primarily for historic reasons (because Constantinople, before its takeover by Turks in 1453, was the centre of Orthodox Christianity) to accept this new church.

Russian Patriarch Kirill, speaking in Moscow at the celebrations of the 1030th anniversary of Vladimir’s baptism of Rus, warned against attempts by secular authorities in Ukraine to interfere with church affairs or to split the historic church.

Orthodox faithful inside Ukraine, both ethnic Russians and ethnic Ukrainians, see the plans of Poroshenko’s government and Denisenko as an illegal assault on their tradition and religious heritage. In addition, some deputies in the Ukrainian Rada (Parliament) have warned that there could be “bloody consequences” if the properties of the UOC-MP are confiscated and its members forced to join a new church.

According to the historical record, the Baptism of Kievan Rus by Vladimir had the support and participation of the Greek Church in Constantinople, then the official church of the Eastern Roman Empire, later known as Byzantium. The first Orthodox bishops and metropolitans (equivalent to Western archbishops) in Russia were Greeks from Constantinople who got their “apostolic succession” from Christ’s disciples. 

Poroshenko: More moves against Moscow.

The petition to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to approve the invention of a new “united” Ukrainian church that eliminates the UOC-MP would violate this sacred apostolic succession, says the Moscow Patriarchate. The UOC-MP has also protested that neither Poroshenko nor the Rada are empowered to ask Bartholomew to change the church’s organization in Ukraine.
The strength of the Russian Orthodox Church and its Ukrainian sister UOC-MP lies in the apostolic succession, which the current Ukrainian government can neither provide nor imitate,”
 the Russian Orthodox Church’s spokesman said.
 “The state cannot `create’ a church, nor should it aspire to do it. But this is exactly what the Ukrainian authorities are trying to do, urging the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to merge with Denisenko’s entity and asking from the ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople an autocephalous status for this new `united’ Ukrainian church of their own invention.”
This initiative is an abuse of power, an interference of state into church affairs,”
 UOC-MP’s the spokesman said. 

The UOC-MP has remained the only public organization in Ukraine which still legally has the word “Moscow” in its name, and for millions of Ukrainian citizens, ethnic Russians or not, any kind of legal linkage to Russia is still valued.

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Ukraine Poroshenko-Denisenko plan to form independent Orthodox church in Ukraine

Ukraine Poroshenko-Denisenko plan to form independent Orthodox church in Ukraine

In the Ukraine we may find Patriach Filaret (born Denisenko) a former cleric of the Moscow Patriarchate, who left the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) in 1992 following the collapse of the Soviet Union. He had lost an ecclesiastical election and tried to form his own church, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate (UOC-KP) and therefor he became excommunicated. His church is not recognized by any of the other members of the international community of Orthodox churches. 

Now the Poroshenko government, formed in the beginning of the civil war that followed the U.S.-backed 2014 bloody coup in the “Euromaidan” uprising, is favouring the split-off of the traditional church by the anti-Moscow church known as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate (UOC-KP)

They have called on Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in Istanbul to remove the authority of the Moscow Patriarchate and recognize a new, single independent Orthodox church in Ukraine, severing all ties to Moscow.
The single church in the Poroshenko-Denisenko plan would carry the UOC-KP name with the authority, according to Denisenko, to seize all churches, temples, chapels, monasteries and other properties belonging to the UOC-MP. 

It would mean dispossessing the historic UOC-MP, which has direct “apostolic” continuity with the 1030-year-old original Kievan church and Christianity in the Eastern Roman empire, once brought there by Christ’s own disciples. UOC-MP said they would not pray in church together with the excommunicated Denisenko.


Monday 20 March 2017

Fight against nationalism main struggle for feminists today

For Feminist activist Sasha Shevchenko, "the main struggle for feminists today", apart of "the fight against patriarchy, the Church, the sex industry and any kind of totalitarianism", is "the fight against nationalism" and "Nazi ideas" that are "growing like mushrooms after the rain". 
During a debate at the European parliament in Brussels, Shevchenko and fellow Femen activists Oxana Shachko and Yana Zhdanova, said that
"the situation in Ukraine is much worse today than it was under former president Viktor Yanukovich", but their main concern today is "the situation of refugees in Europe."
"As we are refugees ourselves" – the three women fled Ukraine and have applied for asylum in France – "we see that society does not accept easily refugees. Although we are white women, we face many obstacles in getting asylum. Bureaucratic obstacles and also politicians using the refugee crisis for their own purposes. We don't want to be manipulated by Marine Le Pen and other populist politicians. The European Union should stay united and spread the idea of a place that accepts everyone. Nazi – meaning far-right – ideas spread across Europe and are the major threat to it. People should fight Marine Le Pen and the likes the same way they fought Hitler."





Saturday 5 July 2014

Christadelphian brothers and sisters in Ukraine

Kharkov (Ukraine) RailRoad Station ???????????...
Kharkov (Ukraine) RailRoad Station  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Turmoil keeps going on in different parts of the Ukraine.

Sister Elena in Kramatorsk has had to move away to Kiev with her mother and daughter to be away from the bombing.
Bro Alex and Sis Olga in Donetsk had already left to be with their daughter in California on a planned trip before the troubles began.
 
Conditions in Kiev and in the centre of Ukraine are calm. The only area where violence continues is in the big cities on the east.
 
Sis Veronika in Poltava reports the brothers and sisters are all well, apart from poor health. The brothers and sisters in Pavlograd continue to meet for their breaking of bread in peace.
Bro Charles in Kharkov is short of work in the market because of the national downturn in business, but is well.
 
There is a general point which will affect all our brothers and sisters - the drop in value of the grivna (it is now worth 20 to the pound instead of 12) has increased prices in the shops. The annual Bible School is planned for August.

Monday 24 March 2014

Swallowing up Crimea, who is next

Vladimir Putin has delivered a swift and uncompromising blow to the imposition of US and EU sanctions by signing a decree recognising Crimea as an independent state, paving the way for him to acknowledge a request from the breakaway region to join the Russian Federation. Ignoring Western threats of a new Cold War and a “far-reaching” economic blockade, the Russian president will on Tuesday address both houses of the Russian parliament on the crisis, and is expected to welcome Crimea into the fold. The formal process of absorbing the peninsula could be completed within weeks. The Kremlin announced that Mr Putin had signed a decree recognising Crimea as an independent state, after it voted overwhelmingly on Sunday to leave Ukraine and join Russia. The US and the European Union responded by issuing targeted sanctions against several key players in the escalating crisis.

Events have moved amazingly quickly. Just a few weeks ago Crimea was part of Ukraine. In less than two weeks Russia has moved in and annexed the region and brought it under the Russian Federation. Mr Putin has seen his personal approval ratings soar to a three-year high after his decision to send troops to Crimea. Crimea was invaded by Russia in the 1870s and then handed to Ukraine in 1954. It remained with Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. But Putin has said that the greatest geopolitical catastrophe was the collapse of the USSR. He has now begun the process of rebuilding that empire. The Russian juggernaut is on the move. Almost all commentators say that we are returning to a new Cold War. In Ezekiel 38 we read of Gog being “turned back”. This literally means “to be returned”. Putin himself (Gog) was returned to power and is now turning the whole of Russia back to Cold War days….

And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen                                                                                                              “I will turn thee back” literally means “I will return you” or “I will restore you”.

Two almost simultaneous signatures Friday on opposite sides of Europe deepened the divide between East and West, as Russia formally annexed Crimea and the European Union pulled Ukraine closer into its orbit. In this "new post-Cold War order," as the Ukrainian prime minister called it, besieged Ukrainian troops on the Crimean Peninsula faced a critical choice: leave, join the Russian military or demobilize. Ukraine was working on evacuating its outnumbered troops in Crimea, but some said they were still awaiting orders. With fears running high of clashes between the two sides or a grab by Moscow for more of Ukraine, the chief of the U.N. came to the capital city Kiev and urged calm all around. All eyes were on President Vladimir Putin, as they have been ever since pro-Western protests drove out Ukraine's president a month ago, angering Russia and plunging Europe into its worst crisis in a generation.

The division of Russia and Europe is made clear in the Bible. It begins with the 2 legs of Daniel’s image representing East and West. It is further detailed in Daniel 7 and 8. Daniel 7 tracks the West and the power of Rome. Daniel 8 tracks the East and the latter day power of Russia. Daniel 11 from verse 40 shows the conflict between East and West through the latter day powers of king of the north and king of the south. There are two distinct wars at the end. Ezekiel 38 is a war led by Russia (East). This war is about power and spoil.  Then there is a religious war (Revelation 17) led by Europe / Rome.

the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold— The stone = Christ returning. The metals of the image  = different world empires.  The fact the stone grinds all worldly kingdoms to powder does NOT mean all the metals are united as one at the end. They remain divided. (Daniel 2:45)

- Andy Walton in Weekly World Watch

 

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Please do find also:
  1. Mother of Ukraine or Crimea
  2. Ukrainians should be free to shape the future of their country
  3. Battling Borshct in Ukraine
  4. When Crimean people made their choice
  5.  

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  1. Chess in a Minefield: The Global Implications of the Ukraine Conflict
  2. West is Impudent – This is like the Fall of Rome 
  3. Crimea: A Microcosm of East-West Conflict 
  4. The Social-Psychological Roots of the Ethnic Problems in Crimea
  5. Christianizing Crimea: Shaping Sacred Space in the Russian Empire and Beyond
  6. Why Crimea, Soviet ‘Gift’ to Ukraine, Remains Strongly Russian
  7. Crimea Votes for Greater Freedom from Ukraine Self-Determination in Black Sea…
  8. Ukraine as it happened: Putin says ‘threat of ultranationalists’ forced him to intervene

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Thursday 20 March 2014

Russian take-over of Crimea

The Ukrainian capital, Kiev, erupted in violent demonstrations and street clashes in late January, culminating with the removal by Parliament of President Viktor Yanukovych. Tensions mounted in the Crimea region, where additional Russian troops and armoured vehicles were reportedly deployed.


English: Ukrainian Presidential Election Octob...
Ukrainian Presidential Election October 2004 - Viktor Yanukovych (First Round) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The last few days we saw how how the Crimean people could only give two votes in Sunday's referendum of which we can question if it was legally installed. The referendum in which 96.8 percent of Crimean residents voted in favour of the secession could also been seen as a voice of the majority. The voter turnout in the referendum stood at 83.1 percent. Those who did not turn up to give their vote in a certain way can now not complain.
It for sure did not resolve in Ukraine the country’s ongoing political crisis.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned on Monday, March 17 the proclaimed independence from Ukraine, will further worsen the situation around Ukraine. 


Ban Ki-moon is “deeply concerned and disappointed” that this weekend’s Crimea secession referendum will only exacerbate an “already complex and tense situation.”

Since the beginning of the crisis, the UN chief has urged all parties to avoid “hasty steps” that could exacerbate tensions.
“He encourages all parties to work for a solution that is guided by the principles of the United Nations Charter, including respecting Ukraine’s unity and sovereignty,”
 said Mr. Dujarric.

What we in the West hear is only that most Tartars stayed at home and did not go to vote. So you could wonder if they now can complain. Looking at the results,in case they where received honestly the majority of the voters in Crimea overwhelmingly supported leaving Ukraine and joining Russia. The referendum caps months of political unrest, triggered by the Government's decision last November not to sign an agreement on broader European integration. The Ukrainian capital, Kiev, erupted in violent demonstrations and street clashes in late January, culminating with the removal by Parliament of President Viktor Yanukovych. Tensions mounted in the Crimea region, where additional Russian troops and armoured vehicles were reportedly deployed.

In his statement today, the Secretary-General condemned the violence which occurred over the weekend in eastern Ukraine and which resulted in injuries and loss of life on all sides.
“The Secretary-General once again urges all parties to refrain from violence and to commit themselves to de-escalation and inclusive national dialogue in the pursuit of a political and diplomatic solution,”
 said Mr. Dujarric, adding:
“A deterioration of the situation will have serious repercussions for the people of Ukraine, the region and beyond.”  

The UN chief also urged all parties in Ukraine and those with influence to avoid any steps that could further increase tensions.
“Above all, the Secretary-General urges all concerned to intensify their efforts and engage constructively toward a peaceful solution to this crisis, with the aspirations of all the people of Ukraine foremost in mind,”
said Mr. Dujarric, adding that Mr. Ban remains ready to work with all parties to resolve this situation.


Moscow and Kiev are on the brink of conflict following a breakdown in relations in the wake of last month's overthrow of Ukraine's former Kremlin-backed president Viktor Yanukovych.
On Tuesday, Putin signed a treaty absorbing the Ukrainian region of Crimea into Russia and on Wednesday pro-Russian troops stormed a Ukrainian naval headquarters on the peninsula.
 

Much of the international community, including the United States and the European Union, rejects the annexation of Crimea as illegal, but Moscow in turn refuses to recognise the Ukrainian government. 

The Secretary-General will travel to Kiev on Friday, where he will hold talks with top Ukrainian officials, members of the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission and representatives of civil society.
The statement said the visit was "part of (Ban's) diplomatic efforts to encourage all parties to resolve the current crisis peacefully". Key elements of the charter include respect for fellow U.N. member states' sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the peaceful resolution of international disputes.

The Christadelphian brothers and sisters in Kiev, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson and Crimea thankfully can report that they are all well, and unaffected so far by the protests and the Russian take-over of Crimea. However their cost of living will increase as the grivna devalues against foreign currencies, and imports cost more.

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