Originally published March 27, 2023, at Dissident Mama.
My guest is vice rector of Kiev Theological Academy in the Kiev Caves Lavra, Archimandrite Filaret Voloshyn, who I interviewed with co-host Father John Whiteford, a priest in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, head priest at St. Jonah Orthodox Church in Spring, Texas, and a co-founder of the Ludwell Orthodox Fellowship along with yours truly.
Last week, Father Filaret released a video about the tensions rising in the ancient monastery and its theological schools in response to the Ukrainian government’s impending March 29 deadline to remove the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) from the monastery. The courageous hieromonk (whose English is superb!) explains to Father John and me the “tragically difficult” situation that is unfolding there (and has been for a many years) and is coming to a head within days. This is a matter of religious and human rights, and one that affects not only the Orthodox faithful of Kiev but also every Christian around the world. I implore all people of goodwill to listen to this first-person account and pray mightily for those being persecuted.
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My friends at Orthodox Reflections, who suggested to me that I reach out to Fr. Filaret for an interview, have some of the best articles on the crisis being inflicted upon the UOC. These include:
• “5 Important Ways to Help the Persecuted Ukrainian Orthodox Church” which features the email message Fr. Filaret sent to alternative-media outlets in America.
• “8 Lies Told by Enemies of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church”
• “End the Unjust, Immoral Persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church”
• “We Demand an End to the Silence Over the Persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church”
Fr. John also presented a paper in 2019 at St. Tikhon University entitled “An American Perspective on the Ukraine Crisis” and was featured at OrthoChristian. Here are a few other relevant items from this Orthodox website:
• “New video shows how UOC completely restored the dilapidated Kiev Caves Lavra (+VIDEO)”
• “Thousands of faithful again fill the Kiev Caves Lavra on Sunday of the Cross (+VIDEO)”
• “‘Bow to me and you’ll have no problems,’ Pat. Bartholomew tells Met. Onuphry, according to Lavra abbot”
• “Metropolitan Onuphry’s Pastoral Love for the Ukrainian People”
Some of Fr. John’s other pertinent articles on this extremely vital topic:
• “What’s Going on in Ukraine? Part 1: The Historical Background”
• “What’s Going on in Ukraine? Part 2: The Canonical Issues”
• “The Day They Began Killing Christians”
And a couple of his homilies:
• “St. Maximus the Confessor and the Schism in Ukraine”
• “The Schism over Ukraine”
Truth warrior, Jesus follower, wife, and boymom. Apologetics practitioner for Orthodox Christianity, the Southern tradition, homeschooling, and freedom. Recovering feminist-socialist-atheist, graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and retired mainstream journalist turned domesticated belle and rabble-rousing rhetorician. You can read her blog at Dissident Mama.
