Ukrainian monks hid students from police beating in the monastery

December 9, 2013 · Kyiv, Orthodoxy, Ukraine

— Ivan, please tell us what happened that night? How did people come to you, how did you decide where to put them to sleep, how to feed them? It was deep night, the church gates were surely closed.

— That night, before the Berkut beat the peaceful people who came out to the rally, the life of the monastery went on in its usual way: every day the gates are opened at 7:00 and closed at 23:00. When they opened the gates on the night of November 30, I don’t know, but… I sing in the choir of St. Michael’s Cathedral, and when I entered the cathedral (around 7:30) for the service, I saw many people simply sleeping on the floor.

— How was the decision made to shelter the protesters in the church? Did the protesters come to the church on their own, or did someone tell them they could hide from the Berkut in the cathedral?

— The monastery gates are always open to everyone. The abbot of the monastery did not forbid anyone who wished to enter the cathedral’s grounds. Especially if people asked for shelter. The brotherhood was blessed to shelter people within the monastery walls by His Holiness Patriarch Filaret of Kyiv and All Rus’-Ukraine (who is also the sacred archimandrite of the Golden-Domed monastery).

— Can you tell us what kind of people came to the church from the Maidan? Were they mostly young people? Students? How many were there? Were they frightened?

— There were about 300 people. The monks gave everyone hot tea, food. Interestingly, when the Berkut arrived at the monastery gates, the people, in panic, closed the gates and barricaded them with benches. The people were really terrified! According to eyewitness accounts of the events on the Maidan, the Berkut and the police were chasing and beating people even a kilometer away from the Independence Monument. So they hid in the monastery, hoping that they would not dare to enter there (and indeed they did not enter).

— On Friday, the protesters became victims, they were beaten with batons, and many were injured. But on Sunday, the mood of the people changed — there was an attempt to seize government buildings, to fight with the police. What is your attitude toward the radical actions of the protesters?

— The slaughter on Bankova Street was indeed a provocation! People bought by Medvedchuk (Viktor Medvedchuk — former head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine. — Ed. Medialeaks) are doing everything to disrupt the rally! The people’s protest for European integration is peaceful. No one is going to seize the Presidential Administration, and if anyone does, it will be Yanukovych’s own people, to create a picture that the situation has gotten out of control. Believe me, this is the truth!

— It really caught the Russians’ eye that your cathedral gave shelter to the protesters, because when rallies were held on Bolotnaya Square in Moscow against the rule of Vladimir Putin, the church criticized the opposition, and on the contrary, both the patriarch and other representatives of the clergy supported the authorities’ actions. Why did you support the people, while our church did not?

— Regarding the question of politics and the Church, St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery belongs to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate. And it is difficult to compare the Russian Orthodox Church and the UOC-KP. Our canons and rites, the Bible and the Gospel, teachings and dogmas are the same; apostolic succession exists in both Churches, but the views on the place of the Church in politics are different here.

Have you Russians still not realized that Patriarch Kirill is in agreement with the president of Russia? He will not go against the president. Do you not understand that the ROC and Russia will not grant Ukraine genuine independence?..

Although Kyiv baptized Rus’, Ukraine has every right to revive its national Church, which in 1686 was subordinated to the Moscow Patriarchate. The ROC will not allow this, since one-third of the parishes of the Orthodox Church of the USSR were on the territory of Ukraine. Money, parishes, primacy in Universal Orthodoxy, the Third Rome — that is what Patriarch Kirill of Moscow is striving for. Ukraine, Ukrainian history, money, enslavement, assimilation of peoples (Patriarch Kirill’s slogan: “Ukraine — Russia — Belarus — a united Rus’”) — that is what the Russian government is striving for. And it has been striving for more than one century. We do not need Moscow to warm us — it has grown quite warm enough on Ukraine already…

Personally, I do not condemn Russia or the people of that country. I condemn the authorities of Russia and the authorities of Ukraine. And I ask the president of Russia to let Ukraine independently choose its own path, and I ask the guarantor of Ukraine to confess before God and people and leave the presidential chair. I am convinced that all sober-minded Ukrainians will support me, because on the Independence Square and in all cities of Ukraine, millions, not thousands as Russian TV channels say, are praying daily precisely for the fulfillment of these demands.

Print, save, letter .pdf