Abstract
The recognition of the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 2019 sparked a debate in the Orthodox world about the legitimacy of such an act. In the present study, we aim to explain, through the concept of theopolitics, this event which has caused a schism in the contemporary Orthodox Church. Following a brief introduction to Buber’s concept of theopolitics, we focus on a historical overview, demonstrating that the problems of the Orthodox world do not originate in theological issues, as it might seem at first glance, but primarily in political issues. The case of the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church proves the importance of theopolitics.
Highlights
At the collapse of the Soviet Union (USSR), secular political issues had already been reflected in the religious sphere, Christian churches, in particular, were just gaining ground in an atheised society at that time, and the communist ideology had made space for the return of religion
Religious disputes remained overshadowed by political events, Russia’s efforts to reassert its geopolitical influence in the post-Soviet and, subsequently, post-communist regions, such as Russia’s early support for Abkhazian, South Ossetian, and Transnistrian separatists; its support for the increasingly autocratic regime in Belarus; its military aggression against Georgia in 2008; and above all, its unprecedented annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea and military support for Donbas separatists in eastern Ukraine in 2014
It should be stated that the differences certainly do not concern theological issues but political ones, they are often cloaked in theological rhetoric
Summary
At the collapse of the Soviet Union (USSR), secular political issues had already been reflected in the religious sphere, Christian churches, in particular, were just gaining ground in an atheised society at that time, and the communist ideology had made space for the return of religion. Developed against the backdrop of the highly publicised events mentioned above It has remained in the shadow of the attention of the conventional state diplomacy; it became more visible after the recognition of the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine by the Patriarch of Constantinople in January 2019. Their article examines the recent “schism” in Eastern Orthodoxy to demonstrate how closely intertwined religion and politics are in disputes over territory and sovereignty They argue that two logics come into play in this conflict: one grounded in the theological-political concept of “canonical territory”, the other in the notion of “communion” underlying the Christian communion. Governments of some states cannot exercise jurisdiction in their own countries (e.g., Tibetan or Saharan); there is the Belarusian Church in exile mentioned above
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