Orthodox Church in Ukraine in the context of the information war. Part 1: Difficult questions

When it comes to the problem of the use of the religious factor in the media, the discussion on this topic primarily requires a serious debate on issues such as: the Church's mission in the modern world, the interaction of Church and secular society, the social work of the Church, the moral education of the young generation, etc.

Alas, all this does not relate to the Ukrainian reality. Of course, since the beginning of the 90s of the last century the Orthodox Church in Ukraine has been making serious efforts to establish a dialogue with the secular society in all possible directions. However, regarding Ukrainian media, their use of the religious factor without any reservations can actually be called a WAR AGAINST THE CANONICAL UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH! That is in today’s Ukraine we cannot in principle talk about any other form of media coverage of any issues related to religion and, in particular, to Orthodoxy.

Difficult questions

In reality, a religious war against the Orthodox Church began in the late 80s. And it was Ukrainian Greek Catholics who first started it. But as soon as Ukraine declared its independence, the war broke out with renewed vigor on the pages of the secular media. The formal reason for it was a division in the Ukrainian Orthodoxy, when first the UAOC and later former Metropolitan Filaret (Denisenko) of Kiev and Galicia, the founder of the so-called "Kiev Patriarchate", dissented from the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

It should be fair to note that in the early 90s not all secular media were strongly against the position of the UOC. For example, the newspaper "Independence" published materials showing the true nature of the schism, initiated by M.A.Denisenko, revealed and denounced the facts of violence against the UOC on behalf of dissenters and Ukrainian nationalists, etc. And yet, in general, Ukrainian mass media (i.e. journalists working in them), for the most part, were negatively disposed to the canonical Orthodox Church.

For some time the Ukrainian authorities could, as they say, "bring down" the wave of indignation, and the discussion on religious themes in secular media actually ceased. Today, however, after the so-called revolution of "dignity", an information (and not only information) war against the Orthodox Church broke out so violently that one can’t but notice it!

The war against the Church in Ukraine, which, as we said, is waged by not only information, but also force and political methods, is held under the slogan of creation in the country of the One Local Orthodox Church! For the secular person, this slogan sounds quite convincing, saying: "One Country - One Church!" That's only on closer examination it is easy to notice that this slogan is just a cover for the realization of more serious plans aimed at the destruction of the Orthodox Church.

In this sense, for me personally most interesting are the questions the answer to which may help to assess the situation and show the way out of it: How did the anti-clerical forces in Ukraine manage to turn the Ukrainian society and the vast majority of secular (and not only secular) media against the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church? Why has the UOC failed to respond adequately to these challenges? And what shall we do next in this situation?

Blame geopolitics!

Today it is no secret that after the collapse of the USSR, Ukraine was in the heart of the global geopolitical processes, when in fact we all witnessed exacerbated confrontation between Western and Eastern European (let's call it so, although in our case it is not entirely right) civilizations. Confrontation in the struggle for the territory, security and resources. Confrontation, which has been going on for more than one century.

I am convinced that the West is well aware that the whole Eastern European Slavic civilization in question (referring to Ukraine, Belarus and Russia) can be called the Orthodox civilization, as its emergence and development is closely linked with the adoption of the Eastern Rite Christianity by our ancestors. That is Orthodoxy we owe the formation of the East Slavic mentality, and that is Orthodoxy (despite the fact that most of our fellow citizens are fully dischurched) being one of the fundamental staples today, which if damaged could destroy the entire Orthodox Russian civilization, according to some Western analysts.

The question about the reason, in my opinion, is quite obvious. As for Ukraine, in the last three years, after the victory of the Maidan, we have seen our country completely lose its independence. It is now under the direct control of the West, which is engaged in the complete reformation of the country, wishing to turn it into its agricultural province and, at the same time, the safety zone on the border with Russia.

This task is not easy, and the main obstacle in this endeavor is the Ukrainian population, most of which in the early 90s positioned themselves as Orthodox Christians and called for close and friendly relations with Russia.

So the destruction of the Orthodox mentality of the Ukrainians, but rather its reformatting either in line with the pan-European tolerance or in accordance with the standards of Western Christian values, is one of the main tasks in the process of depopulation (according to analysts, only 10-12 mln. people can live in the agrarian Ukraine).

In fact, it is about to tear people away from their roots, to break the unity of the three fraternal Slavic countries and, moreover, set them against each other. And then the territory of Ukraine can be easily cleaned by an artificial impoverishment of people, which is certainly accompanied by increased mortality, decreased birth rate and mass emigration to the more developed countries, etc., which we’re all witnessing at the moment (1).

By the way, the whole history of Western civilization is an example of how the West methodically sucked the resources of third world countries, whether it is India, China, Southeast Asia or Latin America, exploited or killed the native population, and almost never cared for the welfare and prosperity of their colonies. Alas, the West today approaches the rest of the world (including Russia and Ukraine) in the same way, with superiority, as it used to do centuries ago: "... we are talking about the past back to the colonial era style of thinking, which confers superiority on the West in relation to the conquered non-West. Although the colonial empires disintegrated long ago, the dead is still tenaciously holds in its embrace the living: the idea of western superiority, cultural colonialism is still alive and continues to significantly influence the policy of the West. By the way, it is not superfluous to note that in the western mental map the place of Russia is located not in the West but in the East "(2).

What is the reason for the success of western ideology in Ukraine, as well as the war against the Orthodox Church?

First, we should give credit to western experts in the field of media manipulation and other western political technologists. Since the 90s, the West has not spared grants and other expenses aimed at reformatting the consciousness of modern Ukrainians. Well aware of it being not a hit-and-run job, western spin doctors had a long-term, well thought-out training, which was not only to take full control of secular Ukrainian media, but also to enter the education system and work systematically and deliberately with the youth public and patriotic organizations. As a rule, such work took place mostly in Western Ukraine, where the majority of the population was loyal to the West and set antagonistic towards Russia. It is the Ukrainians who lived in the west of the country, the so-called westerners, were supposed to be (and eventually became) a battering ram, which the West used to attack the rest of the country.

It took some 25 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union and, in fact, in Ukraine there was a cardinal revolution in the minds of many people, both in terms of our common history, and in relation to Russia. But, what is more painful, in relation to Orthodoxy too. And this transformation has been undertaken gradually, deliberately and, what is most important, continuously: step by step, for nearly two decades in the minds of Ukrainians there has been created a psychological chain, which binds together – "кати" (i.e. executioners) of the NKVD torturing Ukrainian patriots; the Soviet Union – as the "evil empire"; Moscow – as the capital of the Soviet Union and at the same time modern Russia; Russia and the "Russian world", allegedly bringing sufferings to the Ukrainians; The Moscow Patriarchate, which embodies the Orthodox-Russian ideology and, eventually – Orthodoxy as the religion of an imperial character that is now dominant in post-Soviet Russia.

Psychologically, all was quite properly built. The fact is that in the early 90s it could hardly be possible to succeed on hatred to everything Russian and Orthodox, acting, as they say, "in the forehead," i.e. directly and openly discrediting Russia and the Orthodox Church in the eyes of Ukrainians. Therefore, this workaround was made when dissatisfaction of the Soviet regime in Western Ukraine became "fertile soil", which has yielded a present tree of hatred to everything Russian and Orthodox in the soul of many of my fellow citizens.

This is understandable, because: "When somebody is trying to influence us in a clear and obvious way, we instinctively resist this influence, because we just as instinctively see in it an attack on our identity" (3). But when certain ideologies embedded in the public consciousness gradually, it can work. For “…"the plebs to lap up" fabricated reality, people have to accept it voluntarily and rest assured that it is their own view of the world. And of course, people do not have to guess that their world view and the attitude to it are actually largely formed from the outside, and sentiments and reaction – prompted. Otherwise, they will oppose the attempt on their own identity ... The message, which the elite addresses the society, has no right to disagree radically with the mass values and worldview of the society. Otherwise, it is doomed to be unheard. Secondly, any manipulation begins with the preparation of the scene for a media performance, with working on sets and evaluating the reactions of the audience sitting in the room. If they are confident that the scenery is life itself, if the spectators do not notice the artificial nature of what is happening, there is a high probability that the people will take the drama played out in the arranged settings as real life, and not as an artfully presented performance"(4).

Ukrainian nationalism as the foundation of a new ideology

Actually, therefore, Ukrainian nationalism was taken as a new ideology that can reformat the minds of Ukrainians. The reasoning was correct, because when it comes to ethnic groups here: "... in addition to the social and psychological factors biology also adds. We are loyal to the group, with which we have a real or imaginary common origin, on the one hand; we are wary and suspicious about other origin groups, on the other hand. Ethnic loyalty is one of the biggest and most intense human loyalties. Suffice it to recall how we cheer for the national team during major sporting events. And if it comes to a serious foreign policy crisis or, God forbid, the war, the Anglo-Saxon aphoristic formula ‘Right or wrong - my country’ automatically triggers out. However, my Homeland is never wrong. This reaction is truly biological by nature. It was formed as a product of evolution, in which only a group of people who interact successfully within the common descent (tribe) and effectively resist outsiders-competitors survived."(5)

In post-Soviet Ukraine, the introduction of nationalist ideas begins almost from the kindergarten, to say nothing of the school program. For example, in the textbook on the history of Ukraine for 11 form (6), the fight of Ukrainian nationalists from the OUN-UPA is given exactly the same space as the Great Patriotic War as a whole. Moreover, unlike the GPW events, the actions of the Ukrainian nationalists are described with clear and undisguised sympathy, and the facts, discrediting them (be it anti-Jewish pogroms, the service in the Waffen SS, etc.), are persistently ignored. And this is not the limit, because the work on re-writing the history of Ukraine (including textbooks) continues to this day.

Mass media and anti-Church propaganda

Thus, in the minds of people a stable base of the "new historical reality" is laid, which a person is forced to absorb from a very early age, as they say, with "the mother's milk". It is clear that in the future when he/she reaches adulthood, such a person can be easily manipulated, which is actually done by today’s secular Ukrainian mass media (especially television), which tell people "tales" about the imminent European integration and the subsequent well-fed European life (you need only a little patience); "tales" about how Ukraine has protected Europe from the Russian aggression, about the sufferings the so-called "Russian world" has brought Ukrainians; tales of "Moscow priests" who "support" separatists, preach this most "hated" "Russian world" and are just looking forward to sell Ukraine to Putin. In recent time it has comes to the ridiculous, namely the Ukrainian TV began to talk about economic growth and other economic achievements that allegedly take place in modern Ukraine.

But the saddest thing here is that most of these faked TV spots, a skillful mix of truth, half-truth and staging, turns out for the audience the single most reliable reality. After all, they saw it with their own eyes! Unfortunately, it is no secret that one way or another, most people tend to give in to these media tricks. Reportedly, the number of people able to resist the propaganda is only 5% of the total population. The rest of the people are prone to manipulation also due to the fact that we call "collective identity": "In theory, we know that a human is a collective being ... The vast majority of people are conscious or unconscious conformists. That is, they prefer to be on the side of the majority, regardless of whether we are talking about the national majority, workplace or family. It seems to us that truth and justice are on the side of the majority. Or just common sense tells us to "lay low", not to oppose the views and sentiments of the majority "(7).

It is the sentiments of the majority of Ukrainians as the religious factor to use in the internal political processes are very well feel by the current Ukrainian authorities and the mass media under their control. And that is why today the pressure on the Orthodox Church is carried out under the slogan of creation in Ukraine the One Local Orthodox Church (OLOC). In recent years, our government has changed the tactics of pressure on the UOC and weakened the degree of direct physical influence (as it turned out, a very unpopular method in the eyes of most Ukrainians) on the Orthodox Church, turning from the forcible seizure of Orthodox churches (which took place with the absolute complicity of the authorities) to pressure – political and legal, while continuing a campaign to discredit the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the eyes of the Ukrainian public.

In the political field, the pressure is put through attempts to persuade Constantinople to grant autocephaly to the OLOC (which, by the way, does not exist yet) in Ukraine. This is evidenced by an appeal of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, addressed to Patriarch Bartholomew, with a request for granting such an autocephalous status and regular visits to Constantinople: the last time to resolve the issue with the Patriarch two former presidents of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko and Leonid Kuchma, met. In the legislative field, the Ukrainian government is trying to adopt clearly anti-clerical laws (№№ 4128, 4511 and others), which subsequently give the allegedly "legal grounds" to seize the Orthodox shrines and even prohibit the UOC as a religious organization, whose governing center is located in the "aggressor" State.

At the same time, the media are developing an active anti-church campaign, the purpose of which is the formation of public opinion about the UOC as an organization that promotes separatism, advances anti-Ukrainian interests that threatens the security of our state. But the saddest thing is that in this they are assisted by some clergy and bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (8).

Creation of the One Local Orthodox Church as a cover for the destruction of Orthodoxy

On closer examination of the problem it becomes clear that the whole campaign to create in Ukraine the OLOC is only a cover for the real intentions of the Orthodoxy enemies, namely: our opponents are well aware that the suggested plan to overcome the schism in Ukrainian Orthodoxy and the creation of the OLOC is initially completely unacceptable because actually the Local Church in Ukraine is already here, and it is recognized by all the Local Orthodox Churches (Ecumenical Orthodoxy). Besides, the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, in principle, finds it impossible to join with the dissenters, as well as Ecumenical Orthodoxy can’t recognize schismatics (9). So the creation of the OLOC is out of the question. We can only talk about changing the administrative apparatus of the UOC, but rather about giving it the autocephalous status. But for most of the UOC this issue is not relevant and therefore it is not on the agenda. At the same time the main obstacle in getting the autocephalous status of the UOC are just schismatics from the self-proclaimed "Kiev Patriarchate", who are actively supported by the current Ukrainian authorities. Although, in theory, if our government actually sought autocephaly for the UOC, they would, above all, have to stop backing the dissenters. And without such a support the latter simply could not exist.

That is why I again and again dare to insist on the conclusion that the current information war, which the Ukrainian mass media, as well as the Ukrainian Greek Catholics launched against the Orthodox Church in Ukraine is: firstly, an attempt to destroy the unity of Ecumenical Orthodoxy, and secondly, to strike an indirect blow against the Russian Orthodox Church in order to create conditions for a split within the Moscow Patriarchate. That could lead to undermining the ROC prestige among Russian citizens, exclusion of a large part of the Russian population from Orthodoxy and division of the ROC into multiple independent parts (like Protestant Churches) and, as a consequence, the beginning or deepening of a global destructive process (as in the Ukrainian case) of the Russian Federation collapse.

Another, indirect, confirmation of these findings is the fact that today in Ukraine people who sympathize with or are open supporters of the UGCC are basically in charge of religious issues coverage, coordination of actions between different religions of three Christian denominations and authorities. Naturally, they direct the state policy in the sphere of religion in the right for them direction, or better to say, set the tone in the secular media relations to the UOC. That is it is they and their Western counterparts who are the initiators and instigators of the information war against Orthodoxy.

The report read at the seminar "The problem of politically engaged use of the religious factor in the mass media"

References:
1. Иеромонах Иоанн (Курмояров). «Что будет с Украиной через 20 лет» http://uoj.org.ua/publikatsii/nasushchnyj-vopros/chto-budet-s-ukrainoy-cherez-20-let
2. В.Д.Соловей. Абсолютное оружие. Основы психологической войны и медиаманипулирования. http://slava-rusi.com/?p=1323
3. В.Д.Соловей. Абсолютное оружие. Основы психологической войны и медиаманипулирования. http://slava-rusi.com/?p=1323
4. В.Д.Соловей. Абсолютное оружие. Основы психологической войны и медиаманипулирования. http://slava-rusi.com/?p=1323
5. В.Д.Соловей. Абсолютное оружие. Основы психологической войны и медиаманипулирования. http://slava-rusi.com/?p=1323
6. Ф.Г.Турченко, П.П.Панченко, С.М.Тимченко. Новітня історія України. 11 клас. Частина друга 1939-2001 р.р. Київ «Генеза». 2003.
7. В.Д.Соловей. Абсолютное оружие. Основы психологической войны и медиаманипулирования…. http://slava-rusi.com/?p=1323
8. Иеромонах Иоанн (Курмояров). Митрополит Александр (Драбинко) пошел ва-банк!, ч.1, ч.2. http://uoj.org.ua/publikatsii/tochka-zrenija/mitropolit-aleksandr-drabinko-poshel-va-bank-chast-1, http://uoj.org.ua/publikatsii/tochka-zrenija/mitropolit-aleksandr-drabinko-poshel-va-bank-chast-2
9. Иеромонах Иоанн (Курмояров). Почему Вселенское Православие никогда не признает раскольников. http://uoj.org.ua/publikatsii/tochka-zrenija/pochemu-vselenskoe-pravoslavie-nikogda-ne-priznaet-rask....