Andriy Pinchuk: what is known about the “father-reformer”/dp.vgorode

The situation around the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate is heating up. While the Metropolitan of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Epiphanius, calls them to dialogue, the highest hierarchs of the hostile structure are silent about the atrocities of the Russians, and their head, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, openly blesses the genocide of Ukrainians.

However, most of the fathers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church condemns the war and even proposes to bring the Moscow Patriarch to the church court. And, of course, in such situations, the main initiator appears. In this situation, it was Archpriest Andrey Pinchuk. It is he who actively advocates the reprisal against his Russian colleague.

We tell how the “war of the fathers” will affect the relationship between both churches.

UOC priest supported the idea of ​​trying Patriarch Kirill

On April 10, Archpriest Andrei Pinchuk wrote on Facebook that the priests of the UOC-MP began collecting signatures under an appeal to the Council of Primates of the Ancient Eastern Churches with a lawsuit against Patriarch Kirill. He said that as of April 14, 411 signatures of clergy had been collected.

The report says that Andriy Pinchuk, who now serves as rector of the parish of St. Michael the Archangel in the village of Volosskoe, Dnepropetrovsk region, accuses Patriarch Kirill of contributing to Russia's war against Ukraine.

Pinchuk notes that by blessing Russian aggression, Kirill committed a moral crime, and the doctrine of the “Russian world” preached by the Moscow Patriarch “does not correspond to Orthodox teaching.” In addition, Pinchuk called Gundyaev a person representing Russian irredentism, arguing that Ukraine, Belarus and Russia are fraternal peoples.

I am sure that if these meetings (Cathedral of the Primates of the Ancient Eastern Churches, – ed..) are scheduled, then we, who signed the appeal, expect at least condemnation lies of the “Russian world”. As a maximum, we hope for the eruption of Patriarch Kirill from the rank, the deprivation of his episcopal dignity, his return, following the example of Patriarch Nikon, to the monastic rank and his further departure to the monastery for repentance,” Pinchuk noted.

He added that there have already been precedents for such church courts.

The Council of the Eastern Patriarchs has repeatedly considered lawsuits against high church dignitaries, the archpriest said.

So, for example, in 1666, the eastern patriarchs condemned the capital's patriarch Nikon, depriving him of his patriarchate and episcopal rank.

Pinchuk's initiative received ardent support from the Ukrainian clergy. In an interview with Radio Liberty, religious scholar Sergei Chapnin emphasized that this indicates the unwillingness of the priests to remain silent. for myself, in my opinion, the most important thing. I really hope that this appeal will be supported by priests not only in Ukraine, but also in other countries,” he said.

At the same time, there are those who do not rush to conclusions. Thus, Archimandrite Makary Bilinevich of the Poltava diocese and Archpriest Vitaly Vasilchuk withdrew their signatures. Pinchuk says that this happened under pressure from Metropolitan Philip of Poltava. And religious scholar Taras Antoshevsky generally speaks of open repressions against those who agreed to sign the appeal.

I know that priests ask to erase their signatures, fearing reprisals from their bishops, – Antoshevsky emphasized.

According to religious scholars, one should not have expected a different development of events, because the top of the UOC is on the payroll of Russia. Moreover, she will never renounce her curators from the FSB.

This will soon lead to the fact that parishes of the UOC will begin to move en masse to the Local Church of Ukraine.

What people think about Pinchuk's initiative in Moscow

Pro-Kremlin mouthpieces continue to shout about “special operations of the Ukrainian special services” that should split the Russian Orthodox Church. Like everything else, the church is “out of politics” with them. For example, the rector of the Church of the Holy Martyr Tatiana at Moscow State University, Vladimir Vigilyansky, called the collection of signatures an information war. pistols, machine guns, so to speak, and signed up for the information troops of the SBU or NATO,” he told the Russian media.

It seems that propagandists close their eyes that their patriarch blessed the genocide of the Ukrainian people by Russian invaders.

According to the Russian church historian, Doctor of Historical Sciences Pavel Gaidenko, “there are procedures to appeal against the letter of representatives of the UOC”, at the same time he admitted that the UOC-MP is a more democratic structure compared to the Moscow structure.

Archpriest Pinchuk agrees that Russian bishops can turn the tide.

Recall that the Verkhovna Rada is awaiting consideration of a bill to ban the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine. However, analysts are convinced that the process of “filtering” the clergy of the UOC will take place naturally. Most likely, against the backdrop of the war, the highest ranks of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and their parishioners will begin to move to the Local Church of Ukraine. As a result, in the short term, this will put an end to the existence of a hostile religious structure in Ukraine. ul>

Andrey Pinchuk was born in Kyiv in 1977.

He studied at the St. Petersburg Theological Seminary, immediately entered the Theological Academy, from where he was expelled in the Anaxios case.

From 2003 and until now, he has been the rector of the parish of St. Michael the Archangel in the village of Volosskoye. Since 2016, he has been a civil servant in the position of headman of the villages of Volosskoye, Rakshevka, Chervony Sadok and Majorka of the Novoaleksandrovsky village council.

In the fall of 2014, he organized a center for refugees from the ATO zone in Volossky. Church media call Pinchuk “father-reformer”.