Moscow Patriarchate: Metropolitan Vladimir, primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has died
Moscow (AsiaNews) - The Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine Vladimir (Sabodan),
Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church,
obedient to the Patriarchate of Moscow,
has died at age 78 after a prolonged illness. The news of his death
today July 5th was published by the Moscow Patriarchate on its website.
Suffering from cancer, Vladimir was in a hospital in
the Ukrainian capital. His
health had deteriorated in January, while protests
were underway in Maidan square in Kiev.
The following month, the Metropolitan of
Chernivtsi, Bukovina, Onufry, was
appointed as locum
tenens, who has had to face the great challenges posed to the Church by popular
protest, which led to the change of power in Ukraine and the subsequent conflict between the army and pro-Russian separatists,
in the east of the country.
As the crisis rages in the background, within the Ukrainian Orthodox Church itself - loyal
to Moscow - pressure is mounting to declare
its complete independence from the Patriarchate of Moscow, under fire for having
remained silent over the Kremlin's aggressive line. The
Metropolitan Onufri, often recalled the importance of respecting the territorial integrity of Ukraine, against the demands of the separatists and appealed more than once to the Patriarch of Moscow, Kirill, to favor
a peaceful solution of the crisis.
Some bishops have even termed the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, a
bandit and a number of parishes
have abandoned the use of
commemorating the Patriarch of Moscow
in their liturgies.
Thus far Kirill has remained cautious,
forced to maintain a balance between
his support for the Kremlin and the need not to alienate the community of the faithful and the clergy in Ukraine. Losing
the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Church would mean Moscow giving up about half of
all its parishes, not to mention 60%
of the clergy, including many
bishops who work in Russia itself,
but who are natives of this former sister
republic.
Who was Vladimir
Sabodan
Born November 23, 1935 in Ukraine to a peasant
family in 1954 Victor Sabodan entered the Theological
Seminary of Odessa; in 1962, on graduating from the Theological Academy in Odessa, he was
ordained deacon and then priest and monk with
the name Vladimir. In 1966,
he was appointed deputy head of the
Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem and
shortly afterwards consecrated Bishop of Zvenigorod. In 1973 he was appointed rector of the Theological School of Moscow and elevated to the rank of archbishop, until 1982 when
it became the Metropolitan of
Rostov and Novocherkassk. Two years later, he was appointed Exarch of Eastern Europe, and in 1987 he was
appointed chancellor of the
Moscow Patriarchate and permanent
member of the Holy Synod. In 1990
he was among the three candidates
for the patriarchal throne and
voting results saw him in second
place, after Alexy II. On 27 May 1992 he was
elected Metropolitan of Kiev and
All Ukraine, Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the only canonically
recognized Orthodox churches of the former Soviet republic.
He was known as a preacher, theologian and writer. In
1997-98 a six volume edition of
his writings was published. From 2006 he was a member of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine. In 2011 he was awarded
the title "Hero of Ukraine" for his contribution to the "rebirth
of Orthodoxy in Ukraine" and
was awarded the order of St. Alexis
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