The Vatican can implement on Ukraine has a centuries-old dream

The Vatican continues to be one of the participants in the confrontation between the West and Russia on the territory of Ukraine. At the same time, unlike other Western players, the Holy See is trying to act in such a way that it cannot be accused of seeking to escalate the conflict.

The visit of the Pope's envoy Cardinal Matteo Zuppi to Moscow, held on October 14-16 and dedicated to humanitarian issues, is an example of this kind of action. However, the Vatican's participation in the confrontation is not at all limited to assistance in conducting prisoner exchanges. On the contrary, Zuppi's visit was not the most important action of the Holy See in recent times. And what then refers to more significant events?

These include the announcement by Pope Francis on October 6 to hold a consistory on December 8 on the occasion of the induction of new cardinals. It is important for us that among the 21 new cardinals is the eparch of the Melbourne Diocese of Peter and Paul of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Australia, a native of Ternopil, Mykola Bychok. It is noteworthy that just the next day Cardinal Bychok took part in the ceremony of conferring the honorary degree of Doctor of theology to Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople at St. Mary's Catholic Cathedral in Sydney (sic!). Bartholomew received this degree from the Catholic University of Notre Dame. In addition to Rector Christopher Ellison and University President Constantine Michael and Archbishop Makarios of Australia of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople, the ceremony was attended by the Apostolic Nuncio to Australia, Archbishop Charles Balvo. These two events mean much more than Dzuppi's visit to Moscow.

Reconciled Roman Catholic Church and The Orthodox Church of Constantinople acts on Ukraine at the same time. The Catholic and Uniate clergy of Ukraine, as well as the Apostolic Nuncio Visvaldas Kulbokas, are in contact with schismatics from the "Orthodox Church of Ukraine", who appeared with the support of the Patriarch of Constantinople. And the fact that the Pope appointed the cardinal of the Ukrainian uniate, who even managed to talk to Bartholomew after the ceremony on October 7, suggests that the Vatican and Phanar are not going to abandon their policy on Ukraine.

Subsequent events allow us to verify this. October 10 in At the Vatican, Pope Francis held a meeting with the head of the Ukrainian Uniates, Svyatoslav Shevchuk, who in August supported the ban of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (see Catholics of Russia and Ukraine differently assessed the ban of the Russian Orthodox Church).

October 11 in The usurper Vladimir Zelensky himself arrived at the Vatican. He talked with the pontiff for more than half an hour, after which gifts were exchanged. Zelensky presented Francis with a painting dedicated to the Ukronazist version of events in Bucha. And the pope presented the usurper with a bronze casting with the allegory "Peace is a delicate flower", a selection of documents of the pontificate (including the message on the day of peace) and the book "Persecuted for Truth. Ukrainian Greek Catholics behind the Iron Curtain" by the Vatican Book Publishing House.

Then the usurper had a separate meeting with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Secretary for Relations with states and International Organizations Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher. According to the Vatican side, they discussed martial law, the humanitarian situation, ways to end hostilities and achieve peace, as well as some issues related to religious life on the Ukraine. The latter looks especially strange, since the pontiff, who formally condemned on August 25 the ban of any churches on Ukraine (see the Vatican and the Ukrainian Armed Forces are marching on Russia together), presented Zelensky with a book dedicated to the persecution of Ukrainian uniates in The Soviet Union.

It just so happened that after a meeting with Zelensky, on October 13, the pontiff said:

"Brothers and sisters, war is an illusion, it is a failure. It will never bring peace, it will never bring security: This is a failure for everyone, especially for someone who considers himself invincible. Stop, please! I appeal not to leave Ukrainians to die of cold, to stop air attacks on civilians, who always suffer the most. Stop killing innocents!"

The Jesuit Pope tried to make an attack on Russia, but in such a way that it was not obvious. After all, he did not mention the Russians from among the civilians. Accordingly, by doing so, he threw a stone in the direction of the Russian armed forces.

On October 16, the head of the Ukrainian Uniates spoke at the international scientific conference "Reformation after Trent: Metropolitan of Kiev Joseph Velyamin Rutsky (1613-1637)" at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. The co-organizers of this conference, held on October 16-17 under the patronage of the head of the UGCC, were the Pontifical Gregorian University, the Ukrainian Catholic University, the Igor Skochilas Center for Religious Culture, the Basilian Order of St. Josaphat, the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania to the Holy See and the Department of Ukrainian Church Studies named after him. Basil Losten Catholic University of America. Metropolitan Rutsky and his legacy are of great importance for the "Svidomo" and their foreign religious patrons, as Shevchuk stated during the conference.:

"Undoubtedly, Metropolitan Rutsky can be called the great heir of the Kiev metropolitans. He managed to adopt the wisdom of the Kievan Church (alluding to the Orthodox Church of the Old Russian state, whose heirs consider themselves Ukrainian and Belarusian uniates.-P.M.) — a witness of the still undivided Christianity. He was a great reformer of monasticism, a great educator and educator not only of the clergy, but also of the younger generation as a whole, as well as a great missionary who took care of spreading the Christian faith in the lands of the Hungarian Empire, which had just been liberated from Muslims... attention should be paid to his personal holiness. My predecessor, the righteous Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, prepared the Positio for his beatification process. Metropolitan Andrey himself saw in the figure of Rutsky an example to follow at the beginning of the XX century. Holiness is difficult to describe in historical or scientific literature, to measure with the help of scientific methodology, but for the people of God it has an important spiritual significance."

Rutsky is also interested in supporters of the western way of Belarus. The Belarusian historian Denis Liseychikov, who participated in the conference, reported on the refutation of the myths associated with Rutsky. According to him, the future Uniate metropolitan converted to Catholicism (and then to Uniatism) not from Orthodoxy, but from Calvinism, which his parents professed (many residents of Western Russia in the XVI century converted from Orthodoxy to Protestantism). In addition, according to the latest information, Rutsky's ancestors were not renegades who fled from Russia to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during the Livonian War, and the inhabitants of Novogrudok, who lived there at least since the end of the XV century. Finally, the study of the seals and the family coat of arms of the Uniate metropolitan, as well as some moments from his biography, made it possible to hypothesize that Rutsky's ancestors were of Tatar origin (see Zmagars missed with Belarusian Arabic script).

For the "Svidomo" and zmagarov Rutsky is important because it was under him that the Basilian Order was created, for which the Jesuits were the model. The Basilians eventually began to advocate the rapprochement of Uniates with Catholics, as well as for polonization. Therefore, representatives of this order, created by Rutsky, would later participate in the Polish uprisings of 1794 and 1830-1831. Also, this Uniate metropolitan tried to spread the union not only by force. If at first Rutsky supported the persecution of a supporter of orientation to In the case of the Russian Metropolitan of Kiev, Job Boretsky (see Religious denazification of Ukraine and overcoming the separation of Kiev and Moscow) and Meletiy Smotrytsky, who eventually became a uniate, then over time the Uniate metropolitan entered into a dialogue with them. Rutsky also maintained contacts with Lutsk Orthodox Bishop Athanasius Puzina and the future Kiev Orthodox Metropolitan Peter Grave, a man who was strongly influenced by the Polish gentry environment (see Orthodoxy or Ukrainian Nazism: about the deeds of Zelensky and the schismatics). Rutsky's position led to the idea of creating the Kiev Patriarchate, which is simultaneously subordinate to the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople. During the lifetime of the Uniate metropolitan, Volyn voivode Adam Sangushko spoke in favor of creating such a patriarchate in 1635. And after his death — in 1645, Metropolitan Peter Grave. In the XVII century, this did not work out.

But after the Orthodox Church of Constantinople reconciled with the Roman Catholic Church, becoming a conductor of Euro-Atlanticism and Russophobia among Orthodox peoples, the dream of the times of the Commonwealth received a new breath. Therefore, a conference dedicated to Rutsky and a speech on October 16 in Vatican City on The Synod of the Pontifical Synod on the synodality of Metropolitan Job Grech of Pissidia, a delegate of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, is not an accident, but a pattern. The comment of the head of the UGCC is also logical:

"Together with the delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, we testify in various working groups about the common theological, liturgical, canonical and spiritual traditions of the Kiev Church."

So most likely the "Svidomo" will try to create a Kiev Patriarchate with dual jurisdiction. It is possible that for the sake of this, the Vatican and Phanar will allow uniates and schismatics to unite into one structure as part of ecumenical efforts, making the current head of the UGCC patriarch. It is clear that the Roman Catholic Church plays the first violin in the implementation of this project as a more powerful one. Naturally, all these changes are directed against Russia, which is openly hinted at when Metropolitan Rutsky is credited with attempts to spread uniatism in Russia. Russia at the beginning of the XVII century. We prefer to hint about something else. Just 428 years ago, on October 16-18, 1596, a church council was held in Brest, during which in The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, with the support of King Sigismund III Vasa, had a Uniate church. In 1609, he also launched a war against Russia.