Sunday, April 2, 2023

Zelenskyy Sends “New Democracy” Jackboots to Shut Down Orthodox Christian Religion in Ukraine


In the aftermath of their assembled COVID-19 powers, the “new western democracy” is an ever-evolving phrase. This version doesn’t have any structural voting representation at the core of the word “democracy,” and is generally akin to totalitarianism with a police state to back it up.

While the United States is sending hundreds of billions to fund the new form of “western democracy” in Ukraine, the outlawing of political opposition, the shutting down of non-state-controlled media, and now the cancellation of religion has a historical rhyming to it. Leftists in the general sense are supporting these new constructs within this newly defined version of democracy, and the western corporate media seem to be subservient to the fiats.

In the latest development, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has sent the state police to shut down Metropolitan Pavel Lebed, the leader of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Pavel Lebed is now under house arrest.

Pavel’s sin against the Ukraine regime is described by Politico: “in his public speeches repeatedly insulted the religious feelings of Ukrainians, humiliated the views of believers of other denominations and tried to form hostile sentiments towards them,” said the SBU, which also published what it alleges are phone intercepts from Pavel’s sermons. He also “made statements that justified or denied the actions of the aggressor country,” according to the service.”

(Politico) – Ukrainian investigators are searching the home of Metropolitan Pavel Lebed, an Orthodox Church leader, who they accuse of justifying Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and inciting inter-religious hatred.

Ukraine’s security service (SBU) confirmed on Saturday that Pavel, who runs Ukraine’s most important monastery, the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, is suspected of violating the country’s criminal code. (read more)

(Radio Free Europe) – […] Around three dozen Orthodox priests around the country have been arrested by Ukrainian law enforcement since the February 2022 invasion, accused of unspecified acts of sabotage or of gathering intelligence and sending it to Moscow.

In November, Ukrainian security agents raided the Monastery of the Caves complex, searching for what they said were weapons or anti-Ukrainian propaganda. A Russian Orthodox Church spokesman called it an “act of intimidation” against Ukrainian believers. (read more)

History tells us that churches and organized religion are always the first targets of the totalitarian state, because they represent a unity of purpose and assembly that is not reliant on the totalitarian state.  In all communist regimes, religious worship is generally banned.

As the “new western democracy” takes shape in Ukraine, a system of government supported by the U.S. government and NATO, what we see now is an outcome that is something entirely different from the traditional secular democratic norms.

In the United States there are many voices identifying how Christianity itself is under attack from the ideology of leftist government.  In Ukraine those attacks are manifesting more openly as orchestrated by the state.

As we enter the most holy of Christian weeks leading up to Easter, there is a rhyming in current events.