The Russian church had defrocked Fr Cyril Hovorun, he explains why
If there is one interview you need to read this week on the Orthodox situation in Russia and Ukraine, I fully recommend the sincere and frank discussion between Fr Cyril Hovorun and Kostas Onisenko for OrthodoxTimes.
Fr Cyril is an excellent theologian who has published extensively on theological matters but also political theology (see here). His scholarly work about the Russian Orthodox Church and the “Russian World” is extremely insightful and analytical, introducing new concepts in understanding the relationship between Patriarch Kirill and Putin. Fr Cyril has been part of the Russian Orthodox Church first as a Ukrainian clergyman of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church — Moscow Patriarchate and, in 2009, transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church.
At the end of 2023 it was reported that Fr Cyril has been defrocked by the Russian Orthodox Church. The decision was taken by the Ecclesiastical Court of the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) on 31 October 2023 for violation of the 25th Apostolic Canon (offence by a clergyman). Fr Cyril explains that this is interpreted as a “violation of oath” in the ROC.
Fr Cyril gave an interview for OrthodoxTimes explaining what had happened. The official reason for his defrocking is that he co-celebrated a liturgy with the exarch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Ukraine (Bishop Michael of Komana). This has led first to a suspension by the ROC in September 2023 by Patriarch Kirill who forwarded his case to the church court in Moscow. In the interview, he offers a brief analysis of the ecclesiastical reasoning behind the decision to defrock him, which he says has many gaps and problematic interpretations.
The core of the problem, according to Hovorun, is not because of the concelebrations with representatives of the EP but his activism against the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the opposition to the Russian church for its role in the war.
He explains that he has rarely been serving at the ROC parishes and could be seen with the parishes of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The ROC was aware of this for a while and didn’t do much. Hovorun says that the ROC needed a pretext to punish him. He highlights the absurdity of the situation: punishing someone for serving with the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
It is worth noting that after the Ukrainian granting of autocephaly in 2019, Patriarch Kirill severed the links (broke communion) with the EP. To date, there haven’t been any successful attempts to reconcile this position.
The interview Fr Cyril gave for OrthodoxTimes offers a fresh perspective on many aspects of the religious backing Patriarch Kirill is providing to the war. He talks about the relationship between Kirill and Putin as not of submission but of joined interest (synergy). Furthermore, he uncovers the channels through which the Kremlin penetrates the Russian Orthodox Church — primarily through its Department for External Church Relations (DECR/MOSPAT). He makes an interesting remark that Epiphany’s church “would like to stifle the other church” (thinking of UOC-MP) when discussing the possible reconciliation between Met. Onufry (UOC-MP) and Met. Epiphany (OCU).
In the previous Substack roundup, I wrote about the case of Fr Uminsky, who also had been defrocked by the ROC for not reciting Kirill’s prayer to Holy Rus. The case with Fr. Cyril, although different in nature, has been based on the same ground (violation of oath).
Read the full interview for OrthodoxTimes here.
I am on Substack writing for Divine Diplomacy.
