moscow Patriarchate leaders shaped by KGB training, Ukrainian Metropolitan Yevstratiy says

Senior figures in the moscow Patriarchate have historically undergone KGB-style training, instilling imperial russian ideology in the faithful through hostile narratives, pseudo-prophecies, and selective promotion, a Ukrainian Orthodox Church official said.

Metropolitan Yevstratiy Zoria, spokesperson for the Kyiv Metropolis of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, made the remarks during a press conference at the Media Center Ukraine.

“Since the Soviet era, four to five generations of moscow Patriarchate leaders have passed through the ‘KGB sieve,'” Yevstratiy said, indicating that clerics were subjected to a rigorous selection process and handpicked through an ideological filter. “Those most loyal to the Chekist system advance in the hierarchy, securing leadership roles both centrally and regionally.”

He highlighted that Metropolitan Onufriy, who leads the moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine, was shaped in the 1970s at Zagorsk, near moscow, the only functioning monastery then welcoming foreign delegations.

Metropolitan Yevstratiy Zoria stated that the “russian world” concept embodies spiritual and political subjugation, from which people must be liberated.

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