Metropolitan Inokentiy, head of the Lithuanian Orthodox Archdiocese, has dismissed allegations that Lithuanian Orthodox clergy are supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine and accused three priests, who he sacked last week, of conspiracy.
“Any speculation about the Orthodox Church in Lithuania as a possible tool of other states is absurd,” Metropolitan Inokentiy said in a statement issued on Monday.
“It is a slander to maliciously claim that the clergy of the Orthodox Church in Lithuania supports the war and justifies aggression,” he added.
The Orthodox Christians in Lithuania “have been and will remain committed to Lithuania, faithful to the spirit of independence and freedom, and the country’s law”.
Last week, Metropolitan Inokentiy dismissed Vitalijus Mockus, Gintaras Sungaila, and Vitalis Dauparas from their duties in the Lithuanian Orthodox Church. Sungaila and Dauparas were also suspended from any active ministry within the Church.
All three priests have criticised Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and condemned statements by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow in support of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the war.
Read more: ‘We were told not to talk about war’, says dismissed Lithuanian Orthodox priest
Metropolitan Inokentiy accused the priests of “conspiracy”.
“The time has come to speak out about something that has not been spoken about until now – a conspiracy within the Lithuanian Orthodox Church,” he said.
“A group of priests have long been making plans to switch to the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and after the tragic events in Ukraine, they started to speak publicly about their intentions,” he added.
In October 2018, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople agreed to recognise the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Conflict of conscience
Sungaila said that he and his colleagues “are not planning to create a new Church”.
“What we want is to move from subordination to one Orthodox bishop to subordination to another Orthodox bishop so that the faithful people and we do not feel a conflict of conscience,” he said on Facebook.
“Different jurisdictions of the Orthodox Church within a single country are a normal reality in many parts of the world,” Sungaila added. “This is why we intend to turn to the Patriarchate of Constantinople.”
“In doing so, we are not encouraging or seeking to attract dissenting voices but are merely following the lead of a group of the faithful who cannot remain under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Moscow because of a conflict of conscience,” he added.
According to him, Metropolitan Inokentiy’s accusations of slander are false because “we have real material evidence that there are those among the Lithuanian clergy who justify” Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
The Lithuanian Orthodox Church, one of Lithuania’s nine traditional religious communities, is a metropolitanate within the Patriarchate of Moscow and All Russia.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
