Ukraine Huster – In Ukraine’s westernmost Transcarpathia region, people often hear “Praise Jesus” instead of “Hello.”

Transcarpathia, known for its piety, fascinating folklore, forested mountains and inventive smugglers, was once ruled by the Greek Catholic Church which retained Orthodox rites but considered the pope its spiritual leader.

That was until Soviet leader Joseph Stalin annexed Transcarpathia in 1944 and imposed the establishment of the Russian Orthodox Church, whose top clergy collaborated with the KGB, the main Soviet-era security agency. Transcarpathia has never been part of Russia.

“Soviet intelligence either forced all (Greek Catholic) priests to convert to pro-communist Orthodox Christianity or killed them in Siberia,” Oleh Dyba, a publicist and scholar of religious life in Transcarpathia, told Al Jazeera TV station.

This is the second year since Ukraine celebrated Christmas on December 25 for centuries, following the Gregorian calendar still used by the Russian Orthodox Church on January 7.

But even so, the former pro-Russian Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) remains the largest religious church in the country.

Moscow Patriarch KirillThe leader of the world’s largest Orthodox diocese is among those working with the KGB. He remains the closest ideological ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, a former KGB colonel.

Kirill, accused of purging dissident clerics, described Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine as a “holy war” and said he explain Russian soldiers who died in Ukraine have been “cleared” of their crimes.

“Russia is actually returning to the medieval discourse of the Crusades,” Andrey Kordochkin, an Oxford-educated theologian who left Kirill to join Patriarchate of Constantinople in Istanbul.

More than a thousand years ago, Constantinople sent Orthodox priests to baptize Prince Vladimir of Kiev, a pagan Viking whose country gave birth to what is now Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus .

The UOC is an important part of Moscow’s religious empire, with thousands of parishes and priests.

Some of them embraced pro-Russian views after Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014 and backed separatists in the southeastern Donbas region.

“Their priest refused to pray for my cousin who was fighting in the Donbass in 2015,” Filip, a resident of the village of Chinadievo in Transcarpathia, told Al Jazeera. “I’ve never set foot in that church since.”

Meanwhile, separatists turned against pro-Ukrainian clergy.

One of the targets was Archbishop Afanasy, who faced a mock execution in June 2014 in Luhansk, the rebel “capital”.

Blindfolded and leaning against a wall, he heard a gunshot, but it didn’t hit him.

Afanasi told this reporter in 2018 that he left Luhansk in a dilapidated car whose brakes were deliberately damaged by rebels.

UOC vs OCU

In 2019, Ukraine’s pro-Western government founded the new Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), reporting to the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

Yet despite cajoling, intimidation and persecution of clergy, the former pro-Russian United Church remains Ukraine’s largest religious site.

It officially broke away from Moscow and helped the war effort by hosting refugees, collecting humanitarian aid and donations of drones and medical supplies.

But many leaders have been criticized for their real or alleged pro-Moscow sympathies.

One of them is the 73-year-old white-bearded Metropolitan Mark, whose religious domain is centered on the small town of Kuster in the Carpathians.

He is accused of possessing a Russian passport, as well as two senior UOC clerics, and building a $225,000 house over the past two years in the town of Sergeyev, a suburb outside Moscow. Spiritual Center where he studied in the 1970s.

Mark’s nephew, driver and deacon Volodymyr Petrovtsyi, faces desertion charges after fleeing the army in October, reportedly saying he did not want to fight “fellow Russians.”

A clergy member of Metropolitan Mark told Al Jazeera that claims about the house and passport were false.

“I can tell you with all my heart that this is not true,” Father Vasily said, standing inside Kuster Cathedral, whose walls and ceilings are filled with depictions of evangelical scenes and icons.

However, he claimed that back in 2018, popular comedian Volodymyr Zelenskyy sought support from the UOC ahead of the presidential vote.

Father Vasily said Zelensky received support after pledging to convert to Christianity, without providing any evidence of such exchanges, but never fulfilled his alleged “promise.”

“Since then he has punished and persecuted us,” Father Vasily claimed.

Al Jazeera was unable to independently verify Vasily’s claims.

Ukraine’s main intelligence agency, the Security Service, said in August that more than 100 UOC priests had been suspected of treason since 2022, colluding with Moscow-appointed officials to spread Russian propaganda in occupied areas.

At that time, the Verkhovna Rada, the lower house of Ukraine’s parliament, banned UOC on the grounds of “enhancing national security and protecting the constitutional order.”

“Experiments with fellow humans are quite risky”

However, one German researcher said the move was counterproductive. The researcher has spent decades studying religious life in Ukraine and visited dozens of dioceses.

Far-right groups have forced the UOC into submission, taking over parishes and snubbing parishioners fighting on the front lines, said Nikolay Mitrokhin of the University of Bremen.

“When Ukraine is losing on the battlefield, it is quite risky to try this on its fellow citizens,” he told Al Jazeera.

Such pressure violated Ukraine’s constitution, drew collective criticism from the West and jeopardized the supply of military and financial aid, he said, adding that it gave the Kremlin a perfect excuse to lambaste “the neo-Nazi forces in Kiev.” government” and spread anti-Ukrainian messages. , as well as appropriate dioceses in Russian-occupied Ukraine.

On December 16, famous chef Evhen Klopotenko filmed a cooking show of traditional Christmas dishes in the refectory of the Kiev Pecherska Monastery, a large religious complex in the center of Kiev.

Most of the ancient architectural complex belongs to UOC.

The Kremlin responded to the news with predictable derision, sharing it with pro-Russian audiences in the former Soviet Union.

“They are taking over churches and turning them into circuses,” Nilufar Abdullayeva, a self-proclaimed “Russian patriot” who lives in Uzbekistan’s capital Tashkent, told Al Jazeera. “They lost all their shame.”

Mitrokhin said the official ban on the UOC would only force it underground, from where it would “sooner or later emerge with the image of a martyr and a victor.”

Finally, the closure of parishes could damage and destroy thousands of historic buildings that require constant attention, repairs and heating during the harsh Ukrainian winters.

“Soon after, catastrophic damage to murals and buildings began,” Mitrokhin said. “As a result, a large part of Ukraine’s own cultural heritage will disappear.”