Orthodox Church warns conservatives’ proposals will deepen tensions

The Lithuanian Orthodox Church subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate says amendments proposed by conservative lawmakers would only heighten tensions in society, LRT reported.

“We do not want measures that could undermine believers’ civil rights and their children’s spiritual lives. We will write an appeal and send it to members of the Seimas,” Vilnius city dean and senior priest Eugenijus Rudenko told reporters on Tuesday.

Conservative lawmakers Audronius Ažubalis and Arvydas Anušauskas registered the amendments last week. They would establish in law that the traditional Orthodox community in Lithuania is represented only by the religious centre, or exarchate, of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

The proposed amendment to the Law on Religious Communities and Associations would prevent religious communities from being recognised as traditional if their administrative centres are linked to countries or organisations subject to international sanctions, or whose activities threaten Lithuania’s security. It would also define the religious centre in Lithuania representing the Orthodox community according to the canons and other internal rules of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

The lawmakers also propose establishing that Orthodox property created during the historical period of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, or acquired after 11 March 1990, legally belongs to the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

Under the proposal, a government resolution would transfer six properties from Moscow Patriarchate structures to the Constantinople Exarchate: the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God; the churches of St Paraskeva and St Nicholas; the Holy Spirit monasteries in Vilnius and Surdegis; and the Church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God in Vievis. The new rules would take effect on 1 January 2027.