The New McCarthyism

There was a time in our country’s history when the persecution of religious minorities by a key U.S. ally would be front page news. Today, the mainstream media ignores these atrocities. Worse than that, it works to undermine the independent reporters and activists who seek justice for those who are terrorized by their own government over their religious convictions.

Later today—November 18, 2025—a delegation of Orthodox bishops and priests will meet with the White House Faith Office. They will discuss the Ukrainian government’s persecution of Orthodox Christians. The clergymen will be drawn from several Orthodox jurisdictions, including the Orthodox Church in America, the Antiochian Patriarchate, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, and the Serbian Patriarchate.

Yesterday, The Hill ran an article by Laura Kelly purporting to “expose” the summit. Ms. Kelly claims that the Orthodox delegation has ties to the “Russian Orthodox Church,” and frames the meeting as a sort of Kremlin-backed psyop. She quotes Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) as saying that the bishops are “vehicles for intelligence collection or foreign influence operations directed at U.S. policymakers.” In a tweet, Rep. Wilson also referred to the summit as an “intelligence operation.” 

This is repugnant but not surprising. Our political and media elite have spent years running interference for Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his allies, who are personally overseeing the prosecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC).

Russia vs. the UOC

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the UOC has faced persecution by both countries’ governments. Several of its churches have been attacked by Russian armed forces.

In March, a Russian shell destroyed a UOC parish in Hryshyne, killing two altar boys. 

In October, the Russians hit a UOC parish in Kostiantynivka, killing a priest’s wife. 

Just last week, a parish in Aleksandro-Kalynove was destroyed by a Russian shell, killing the pastor and his wife.

The leader of the UOC is Met. Onufriy, an 81-year-old monk from Chernivtsi Oblast in western Ukraine. From the very beginning, and without any hesitation, Met. Onufriy has urged Ukrainians to defend their home from the Russian invaders. During a speech for the Statehood Day in 2023, Onufriy declared:

Today, our people are fighting for the preservation of our state, for its independence and territorial integrity, which was violated as a result of the treacherous invasion of Russian troops. The protection of one’s Motherland is the sacred duty of every citizen, and therefore every believer of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Ukraine vs. the UOC

Despite all of this, Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government has embarked on a campaign of state-sanctioned terror aimed at destroying the UOC.

Last November, members of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church demanded that a UOC priest in Vidniv perform a soldier’s funeral according to the UGCC rites. The priest refused. In most countries, this would not be illegal. For instance, the U.S. government would not require a Buddhist monk to say the Catholic Mass. And yet the Lviv Regional Administration used the incident as pretense to seize the parish in Vidniv from the UOC.

In June, a group of “raiders” (as they’re known in Ukraine) invaded the Cathedral of the Holy Ghost in Chernivtsi. They defecated and urinated on the altar before declaring that the Cathedral had been seized from the UOC. 

This past Sunday, raiders seized the Transfiguration Cathedral in Moshny, forcing the rector to sign away the UOC’s rights to the building and its property. 

This is not just a couple of isolated incidents. According to the Ukrainian government’s own reports, over 1,200 parishes were “transitioned” away from the UOC between 2022 and 2024. That number is closer to 2,000 today.

The UOC and the MP

What is the reason for Ukraine’s hatred of the UOC? Because the UOC was once part of the Moscow Patriarchate. That’s why it is sometimes referred to as the “Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.” However, this is a complete misnomer.

It’s true, as Kelly points out, that Pat. Kirill of Moscow supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Naturally, this incensed Ukraine’s Orthodox population—including Met. Onufriy. So, in May of 2022, he convened a church-wide Council. According to Onufriy,

The Council introduced a range of fundamental amendments to the Governance Charter, which testified to the full canonical independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and her unambiguous distancing herself from the Patriarchate of Moscow. All the provisions regarding the connection of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church with the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) were removed from the Charter.

In particular, resolutions of the ROC are no longer grounds for activities of our Church. The Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is elected by the episcopate of our Church for life and needs not receive a blessing for his ministry from the Patriarch of Moscow. The Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine has ceased his membership in the Holy Council of the [Russian Orthodox Church]. The name of the Patriarch of Moscow is not commemorated at the churches and monasteries of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church at divine services anymore.

The UOC could not be clearer. It absolutely rejects any subjugation to the Russian Orthodox Church and unambiguously supports Ukraine’s efforts to repel the Russian invasion.

American Orthodoxy

It’s not hard to imagine why Orthodox Christians in America are concerned about the situation in Ukraine. A U.S. ally is persecuting our co-religionists. This is why bishops and priests from multiple jurisdictions are appealing to the White House, in the hopes that they will intervene with Zelenskyy. Yet, incredibly, Ms. Kelly simply dismisses them as having “ties to the Russian Orthodox Church.”

What she may not realize (but should be painfully obvious) is that every Orthodox church has “ties” to every other Orthodox church. We’re all part of a single worldwide communion. Some are closer to others, a fact that owes much to their respective histories.

For example, she points out that the Orthodox Church in America “maintains representation in Moscow.” Yes, the OCA has an embassy (or metochion) in the Russian capital. But that's because the OCA began its life in the 18th century as a missionary diocese of the Russian Church; it was granted independence in 1970. Now, think of the scene from John Adams when he presents his credentials to King George III as Ambassador of the United States to Great Britain. This is a historic moment because George must receive Adams as the representative of a sovereign nation—not a British colony. By the same token, the OCA embassy in Moscow was established as a sign of the American Church’s equality with the Russian Church—not its subservience.

The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia will also be present. ROCOR maintains spiritual ties with the Moscow Patriarchate. Moscow gives a blessing when a new primate is elected, and ROCOR receives its myrrh from the Russian Church. However, it is independent of the MP in every other sense, including administratively and financially. 

Hence, several ROCOR bishops have condemned the war. Bishop Irenei of London, for instance, said the invasion “cannot be justified.” The ROCOR Synod has also condemned the return of “20th-century ideologies in Russia” and declared itself proudly “free of connections to any State, Party or worldly ideology.” 

As we said, there will also be representatives from the Patriarchates of Serbia and Antioch, the latter of which is based in Lebanon. This has nothing to do with the Russian government. Anyone who suggests otherwise is exploiting a human tragedy for the sake of political point-scoring.

'Dual Loyalties'

Rep. Wilson and Ms. Kelly demonstrate a shocking lack of knowledge about Orthodoxy in general and American Orthodoxy in particular. 

Their message is crystal clear, however: any Orthodox Christian who speaks out against the persecution of our co-religionists by the Ukrainian government is a spy for the Kremlin. 

We’ve heard this ugly rhetoric before. At different points in American history, religious minorities—most notably Roman Catholics and Jews—have been accused of harboring “dual loyalties” simply due to their religious affiliation. 

The accusation is being leveled against Orthodox Christians. Think about it: the Antiochian Orthodox come from the Middle East. By the time the Moscow Patriarchate had been established, the Antiochians had been Christian for 1,400 years. They have no ties to the Russian Church whatsoever—none except the bonds of Faith that unite all Orthodox Christians, everywhere in the world. 

If Rep. Wilson is going to accuse them of being Kremlin schills, who among us is safe?

We are on the verge of a new McCarthyism. Orthodox Christians will be tarred as “enemies of the state” simply because we belong to the same religion as Vladimir Putin. 

This is ignorant. It’s unethical. It’s un-American.

We must pray for the safety of our American Church. We must pray for the deliverance of the Ukrainian Church. Above all, we must pray for those who persecute Orthodox Christians and enable their persecution—including Laura Kelly and Rep. Joe Wilson. May the Lord take their hearts of stone and transform them into hearts of flesh.

In America, we hold sacred the right to practice our faith freely and speak our minds without fear of slander or harassment. Let’s defend that right fiercely, following the example of our brothers and sisters in Ukraine.

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