The SSEPFC wants to limit the possibility of visits to Ukraine by representatives of the Local Churches

The State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience of Ukraine is considering the possibility of introducing a provision to Bill 8371 to restrict visits to the country by representatives of Orthodox Local Churches if they come at the invitation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The reason for this was the recent visit of the head of the Orthodox Church of America, his meeting and concelebration with the Primate of the UOC. State authorities believe that such visits harm the image of the country, and therefore propose not to allow the hierarchs of the Local Churches to enter without prior approval from the SSEPFC. This is reported by Glavkom.

«Another proposed change concerned the conditions for the admission of foreign preachers and clergy to Ukraine. According to the proposal of the State Service, they could «engage in preaching religious beliefs, performing religious rites or other canonical activities only in those religious organizations at whose invitation they arrived and with the official approval of the state body that registered the charter (regulations) of the relevant religious organization.» At first glance, this proposal seemed fair. Suffice it to recall the visit to Ukraine on June 1, 2024, of Archbishop Tikhon of Washington, Metropolitan of All America and Canada, who arrived at the invitation of the ROC branch in Ukraine, which caused a public outcry. How is it that during a full-scale war, a person who may be a Russian agent, albeit with an American passport, is free to come to Ukraine? The amendments proposed by the State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience would have avoided such visits or at least made them as difficult as possible,» — the publication says.

However, the parliamentary committee decided to refuse to introduce such a provision, believing that in this case the state would, on the contrary, confirm the idea that freedom of conscience is being restricted in Ukraine.

«If now the claims of Americans or Europeans to our draft law are far-fetched, then after the introduction of such a provision they will be fair. The state should not regulate the activities of priests or believers to such an extent, because this is not freedom of conscience,» — the Committee said in a commentary on the proposal of the State Service.

Earlier we reported that the former press secretary of the head of the UOC-KP Filaret Denisenko, and now a well-known lobbyist of the OCU in the media, Andriy Kovalev, called the visit of the Primate of the Orthodox Church of America to Ukraine a «tour» and the hierarch himself a «Trojan horse.» Kovalyov believes that the visit of His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon of Washington should be handled by the SSU.