Kyiv refuses to allow Bucharest to establish a church structure in Ukraine

The Ukrainian government, represented by the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience (SSEPFC), refused to register the Romanian Patriarchate as the «Romanian Orthodox Church of Ukraine,» which the Romanian Orthodox Church established at its Synod in February 2024. According to Kyiv, this idea contradicts «Orthodox ecclesiological localism.» This was reported by the SSEPFC in response to a journalistic request from a correspondent of the Romanian news publication PODUL.RO.

«We would like to inform you that experts in the field of Orthodox church law criticize the idea of creating a structure of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Ukraine, referring to the principle of localism, which is a cornerstone of Orthodox ecclesiology. It is worth noting that the issues of Ukrainian-Romanian relations in the religious sphere are in the center of attention of the SSEPFC. Today, about 130 religious communities, in which the majority are representatives of the Romanian minority, are part of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. They do not have self-government and a single decision-making center for important and specific issues of their life and functioning,» — the representative of the State Department of State Statistics explained the refusal to register the Romanian Orthodox Church.

In turn, the State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience offered the Romanian Orthodox Church to cooperate with the OCU to resolve this issue in other ways. The SSEPFC believes that the Romanian Orthodox Church could transfer Ukrainian Orthodox parishes in Romania to the control of the OCU in exchange for Romanian-speaking communities located in Ukraine.

«Just as the Romanian Orthodox Church has an Orthodox Ukrainian Vicariate, which covers all parishes of the Ukrainian tradition and is subordinate to Patriarch Daniel, the Romanian Vicariate, which is directly subordinate to the Primate of the OCU, should operate within the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), where representatives of Romanian national minorities are guaranteed full and unconditional respect for their liturgical, linguistic, ritual traditions and the necessary level of self-government,» — the State Service noted.

Earlier, the Speaker of the Romanian Patriarchate, Vasile Benescu, commented on the creation of the Romanian Orthodox Church of Ukraine by the Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church. Benescu called the ROCU a «prestigious organization» designed to simplify the life of Orthodox Romanians in Ukraine. He added that Bucharest also has a plan to open some spiritual structures of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.