Earlier, the OCU lobbyist in the media and a freelance expert of the State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience, religious scholar Andriy Smirnov, said that after the adoption of the law banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the state should increase its influence on the clergy and believers of the denomination in order to persuade them to join the OCU. Smirnov is convinced that those who do not want to become part of the Ukrainian schism should leave Ukraine and go to Russia.
The SSERF told how many UOC congregations have been re-registered to the OCU since the beginning of the war
The State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience has provided updated data on the number of communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church that the state has re-registered to the OCU since February 2022. The data is given both from the beginning of 2022 and separately from January 2024. The data was published on his Facebook page by Andriy Smirnov, a lobbyist for the OCU and a freelance expert at the SSERF.
“According to the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience, the total number of religious communities that changed their subordination and moved from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (MP) to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in 2024 is 159 religious communities. In total, during 2022-2024, 1127 parishes joined the OCU,” – Smirnov said.
Read also
