The head of the UGCC said that Law No. 8371 is actually “not about banning the UOC”

The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Sviatoslav Shevchuk, has said that the bill No 8371 “on banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church” adopted by the Verkhovna Rada was actually adopted “not to ban the church, but not to protect it”. Shevchuk is convinced that the Ukrainian religious environment has become “a target for Russian aggression.” This is reported by the official website of the UGCC.

“Law 8371 is not a ban on the Church, but its defense against the danger of using religion as a weapon. The law applies to all religious organizations with governing centers in countries recognized by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine as aggressors. Russia used the Orthodoxy under its control as a tool of militarization, turning it into a neurotropic weapon”, – said the head of the UGCC.

We will remind, on August 21, 2024 the head of the UOC-KP Filaret Denisenko published an appeal in which he paid attention to the adopted law on the ban of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Denysenko believes that it would be much better to sit down representatives of all branches of Ukrainian Orthodoxy at the negotiating table in order to create a new association with the status of a patriarchate.