The Jerusalem Patriarchate criticized the Ukrainian government for the law “On the ban of the UOC”

The Patriarchate of Jerusalem has published an open appeal that touched upon the adoption by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of an anti-church law aimed at banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The Jerusalem Patriarchate criticized the legislative initiative to ban the UOC, calling not to limit the freedom of faith confession. The statement was published on the website of the Jerusalem Orthodox Church.

“The Patriarchate of Jerusalem, together with many of our fellow Patriarchs, as well as other heads of the Church, condemns the adoption on August 20 by the Ukrainian Parliament of a new law banning worship in the churches of the UOC. Such blanket punishment of countless men and women of faith is neither conducive to unity nor peace. There is no justification for weaponizing religious faith and we must all allow those who wish to pray to do so according to their conscience, and we call on the Ukrainian parliament to reconsider and repeal this law for the sake of the well-being of all people of faith in Ukraine,” — the statement reads.

In addition, the Jerusalem Church believes that such a development of events around the Ukrainian church crisis may lead to new schisms, which will further aggravate the situation. In this regard, the Jerusalem Patriarchate calls for dialog to establish peace in Orthodoxy.

“Our hearts break for those who have suffered, who have been displaced and who have lost their lives in the current war, but out of this pain should not arise a new schism among the faithful or the criminalization of innocent people because of their religious practices. As we have repeatedly stated since the beginning of this conflict, the Patriarchate of Jerusalem recognizes the challenges and deep divisions that this conflict represents and is committed to the spiritual mission of dialogue and reconciliation through fraternal discussions. We believe that this is the only path to lasting peace between the warring factions, as well as to true unity in the Church. Once again, we continue to extend the hand of brotherhood to Christians throughout the Orthodox Church to end the suffering and promote healing and unity in our beloved Orthodox Church,” — the statement added.

We will remind, earlier the Albanian Orthodox Church published a statement, in which criticized the Ukrainian government for the adoption of the law on the ban of the UOC. The AOC believes that the adoption by democratic states of laws that directly threaten religious freedom is absolutely unacceptable.