“It will be such a marginal structure, unrecognized legally,” - Kovalenko about the UOC

Georgy Kovalenko, a former priest of the UOC who joined the OCU in 2018, said that after the anti-church law No. 3894 (formerly No. 8371) comes into force, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church will turn into a marginal organization, as it will legally cease to exist. Kovalenko shared his opinion in an interview with Gazeta.ua.

“This connection (with the ROC — ed.) is legally prohibited. But canonically, if they consider Kirill to be their patriarch, the state cannot forbid them to do so. Just like believing in reptilians, a secret conspiracy, etc. It will be a marginal structure, not legally recognized. Sometimes the “Moscow Patriarchate” spreads the word that this law is some kind of persecution of faith, similar to the Soviet bans. This is an outright lie. There are no prohibitions to profess faith. There are only restrictions in the legal, economic and property spheres,” — Kovalenko said.

Kovalenko added that the ban will primarily affect the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC, as its affiliation with the Moscow Patriarchate will be the easiest to prove. Further, due to the connection of the dioceses and parishes of the UOC with the Kyiv Metropolis, these legal entities will gradually lose their registration.

“There is the main one, for example, the Kyiv Metropolis, whose affiliation is easy to prove. If it has not fulfilled the state’s instructions, then there are diocesan administrations associated with it. It seems difficult to prove their connection with the Russian church directly, but easy to prove their affiliation with the metropolis. No special expertise is required here, but it is only necessary to take the charters with the signatures of Metropolitan Onufriy. And each parish will have the signature of its ruling bishop. However, if there is good will from above, this story will never reach the level of parishes or monasteries. It will be possible to deal separately with those who preach the ideology of the “Russian world,” — Kovalenko added.

Earlier, Nikita Poturaev spoke about the requirements that the state sets before the episcopate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in connection with the adoption of the anti-church bill No. 8371 in the Verkhovna Rada. Poturaev claims that the withdrawal of the Primate and bishops of the UOC from the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church is an insufficient measure to fulfill the norms of the mentioned law.