“There is no mention of the Moscow Patriarchate in the name and statute of the UOC,” - secretary of Odesa Diocese of the OCU

The secretary of the Odesa Diocese of the OCU, Theodore Orobets, commented on the entry into force of Law No. 3894, by which the state plans to completely ban the activities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Orobets believes that the mechanism of this law is not fully understood, since the UOC does not indicate its affiliation with the Moscow Patriarchate anywhere. He said this in a commentary to the regional publication Dumskaya.

“No one fully understands it yet. It amends some laws, in particular the law on freedom of conscience and religious organizations. Something will be changed, something will remain unchanged. The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada said that in the first three months the Cabinet will develop legal mechanisms that can be used in nine months to put the law into effect. This means that even the highest-level officials do not know what will happen. The fact is that the name and charter of the UOC does not mention the Moscow Patriarchate or the Russian Orthodox Church. The people called them that because their patriarch is in Moscow. They lived until 2020 under a statute that was adopted under Filaret, when he was still Metropolitan of Kyiv and Galicia, locum tenens of the patriarchal throne of the Russian Orthodox Church. He made this statute for himself in order to leave the “Russian world” as soon as possible. At the famous bishops’ council in Kharkiv (May 27, 1992), he was removed, but the charter was left. And then no one cared,” – Orobets said.

Earlier, the head of the Chernivtsi Diocese of the OCU, Theognost Borodyak, also admitted that the Statute of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church does not indicate affiliation with the Moscow Patriarchate. However, Borodyak believes that in this matter it is better to rely on the results of the religious expertise of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience, which “proved the opposite.”