Religious scholar complains about slow pace of “transitions” of communities from UOC to OCU

Oleksandr Sagan, a lobbyist for the OCU, head of the Department of Religious Studies at the Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences, complained that the so-called transitions of religious communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to the OCU have slowed down significantly in Ukraine. Sagan believes that at this rate, it will take more than a decade to liquidate the UOC. He said this in a comment to Ukrinform.

“I looked at the dynamics of the transition of communities to the OCU as of January 2025 – at this rate we will be moving for decades. We have a little more than 200 communities in 2024, and in total there are about 8 thousand in the MP,” – Sagan said.

Earlier, the head of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience, Viktor Yelensky, said that there is no need to wait for the full implementation of Law No. 3894 to terminate contracts for the use of religious buildings that are architectural monuments by the communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The official claims that government agencies and local governments can already conduct relevant inspections to identify deficiencies and further expropriate movable and immovable property.