Yelensky: Ukraine Supports the Religious Needs of the Romanian Minority

Viktor Yelensky, Head of the State Ethnopolicy Service, spoke about the ongoing negotiations between Ukraine and Romania regarding the rights of the Romanian national minority in Ukraine. He emphasized that Ukraine is fully committed to supporting the Romanian community, ensuring its ability to freely express its religious needs. The comment was published on the website of Glavkom.

Yelensky noted that the issue of Romanian Orthodox communities joining the Romanian Church in Ukraine is complicated by the lack of official recognition of the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) by the Romanian Church. However, he assured that negotiations are underway to create a Romanian vicarage in Ukraine, which would unite Romanian parishes under the OCU.

“Currently, there are broad negotiations between the two countries regarding the rights of both the Romanian national minority in Ukraine and the Ukrainian national minority in Romania,” said Yelensky.

He also denied the claims of far-right Romanian organizations about the alleged persecution of Romanians in Ukraine, emphasizing that the Romanian minority freely develops its liturgical customs and uses the Romanian language in worship.

“They can fully develop their liturgical customs and use the Romanian language in worship,” the head of the State Ethnopolicy Service stressed.

Yelensky added that the functioning of autocephalous churches in Ukraine is an important aspect of the ongoing negotiations and that Ukraine proposes the Romanian Orthodox Church align its position with the OCU.

It should be noted that the head of the Chernivtsi Diocese of the OCU, Feognost Bodoryak, acknowledged that the so-called Romanian Vicarage within the OCU is essentially a fictitious organization. According to him, since 2019, no Romanian-speaking parish of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Bukovina has joined the Romanian Vicarage of the OCU, despite the institution being directly under the control of Epiphany Dumenko.