"90% did not transfer": MP complains about unwillingness of UOC parishes to move to OCU

Mykola Kniazhytskyi, a member of the Ukrainian parliament from the European Solidarity party, expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that most parishes of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church have not yet expressed a desire to join the OCU. The deputy attributes this situation to the fact that the anti-church law No. 3894 has not yet been fully implemented. He said this in a commentary to the Espresso TV channel.

“Unfortunately, 90% have not transferred. Because the bylaws that are necessary to ban those churches that maintain ties with the Moscow Patriarchate, and this ban should have been in effect since May 20, were approved by the Cabinet of Ministers only a few days ago. Therefore, the picture is that, for example, in the Lviv region, and this is the best example, there were 17 parishes, of which 14 were closed, and 3 moved to the OCU. And in Zaporizhzhia, not a single parish has transferred. In central Ukraine, out of almost a thousand parishes, dozens have moved to the OCU. It is extremely small,” — noted Kniazhytskyi.

The deputy added that the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience should, starting from May 20, urgently begin the procedure of banning the UOC in order to fulfill all the necessary norms of anti-church law No. 3894.

“Now the State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience, having all the mechanisms in hand, should start working and bring our field in line with current legislation as soon as possible. Sometimes this will require litigation, sometimes it will be enough just to issue orders, and sometimes they will do it on their own. All the mechanisms for this are already open, and the law provides such an opportunity as of May 20,” — the MP summarized.

Earlier, we reported that the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) still does not have reliable information about how many religious organizations in Ukraine have signs of “affiliation with the Russian Orthodox Church.” The State Service claims that the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the National Agency for Combating Corruption are preventing officials from starting the process of registering such legal entities and, as a result, implementing the provisions of anti-church law No. 3894.