Deputy Aliksiychuk called on the DESS and SBU to expedite the ban on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church

Oleksandr Aliksiychuk, a member of the Ukrainian parliament from the Servant of the People party, complained from the rostrum of the Verkhovna Rada that ten months after the adoption of anti-church law No. 3894, the ban on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church had still not come into force. The deputy called on the State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience to deal with the Church more quickly, and on the Security Service of Ukraine to influence the DESS in this matter. He made this statement during his speech in Parliament.

«It has been ten months since President Zelensky signed a law banning the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church and its branches in Ukraine. We made concessions and gave the UOC (MP) plenty of time to decide whose side it was on in the Russian-Ukrainian war. I want to remind the sheep that have strayed, or the wolves that have donned sheep’s clothing, that so-called peace talks have been taking place in Istanbul over the past two months. So, one of the main demands for capitulation was the lifting of restrictions on the UOC (MP). My question is: if this Church is independent, why does it appear in the aggressor’s demands? Today, it is extremely important to return to the issue of spiritual purification and spiritual independence of Ukraine,» — the deputy said.

In addition, Aliksiychuk was outraged by the fact that the DESC (erroneously, ed.) included the Korets Stavropegic Convent in the list of organizations whose leaders are exempt from military service. The deputy called on the SBU to conduct an investigation within the ranks of the State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience to identify those involved in this matter.

«I am appealing to the State Service for Ethnic Policy to begin the process of investigating all affiliated organizations… There is a public demand for this. I appeal to the head of the SBU, Malyuk, to investigate the shameful decision to grant exemption to employees of the Korets Monastery, which is directly subordinate to the Russian Orthodox Church and one of the executioners of the Ukrainian people, Kirill Gundyaev. The monastery is owned by the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church. This is a shameful phenomenon, the presence of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine has not yet been corrected, and I demand that the cleansing procedure be started immediately. Russia comes where there is no Ukrainian language, Ukrainian culture, Ukrainian names, and Ukrainian Church. In Ukraine, which is waging a full-scale war for survival, there are no trifles, every word that can become a weapon matters,» — he added.

We will remind you that recently, Ukrainian MP Volodymyr Viatrovych from the European Solidarity party stated that anti-church law No. 3894, aimed at banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, was adopted in part to take away from the Church temples that are architectural monuments. According to Viatrovych, the UOC has been destroying Ukraine’s historical heritage for years.