On June 16, 2025, members of the Verkhovna Rada’s parliamentary committee on humanitarian and information policy held an off-site meeting at the Transfiguration Cathedral of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Chernihiv, which was expropriated from the Church by the state last year. One of the main issues discussed during the event was the increase in funding for the local Historical and Architectural Reserve “Ancient Chernihiv,” which has taken on the responsibility of maintaining the religious building in proper condition.
“Like in Greece”: MP Knyazhitsky proposed to provide state funding to the OCU
Mykola Knyazhitsky, a member of the Ukrainian parliament from the European Solidarity party, believes that Ukraine could learn from the experience of many other countries and provide at least basic social protection for clergy of the OCU. Knyazhitsky complained that the shortage of personnel in the OCU is not least due to the fact that the organization has extremely low salaries and social security. He spoke about this in a comment to the publication Glavkom.
«The role of the church in Ukrainian society is significant, and the state should pay more attention to supporting the church, in particular those denominations that are traditional for Ukraine. Priests in our country are effectively deprived of social protection: they have no pensions, social protection, or many other privileges, although they very often perform work that is truly important for society. Yes, the Ukrainian church is indeed young, and the development of spiritual institutions cannot happen faster than is actually possible, especially during wartime,» — the deputy noted.
Read also
