The deadline for eliminating signs of affiliation between the UOC and the ROC will be extended until October, - expert from the DESS

Lobbyist for the OCU and freelance expert for the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) Andriy Smirnov stated that the deadline for eliminating signs of affiliation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church with the Moscow Patriarchate will most likely be extended to 90 days and will end in October 2025. Smirnov believes that the 30 days previously announced by the DESS will not be enough for the UOC to complete the tasks set by the state. He said this in an interview with the publication Glavred.

“According to the law, 30 or even 90 days will be given to eliminate the signs of affiliation that were identified by the DESS. Obviously, Metropolitan Onufriy cannot do this on his own. To do so, he needs to convene a council of bishops, and this will take some time, so the deadline will likely be extended until October. And only after the Ukrainian Orthodox Church provides evidence—and this must be conciliar decisions, resolutions of the councils of the UOC on complete independence, on the withdrawal of clergy from the governing bodies of the ROC (the Holy Synod, the Bishops’ and Local Councils, Inter-Council Presence, synodal departments), if Metropolitan Onufriy does not make public statements that he is leaving the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, and all these requirements are not fulfilled, then the DESS will have the right to go to court against the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC,” – Smirnov said.

At the same time, Smirnov added that this does not concern the entire Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which is divided into a network of separate legal organizations, but exclusively the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC and those organizations for which it is the founder: diocesan administrations, synodal departments, and a number of monasteries.

“After all, we are not talking about the entire Ukrainian Orthodox Church, but only about its administrative center – the Kyiv Metropolis, headed by Metropolitan Onufriy. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church itself, as a religious association, does not have the status of a legal entity – it is a network of thousands of parishes, monasteries, and dioceses of the UOC. And therefore, even if the DESS goes to court and the court terminates the legal entity “Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC,” the UOC itself will not disappear. The dioceses, parishes, and monasteries will continue to operate because they are separate legal entities. At the same time, the DESS published a list of religious organizations directly affiliated with the Kyiv Metropolis. It includes all dioceses and monasteries of the UOC, but does not include, for example, parishes. And this is the main part of this network: ordinary rural and urban communities of the UOC,” – added the expert from the State Service.