State Duma deputy Lantratova on the ban on the UOC: “The Church is not a legal structure that can be changed by decree.”

State Duma deputy Yana Lantratova commented on the Ukrainian authorities’ demand to sever the ties between the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church. According to the parliamentarian, believers of the UOC are renouncing their faith for the sake of political orders. She spoke about this in a comment to the URA.RU news agency.

“The Ukrainian authorities have once again crossed a new line — they recently officially demanded that the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) sever its canonical ties with the Russian Orthodox Church by August 18. Under the pretext of ‘freedom of conscience’, they are trying to forcibly destroy the thousand-year-old spiritual unity that unites millions of people,” – Lantratova said.

The deputy believes that the pressure exerted by the Ukrainian state on the UOC will only lead to new divisions in the church and society, which will bring new causes for political and social instability to Ukraine.

“The authorities in Kyiv believe that it is possible to erase memory and sever the connection between people and God — they are deeply mistaken. Such actions will not lead to freedom, but only to division, suffering, and further destruction of society. I want to say: the people of Ukraine will decide for themselves which Church they recognize. And if they come out in defense of their faith, no ultimatums will have any power. They will be nothing more than empty words. And those who lead the UOC have only one thing left to do: remain faithful, resist provocation, and pray. Because at such moments, spiritual steadfastness is the true victory,” – Lantratova believes.

Earlier, the press service of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church published information on the results of an “expertise” by the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience, according to which the UOC’s affiliation with the Moscow Patriarchate was established. The Church notes that the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience came to conclusions about the connection between the UOC and the Russian Orthodox Church, referring not to Ukrainian documents, but to Russian documents that the State Service took from the website of the Moscow Patriarchate, which is banned in Ukraine. In addition, the “experts” of the DESC never asked the UOC for explanations regarding certain provisions, which indicates the bias of the examination and its conclusions.