Earlier, we reported that despite pressure and a de facto ban by the Ukrainian government, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church remains the largest religious organization in Ukraine in terms of the number of religious communities and followers. Even in Kyiv, the number of UOC churches is twice as high as that of the OCU.
The People's Movement of Ukraine party called for an immediate ban on the UOC
The political party “People’s Movement of Ukraine” published a statement calling for the immediate ban of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The organization believes that in nine months, the Church has not severed ties with the Russian Orthodox Church and has not proclaimed autocephaly, which means that it is complicit in the “heretical anti-human ideology of the ‘Russian world’ and an accomplice to war crimes and crimes against humanity.” The statement was published on the website of the Mukachevo-Carpathian Diocese of the OCU.
“Given that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC MP) is part of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), which is the ideological continuation of the aggressor state, the conduit of the heretical and inhumane ideology of the ‘Russian world’, and an accomplice to war crimes and crimes against humanity, on August 20, 2023, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law of Ukraine “On the Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Sphere of Religious Organizations” (reg. No. 8371). According to this law, the UOC-MP was given a full nine months to sever ties with the ROC. However, it is obvious that this did not happen: Metropolitan Onufriy (Berezovsky) and other bishops of the UOC-MP did not announce their withdrawal from the Synod of the ROC or its structures, and the UOC-MP itself is not recognized by any Church in the world — in accordance with canon law — and cannot be recognized as an independent (autocephalous) Local Church,” – the statement said.
In addition, the party added that, according to the canons, only one Local Church can exist in Ukraine, which the party considers to be the OCU. In this regard, the organization called for not delaying the ban on the UOC and putting an end to its existence.
“Such inaction is incomprehensible, causes surprise, concern, and anxiety, and requires decisive pressure from civil society on state authorities. At the same time, the authorities themselves are expected not only to make public statements or hold press conferences with explanations, but to take real, urgent action to resolve this long-standing issue. This is especially relevant given the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war, which is deadly dangerous for Ukrainian statehood,” = the party concluded.
Read also
