Metropolitan Clement on the demands of DESS: We are being forced to commit a crime against Ukrainian statehood

The head of the Synodal Information and Education Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Klyment (Vecheria), once again commented on the DESS’s demands that the UOC sever ties with the Russian Orthodox Church. The bishop is convinced that such demands are pushing the Church to directly violate Ukrainian law. He spoke about this in a comment to Ukrinform.

“Our church is being persistently demanded to establish official contacts with them (the Russian Orthodox Church, ed.). It is not difficult to see crimes against Ukrainian statehood and sovereignty in such demands,” — commented Metropolitan Klyment.

The bishop added that during the entire time of the so-called examination, the DESS never once turned to the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC for clarification, so the work of the State Service in this direction cannot be called honest and impartial.

“To do this, they could have at least once during the writing of the report communicated with representatives of the Kyiv Metropolis to obtain clarification on issues that are not legal but purely sacred in nature. Unfortunately, for some reason, officials were afraid to do so,” — added the UOC spokesman.

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