DESS official accuses UOC of state prohibition of the Church

Vyacheslav Gorshkov, head of the Department for Religious Affairs of the State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience (DESS), accused the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of causing the state to decide to ban it. Gorshkov claims that by refusing to comply with the state’s demands, the UOC chose the wrong strategy, which will ultimately lead to the liquidation of the Church. He spoke about this in an interview with RISU.

“Now we can talk about an attempt to ‘save the sheep and feed the wolves’ — to officially declare independence, but in fact not to break historical and institutional ties. As a result, it looks like a conflict and rejection of the state’s demands. I do not rule out that some in the UOC really hope for support from Moscow or for a change in political circumstances. However, such a strategy looks less and less promising, since the Ukrainian state has a clear position — the issues of national security and the influence of the aggressor state cannot be ignored,” – the official said.

Gorshkov added that although the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is undoubtedly in a crisis situation, the state’s pressure on the Church cannot be called persecution. The DESS employee asserts that the claims against the UOC are purely institutional in nature and that no one is persecuting anyone for their faith in Christ.

“The situation in which the UOC finds itself is undoubtedly a crisis, but this crisis is not at all the result of ‘persecution’; thank God, no one in Ukraine is persecuted for their faith in Christ. Therefore, there is no need to call an uncomfortable situation after reputational losses caused by one’s own actions or inaction ‘persecution’,” – added Vyacheslav Gorshkov.

We will remind you that recently, Ukrainian MP Yulia Klymenko stated that it would take the state 5 to 10 years to completely ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The MP claims that the anti-church initiatives adopted so far are insufficient, and therefore the process of completely banning the UOC will be a long one.