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.
“One month for the first instance, one month for the appeal”: OCU lobbyist predicts duration of court proceedings on banning the UOC
The scandalous religious scholar, DESS expert, and OCU lobbyist Yuriy Chornomorets spoke about how long the litigation would take if the Ukrainian Orthodox Church refused to comply with the requirements of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience. The religious scholar claims that if the UOC refuses to sever ties with the Russian Orthodox Church, the court proceedings will take several months, after which the Church will be stripped of its registration and real estate. He spoke about this on Ukrainian Radio.
«First, it will be the central administration and all other communities that fall under it. A list has been compiled for the central administration, and lists have been compiled locally for those who are subordinate to the dioceses. All this can be considered in the legal sphere for a month. From the moment, that is, from August 25, when the State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience can file a lawsuit in the court of first instance, a month is allotted for consideration of the case on its merits and rendering a decision. If there is an appeal, the court of appeals will also consider the case for a month. That is, we can get the results of these decisions fairly quickly. If they decide to remain loyal to the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), then they will serve somewhere in their homes, basements, or on the streets,» — Chornomorets said.
The religious scholar noted that after the UOC is completely banned, the Church will lose ownership of its real estate. In his opinion, the first to be affected will be those communities, churches, and monastery complexes that are leased by the UOC.
«They (the UOC, ed.) will not be able to use buildings that are state or municipal property. There are many different stories, as some buildings have been transferred to private ownership. There are cases where this transfer took place in a normal way, when, for example, people built a church themselves, and it was in private use from the very beginning. And there are cases, such as in the Boryspil diocese, where the metropolitan blessed the transfer of an entire monastery to private ownership. This was done by the abbot of the monastery, his sister, and the metropolitan. And now a criminal investigation is underway on this matter,» — added the DESS expert.
Read also
