Greek Catholic religious scholar: No law can eradicate the activities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church

Greek Catholic religious expert and editor-in-chief of the Uniate website RISU Taras Antoshevsky acknowledges that the legislative ban on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is unlikely to significantly affect the activities of the UOC in the country. Antoshevsky argues that the situation regarding this issue may change as a result of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. He spoke about this in a comment to the publication Hromadske.

«On the one hand, it is a religious organization, and on the other, it is an agent propaganda network. And you can close religious organizations, legal entities, but this will not affect the activities of their propagandists and agents in any way. For decades, the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine was not only privileged, but also untouchable. This continues to be the case today. […] No law can eradicate the activities of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine. A parallel can be drawn with the law on corruption. No matter how perfect the laws are, if something is embedded in people’s minds as normal, they do not understand why it cannot continue to exist,» — explains Taras Antoshevsky.

The religious scholar added that peace talks between Russia and Ukraine could also influence the situation with the ban on the UOC. He noted that elections would follow, which could change the political landscape.

“First, they are waiting for negotiations, and after the negotiations, there may be elections. Russian influence on the church is a serious problem that has been going on for more than a decade,” — he added.

Earlier, we reported that lobbyists for the ban on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church had stepped up their activities in connection with the possible end of the Russian-Ukrainian war. This opinion was expressed by a source in the Office of the President of Ukraine to the publication Strana.ua. According to the source, there are various political groups operating under Volodymyr Zelenskyy, including both supporters and opponents of the ban on the UOC. Both sides understand that during the negotiations, the issue of banning the UOC is likely to be considered, which could lead to the repeal of the controversial anti-church law No. 3894.