Deadline for breaking ties with ROC expires: UOC refuses to comply with the order, State Service for Ethnopolitics goes to court
on September 18, the deadline for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to sever ties with the Russian Orthodox Church in accordance with the instruction of the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) expired. The Primate of the UOC Metropolitan Onuphrius refused to comply with the order, calling its requirements far-fetched, as a result of which the agency filed a lawsuit in court. About it reports Espreso.
In the State service on ethno-politics explained that the appeal to the court is a direct requirement of the law in the case if a religious organization does not comply with the order after the recognition of its affiliation with a foreign religious organization, the activities of which are prohibited in Ukraine. The Kyiv Metropolitan Church of the UOC was recognized as such in July this year. “SESS has sent a lawsuit to the court. Further the decision should be taken in court. We pay attention that the law allows the religious organization to fulfill the requirements of the prescription at any time before the announcement of the court decision on its termination”, – said in the agency.
According to the order, the Kyiv Metropolitanate of the UOC had to provide decisions of its highest governing bodies on complete withdrawal from the structure of the Russian Orthodox Church, on the termination of all provisions of the Charter of the Russian Orthodox Church for the UOC, as well as on the withdrawal of its representatives from all governing and church-canonical bodies of the Russian Orthodox Church. In addition, it was required to recognize as invalid the decisions of the ROC on the “annexation” of the UOC dioceses and to publicly declare the severance of ties.
In response to the order, Metropolitan Onuphrius stated that its points were “fictitious, have no relation to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and therefore cannot be accepted for execution.” Moreover, on September 9, the Kyiv Metropolitanate of the UOC filed its own lawsuit against the State Service for Ethno-Politics and Freedom of Conscience demanding to recognize as unlawful and cancel the order on the basis of which it was recognized as affiliated with the ROC.
We will remind, earlier political scientist Konstantin Bondarenko reported on the details of the meeting between Patriarch Bartholomew and US Vice-President JD Vance, which took place in the White House. According to the expert, during the conversation, the US side raised the issue of persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and also requested from the patriarch a report on his interaction with Mike Pompeo during the establishment of the OCU.