The Ukrainian Orthodox Church becomes a target of a new bill passed by the Ukrainian parliament that bans Moscow-linked religious groups.
Ukraine’s parliament approved a bill that bans the activities of religious groups that are tied to the Russian Orthodox Church, or any other religious group that supports Russia’s invasion into Ukraine.
According to the bill, activities of the Russian Orthodox Church are “an ideological extension of the regime of the aggressor state” and “an accomplice to war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
The Verkhovna Rada approved the bill on Tuesday with 265 affirmative votes and 29 opposed.
“Grotesque violation of religious freedom”
All eyes are now on the Ukrainian Orthodox church (UOC), who has historically been tied to the Russian church.
Bishop Metropolitan Klyment of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church insists on its independence from Moscow and calls the new law controversial.
“The UOC is independent and self-governing in its administration. It is not subordinated to any centers within Ukraine, that is, to any centers other than the Kyiv Metropolis. And certainly not to any centre outside of Ukraine, whether it is in a country that is called the aggressor state or in any other country. There are no foreign centers that would influence the activities of the UOC,” the bishop says.
A lawyer representing the UOC added that the bill is a “grotesque violation of religious freedom.”
Historic ties to the Russian Orthodox church
But the Ukrainian government claims the UOC remains tied to the Russian church and its Moscow-based patriach, who has depicted the Russian invasion into Ukraine as a ‘holy war’.
The nation’s security agency searched the UOC church sites and shared the evidence it had found, including Russian passports and pro-Russian leaflets.
Upon examining the UOC’s governing documents, the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience decided that the church remains a strutural unit of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The Bishop of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) – which is distinct from the UOC – calls the law important “given the fact that Patriarch Kirill blessed the killing of Ukrainians and the destruction of Ukrainian statehood.” He also says that “it is hard to imagine how one can tolerate the activities of this organisation on the territory of Ukraine, which is suffering from this war.”
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy still needs to sign the bill, which he is expected to do. Earlier this month, Zelenskyy said that “it is our common duty to guarantee Ukrainian spiritual independence.”
