Deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, voted a bill effectively banning the activity of one of the two Orthodox churches in the country – the Ukrainian Orthodox Church associated with the Moscow Patriarchate, BTA reported.
The reason for the drastic measure is the opinion of the authorities that the UOC is a conduit of Russian influence, although the UOC officially announced after the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, that it was severing ties with Moscow.
On Tuesday, the deputies of the Rada adopted with a large majority a bill to tighten the control regime on religious organizations that are connected to the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) or support the Russian invasion, and the main victim of it will be the UOC, the agencies note.
The measure was approved in the second reading with the votes of 265 out of a total of 322 people's representatives who were present in the hall, according to DPA.
Given the fragmented religious landscape in Ukraine, this action will affect a total of about 10,000 parishes that remain under the influence of the Moscow Patriarchate.
The ban was justified by the Moscow Patriarchate's support for the invasion of Ukraine, and its Ukrainian affiliate, the UOC, was accused of supporting crimes against its own people.
Officially, the law aims to protect national security and religious freedom. Now the normative act goes to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for signature before it enters into force.
It will come into effect 30 days after it is promulgated, and individual parishes will have nine months to sever relations with Moscow, Ukrainian MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak pointed out.
Another lawmaker, Roman Lozinski, wrote the following on Facebook: “Today we set out on the inevitable path of cleaning up the Kremlin spy network, which has been carrying out its subversive activities from within under the guise of a religious organization for decades.
While the debates on the bill went on, warnings were heard from Ukraine's Western partners that the ban should not further deepen the religious divide in the country, DPA notes.
Zelensky stated that the law will strengthen “spiritual independence“ of Ukraine.
The regulatory act gives the authorities the right to investigate any religious organization, and the UOC is explicitly defined in its text as an “ideological continuation of the regime of the aggressor state”, notes the Associated Press.
SHORT REACTION FROM THE RUSSIAN SIDE
Expectedly, the adoption of the law caused violent reactions from the Russian side.
The first topic was commented on by Maria Zakharova, spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who strongly condemned the decision of the Rada.
„The aim is to destroy the true, canonical Orthodoxy”, she said, quoted by the agencies.
Vladimir Legoida, spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church, described the law as an “illegal act that grossly violates fundamental principles such as freedom of conscience and human rights”.
Representatives of the UOC clergy also came out with a position.
Metropolitan Kliment, spokesman for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, said on national television that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has always acted “in accordance with the law and will strive to protect the basic constitutional right to freedom of conscience and religious belief”.
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THE CHURCH QUESTION IN UKRAINE AND ITS BACKGROUND
For centuries, Russia and a large part of Ukraine formed a single church space under the supremacy of the Moscow Patriarchate, DPA points out. After gaining independence in 1991, Ukraine began to strive for ecclesiastical autonomy.
The issue became even more acute after the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the outbreak of war between Moscow-backed pro-Russian separatists and government troops in eastern Ukraine, notes AFP.
In 2018, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) was established, which broke away from the UOC and whose independence (autocephaly) was officially recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, whose official residence is in the “Fener” in Istanbul. The Ecumenical Patriarch has the status of first among equals among the heads of the Orthodox Churches.
The ROC reacted sharply to the schism that arose, since the OCU is spiritually loyal to Bartholomew, and not to Moscow, which considers the Ecumenical Patriarch to be its adversary.
Three months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the UOC announced its “complete self-sufficiency and independence” from Moscow, which practically meant severing ties with the Russian Orthodox Church, to which it was canonically subordinate until then. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church declared its full loyalty to the Ukrainian state and called on its members to fight for Ukraine as their sacred duty.
But for many in Ukraine, this is not enough, and they remain suspicious of the activities of the UOC, notes the Associated Press.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced on Tuesday that since the start of the war, more than 100 criminal proceedings have been opened against UOC clerics for crimes related to the military conflict. About 50 of them have already been charged, and 26 have received court sentences, the SBU added. Some clerics were exchanged for Ukrainians held in Russian captivity, the Security Service said.
From there, they distributed photographic material from searched church properties of the UOC as evidence of ongoing subversive activity, in which rubles, Russian passports and calls with pro-Russian content were found.
The law, which also prohibits the propagation of the ideology of the so-called Russian world, is another expression of the ongoing religious-cultural battle between Russia and Ukraine at a deeper level, parallel to the hostilities, notes the Associated Press.
Namely “The Russian World“ was one of the justifications Russian President Vladimir Putin gave for starting the war. The Russian world is a concept according to which Russia, Ukraine and Belarus form a common spiritual and cultural space, representing a sphere of influence of Russia.
Russian Patriarch Kirill is an ally of Putin and supports the war in Ukraine, the agencies note.
„There will no longer be a Moscow church in Ukraine”, wrote on the social network “Telegram” the Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak, quoted by France Press.