Ukraine’s parliament on Thursday approved a law that provides for the illegalization of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has historic ties to the Moscow Patriarchate, and which Kiev accuses of being “pro-Russian.”
The law, initially approved by 267 deputies before a second vote, will ban the operation on Ukrainian territory of religious organizations “affiliated” with institutions of a state carrying out armed aggression against Ukraine, several Ukrainian deputies reported online. .
In a statement published on Facebook, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate – as it is still called by its opponents in Ukraine despite renouncing this association – denounced the law as contrary to the Ukrainian Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights. .
“The adoption of the bill shows that human rights and freedoms are losing their meaning,” the statement emphasized.
After the Russian military invasion in February 2022, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate cut ties with its mother church in Russia due to Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kiril’s support for the so-called “special military intervention” in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian state considers this break to be insufficient, due to the fact that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church remains canonically dependent on the Moscow Patriarchate.
Numerous Ukrainian priests of this church were arrested for alleged collaboration with Russian forces or for welcoming the military invasion in their sermons, losing many believers since the start of the war.
Many of these people joined the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the country’s state-backed and autocephalous national church, which was recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in 2019.
The Russian military offensive on Ukrainian territory, launched on February 24 last year, plunged Europe into what is considered the worst security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).
Ukraine’s Western allies have supplied weapons to Kiev and approved successive sanctions packages against Russian interests to try to reduce Moscow’s ability to finance the war effort.
Source: DN
