The Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC was linked to the Russian Orthodox Church: what does this mean?

The State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) officially recognized the Kyiv Metropolis of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church on August 27 as affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church, whose activities are banned in Ukraine. The decision was the result of a lengthy investigation that revealed signs of the UOC’s subordination to a foreign religious organization.

This was reported by the DESS press service .

It is noted that the institution conducted an analysis of the activities of the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC (EDRPOU code 21510633), which confirmed the presence of signs of affiliation with the Russian Orthodox Church. Such dependence is a violation of Ukrainian legislation, in particular the Law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations.”

Based on the results of the inspection, the department sent a request to the Kyiv Metropolis demanding that it eliminate the identified violations.

The Primate of the UOC, Metropolitan Onufriy, in his response to the order, declared his refusal to comply with the requirements of the DESS. This became a key factor in the subsequent decision of the state body.

According to the law, if a religious organization refuses to comply with the order and in the absence of grounds for its withdrawal, the DESS has the right to recognize it as affiliated with a foreign structure whose activities are prohibited in Ukraine.

Given the refusal of the UOC to eliminate the violation and confirm its affiliation with the ROC, the DESS decided to recognize the Kyiv Metropolis of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as affiliated with a foreign religious organization, the activities of which are prohibited in Ukraine in accordance with Article 3 of the Law “On Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Sphere of Activities of Religious Organizations.”

This decision paves the way for possible further legal consequences for the UOC, including the restriction or ban on the activities of its structures on the territory of Ukraine.

We will remind you that the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree terminating the citizenship of Orest Berezovsky, known as Metropolitan Onufriy of the UOC (MP).

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