Kiev, February 3, 2021
The persecutors of the Ukrainian Church: Petro Poroshenko, Patriarch Bartholomew, and "Metropolitan" Epiphany Dumenko. Photo: spzh.news
The Synod of the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” has announced that it officially opposes the repeal of Law No. 2662, which seeks to rob the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the legal name it has held since 1990. The OCU calls upon the Ukrainian state and its international partners to stave off the grave danger that the canonical Church presents to Ukraine by being called the “Ukrainian Orthodox Church.”
The Synodal statement is just another case of the OCU’s aggression against its fellow countrymen, the head of the canonical Church’s legal department then commented.
The OCU is hoping for a second wave of parish “transitions” from the canonical to the schismatic church as preparation for the summer visit of Patriarch Bartholomew, who intends to arrive in Ukraine as a hero. Law No. 2662 is widely acknowledged as a thinly-veiled attack on the canonical Church, facilitating the seizure of its parishes and monasteries. “Patriarch” Philaret Denisenko has even openly stated how the law could be used to take the Kiev Caves and Pochaev Lavras away from the UOC.
The law in question came into force in December 2018 under the anti-Orthodox and Russophobic former President Petro Poroshenko, though the Church has been opposing the issue in court. The case opened before the Constitutional Court in February last year.
At its session held yesterday, the schismatic hierarchs expressed concern that “pro-Russian politicians and supporters of the Moscow Patriarchate” have illegally influenced courts that have ruled in favor of the canonical Church on the matter of its renaming to “The Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.”
All judicial proceedings must be independent, free of any external interference, as obligated by both secular law and God’s law, the OCU bishops state. Those who interfere and work injustice will be punished by God, they write.
“The Holy Synod is particularly concerned about reports of attempts to influence the religious situation in Ukraine through court decisions. In particular, we are talking about an attempt to block the action and repeal Law No. 2662, which provides for the obligation of religious organizations that have their own leadership center in the aggressor country, that is, in the Russian Federation, to indicate their official name as belonging to such a religious center,” reads the schismatics’ statement.
The canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church “ignores this law,” the OCU believes.
In response, Archpriest Alexander Bakhov, the head of the canonical Church’s legal department, commented: “It turns out the Synod of the ‘OCU’ believes that millions of Ukrainian citizens belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church are aggressors, so any legal court decision in their favor is corrupt until they are renamed or recognize the tomos and follow it!”
In the opinion of the OCU, the canonical Church should either become “a truly independent Ukrainian religious association by withdrawing from Russian subordination,” or fulfill the requirements of the law and rename itself.
Thus, the OCU continues to willfully deny what Ukrainian courts have recognized several times—that in legal terms, the canonical Ukrainian Church is based in Kiev and operates independently of the Russian Orthodox Church.
As has been demonstrated many times, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church enjoys more independence than does the supposedly autocephalous “Orthodox Church of Ukraine.”
The OCU is certain that the Kremlin has its agents influencing Ukrainian courts, and anyone who loves Ukraine, regardless of religious affiliation, must “resist this aggression.”
Recall that just last month, “Metropolitan” Epiphany Dumenko, the head of the OCU, showed his love by declaring he temporarily tolerates the ministry of his fellow Ukrainians in their native Ukraine.
