Kiev, August 5, 2021
20,000 Ukrainian Orthodox faithful appealed to Parliament on June 15 to end the persecution against them. Photo: zikua.tv
A bill calling for the repeal of the discriminatory laws against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has been officially registered in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament).
During Poroshenko’s time as head of state, several laws were put into place that attempt to provide a legal foundation for schismatics to seize churches and territories from the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church and to force the renaming of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church into the “Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine”—thereby attempting to paint the Church as but an arm of the “aggressor state,” as Ukraine considers Russia.
Poroshenko signs second anti-Church bill into lawThe document defines the mechanisms by which a community can change its jurisdiction with religious centers in Ukraine and abroad.On July 30, the Rada registered draft law No. 5835, “On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine Concerning the Activities of Religious Organizations and Ensuring the Constitutional Right of Citizens to Freedom of Worldview and Religion,” which aims to undo the state-sanctioned persecution, reports the Information-Education Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
The bill was initiated by Vadim Novinsky, a staunch defender of the canonical Church and recently a deacon, with several other deputies, after the peaceful and prayerful appeal of the faithful of the Ukrainian Church to the Parliament on June 15, with more than a million signatures collected on the relevant document.
20,000 Ukrainian laity hold prayer vigil outside Parliament in defense of their rights (+VIDEOS)The bills presented by Laity are backed by the signatures of more than a million Ukrainian Orthodox laymen.The explanatory note on the bill emphasizes that millions of Ukrainians are exercising their right to legislative initiative and the introduction of draft laws for consideration. It is emphasized that the laws earlier adopted by the Rada grossly violate the constitution of Ukraine and the constitutional rights of citizens.
Commenting on this legislative initiative, Archpriest Alexander Bakhov, the head of the UOC’s Legal Department noted: “This means that this law is intended to restore the principle of equality of all religious communities, protect religious organizations from interference in their internal affairs, and restore the rights of believers and religious communities of the UOC and return the legislation that was in force until 2018. After all, we know that laws No. 2662, 2673 were adopted in order to provide preferences for the newly-created ‘OCU.’”
The new bill is sure to face considerable opposition. The call from more than a million Ukrainians to end the persecution against their Ukrainian Church was also delivered to the Office of the President and the Cabinet of Ministers in June, but as the Ukrainian Church reports, the Cabinet defended the anti-Church bills, stating: “There are no legal grounds now for repealing laws No. 2673-VIII and No. 2662-VIII.”
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