Kiev, August 1, 2022
Kiev Caves Lavra. Photo: radiovera.ru
There are no parishes or other religious organizations belonging to the Moscow Patriarchate or the UOC-MP (Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate) in the Kiev Province, according to local officials.
In response to a request from human rights activist Viktoria Kokhanovskaya, the Kiev Provincial Military Administration stated that “in the Kiev Province there are no religious organizations-religious communities that contain information in their constituent documents about belonging to the ‘Moscow Patriarchate’ or the ‘UOC-MP,’” reports the Information-Education Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Last month, a Ukrainian state official confirmed that the statutes of the UOC as a whole no longer speak of any connection to the Russian Orthodox Church, in accordance with the decisions of the Church Council held in Kiev in May.
The Kiev Provincial State Administration also confirms that it hasn’t received any complaints or applications from legal entities or individuals regarding a ban on religious organizations of the Moscow Patriarchate.
Earlier, the mayors of at least two cities in the Kiev Province declared a ban on the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
The Ukrainian Church’s Legal Department has protested such decisions, explaining that they have no legal force, and the Ukrainian Synod has called upon President Vladimir Zelensky to intervene and put an end to such divisive moves.
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