Kiev, October 20, 2023
Photo: currenttime.tv
The deputies of Ukrainian Parliament voted 267-5 yesterday in favor of a bill that calls for the banning of any religious organization that is connected to Russia.
In January of this year, the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience declared that although the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is legally administered entirely in Kiev, and although it amended its statutes in May 2022 to remove all connection to the Moscow Patriarchate, it remains part of the Moscow Patriarchate according to Russian Orthodox Church documents.
Thus, although the UOC’s Legal Department emphasizes that yesterday was the first reading of the bill, and that procedure calls for a second reading before the relevant bill comes into force as law, it is clear that the Verkhovna Rada deputies have every intention of banning the Church of their fellow Ukrainians.
Given the dire situation, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill again appealed to the heads of the Local Orthodox Churches and of other churches and international organizations to defend the rights of the Church. And His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolas, the First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, sent a letter of support to His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine.
In his message to the primates of the Local Orthodox Churches and religious figures, Pat Kirill noted:
Without clearly defining the concept of this “affiliation,” the mentioned bill empowers the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience, led by a person who is hostile towards the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, to judge in each particular case. This body, guided by criteria unknown to anyone, will conduct a so-called religious study, based on the conclusion of which a judicial decision will be made. One doesn't need to be a lawyer to understand that the proposed scheme opens the door to all sorts of abuses…
Initiators and supporters of the adoption of this bill in Ukraine—senior government officials, deputies of the Verkhovna Rada, radical politicians, and public figures—do not hide that the bill is directed against the largest religious community in Ukraine and aims to eliminate the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as a centralized structure, as well as all its dioceses, parishes, and monasteries individually…
The adoption of this bill was preceded by a whole set of measures directed against the canonical Church in Ukraine: a slanderous anti-Church campaign in the national media, seizures of churches with the use of gross violence against clergy and believers, initiation of numerous fictitious criminal cases, pressure on the episcopate by special services, attempts to seize the cradle of Russian monasticism—the Holy Dormition-Kiev Caves Lavra, and other major monasteries with the forced eviction of their residents, as well as a wave of forced closures by local authorities of churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, a ban on its services, the seizure of land plots occupied by its monasteries, churches, and shrines.
According to His Holiness, declaring a religious organization, which unites many millions of followers, thousands of communities, and hundreds of monasteries across the country, as illegal, “puts the Ukrainian state on par with the most sinister anti-religious regimes of the past.”
The Russian primate sent a similar letter to various leaders and representatives at the UN and OSCE, urging them to “take all possible measures to prevent the continuation of mass violations of the religious rights of the believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, including in the form of discussing the current situation within the agenda of the organization you lead, preparing specialized reports, and sending special missions to establish facts.”
Pat. Kirill and other hierarchs from a number of Local Churches have issued a number of such appeals, but thus far to no avail. See, for example, the appeal of His Holiness Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia of Georgia to Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople to raise his voice in defense of the persecuted UOC.
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And Met. Nicholas assured the Ukrainian primate of the fervent prayers of the faithful of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia:
Your Beatitude, Vladyka!
Having learned about the adoption in the first reading of bill No. 8371, which provides for a ban on the ministry of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church on the territory of Ukraine, I hasten to express to you our love, support and sympathy. This bill demonstrates the lack of religious freedom in a country known for its piety and targets the majority of its religious citizens and defenders.
Standing before the Kursk-Root Icon of the Mother of God "of the Sign," the relics of St John (Maximovich) the Wonderworker, and other holy sites, we fervently pray in these days of sorrow for strength for you, your brother archpastors, pastors, monastics and faithful flock of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
We also pray for the enlightenment of the persecutors who have lost their sobriety. For the current situation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church reminds us of the events of a hundred years ago, when some in the Orthodox world, turning away from the legitimate hierarchy of the persecuted Church, supported the so-called "Living Church" together with the atheists.
We pray, hope and believe that the memory of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the 20th century will be immersed in the souls of each of us Orthodox Christians, helping us in these difficult times to follow the example of the faith and faithfulness of the victims and not to be on the side of the persecutors.
Prayerfully uniting with you, I cordially wish Your Beatitude and the entire Ukrainian Orthodox Church headed by you, the all-powerful strength of God and all the best!
Asking for Your holy prayers, I remain Your Beatitude's faithful brother and concelebrant,
+ NICHOLAS
Metropolitan of Eastern America and New York
First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia
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