Kiev, May 14, 2025
Photo: uoc-news.church
On May 9, Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers approved the process for investigating potential ties between domestic religious groups and groups based in Russia.
The relevant resolution No. 543 was signed by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and published on the Cabinet’s website, reports the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s Information and Education Department.
On August 24, President Zelensky signed into law Bill 8371, which is aimed at banning the entire canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The law stipulated that investigations into specific legal entities would begin 9 months from its signing. Dioceses, parishes, monasteries, and other Church organizations exist as individual legal entities and thus under the current legislation will have to be individually investigated and taken to court.
And now the Cabinet has stipulated how this process of examination will take place. According to its resolution, the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience can investigate on its own initiative or by appeal from government authorities, civil associations, and others.
The law passed in August outlined seven signs of affiliation with the Russian Orthodox Church that the State Service will look for.
The State Service prioritizes investigations based on the religious organization’s type and hierarchical position, with public notice appearing on the Service’s website one business day before beginning. During investigations, which may include religious studies expertise lasting up to 60 days, officials can gather information from government agencies and public registries, as well as interview clergy while recording the conversations.
Based on the investigation results, the State Service will issue an order either confirming the presence of signs of affiliation between the religious organization and the ROC, or noting the absence of such signs.
The seven signs of affiliation with the ROC are:
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The UOC community directly or through a UOC diocese is part of the ROC
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In official documents of the UOC community, “there are signs of membership” in the ROC
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In official ROC documents, “there are indications regarding the inclusion in its structure” of UOC communities
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Official ROC documents provide for the inclusion of ROC representatives in the governing bodies of the UOC
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The ROC can influence the activities of UOC communities
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The ROC blesses the Metropolitan of Kiev after his election to this position
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The ROC approves the entry into force of the charter of UOC communities
As the Union of Orthodox Journalists notes in its analysis, the majority of the signs concern the Russian Church’s view and activities, which entities within the Ukrainian Orthodox Church have no control over.
The State Service employed the same methodology when in January 2023 it declared that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church remains part of the Russian Orthodox Church. At a Local Council the previous May, the UOC adopted new statutes removing all ties to the Moscow Patriarchate, but the State Service based its analysis not on the life and operations or statutory documents of the UOC, but rather those of the ROC. Thus, the State Service showed that it simply wants to ban the UOC.
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