Moscow: July 8, 2024
Photo: TASS
Last week, the Chairman of the Synodal Department for Church Relations with Society and the Media, Vladimir Legoida, issued a statement in response to reports that emerged on July 2, 2025, regarding the revocation of Ukrainian citizenship of the Primate of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine.
“The Ukrainian authorities are continuing to exert pressure on the faithful, clergy, and hierarchs of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church—the only canonical Orthodox Church in the country. The seizure of churches, persecution of clergy and laity, expulsions, arrests, and criminal cases against bishops—now to this list has been added the revocation of citizenship from the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine,” Legoida stated.
According to him, a legal assessment of this step is still forthcoming, “but even now, it can be confidently stated that the revocation of Metropolitan Onuphry’s citizenship is not just a legal measure directed against a Ukrainian citizen,” but a harsh political act aimed at putting pressure on the millions-strong flock of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
“This is a continuation of the persecution of the Church and its faithful, who make up the majority of Ukraine’s citizens,” the head of the Synodal Department declared.
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