Kiev, October 31, 2025
Мet. Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine. Photo: otrada.net
The Sixth Appellate Court of Kiev held a hearing yesterday on a lawsuit filed by the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) seeking to ban the activities of the Kiev Metropolia of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
The hearing lasted approximately five and a half hours with a break, while hundreds of UOC faithful prayed outside the courthouse, reports the Information-Education Department of the UOC.
Over 1,000 believers have filed applications to join the case as third parties, with an additional 300 such applications currently in the court registry.
The court granted the Kiev Metropolia’s motion to obtain all documents that formed the basis for the investigations and orders issued by DESS. According to Archpriest Nikita Chekman, the Metropolia’s attorney, DESS hadn’t provided all documents, including an internal memo that was classified as confidential after the Metropolia’s legal team requested it.
Orthodox Christians prayed outside the court house yesterday. Photo: spzh.eu
Due to the need for all parties to review the large volume of materials, including the applications from believers seeking third-party status, the Kiev Metropolia’s representatives filed a motion to postpone the proceedings. The court granted the postponement and will address questions regarding the inclusion of believers and certain legal entities, including diocesan administrations and monasteries, at the next hearing.
The next court session is scheduled for December 11 at 10:00 AM.
The state’s crusade against Orthodoxy began in earnest in August of last year when Parliament passed and President Zelensky signed into a law a bill on banning religious organizations connected to Russia, which lawmakers openly proclaimed was actually aimed at banning the Kiev-centered Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
In May of this year, based on this law, DESS began formally investigating UOC structures, beginning with the Kiev Metropolia. In August, the Service formally declared that the UOC is still connected to the Moscow Patriarchate, taking Russian Church documents as its guide, thereby investing them with legislative authority in Ukraine. On this basis, DESS filed a lawsuit against the Kiev Metropolia, which began yesterday.
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