Source: Interfax-Religion
June 6, 2016
Kiev Caves Lavra
The Verkhovnaya Rada committee for cultural and spiritual issues has advised deputies to pass a bill on the procedure for changing the jurisdiction of religious communities.
This document "is meant to legalize hostile church takeovers," the press service of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate said.
In line with the bill that implies amendments to Ukrainian law on the freedom of conscience, and religious organizations, any outsider can consider himself a member of a certain parish and vote for its transition to another jurisdiction.
"Scores of churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church have been seized according to this pattern," the report said. Speaking at a Paschal reception at the Foreign Ministry on Thursday, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia urged the international community to protect Orthodox Christians in Ukraine saying that "raiding takeovers of churches by representatives of non-canonical religious groups, unfortunately, with the support of nationalists, and often, local authorities, continue."
The patriarch said 31 churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate have now been taken over and 12 are at risk of takeover.
"This massive violation of human rights and religious freedom occuring in Ukraine should attract everyone's attention, especially the countries and public organizations that are really concerned about human rights problems. Raids and takeovers of churches cannot be called anything else; the massive abuse of believers has already attracted the attention of the international community, including human rights organizations, but we would like this voice to be stronger, to stop the lawlessness that is now occurring in Ukraine," the patriarch said.
