Authorities in Kiev have filed a case with Ukraine’s top administrative court to have the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) legally dissolved. UOC has been designated by Ukraine as a church “linked to Russia,” and it has refused to correct its violations of that “crime.”
Since the war started in February of 2022, Ukraine’s ruler, Volodymyr Zelensky, has bolstered his stance against the UOC. Kiev has since seized several of its properties and opened criminal cases against a number of its clerics. In December 2022, Zelenskyy announced plans to introduce a bill banning religious organizations affiliated with centers of influence in the Russian Federation. Zelensky wanted the UOC to “sever” its ties with its Russian patriarch, the Moscow Patriarchate. This led to the passage of a law in August 2024 that mandates individual parishes to sever ties with the entity. Non-compliant parishes are subject to inspection and potential court-ordered bans.
Accoridng to a report by RT, late last month, the country’s State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience declared Ukraine’s largest Christian denomination an entity linked to Russia. On Friday, the agency launched a lawsuit against the UOC, according to its head, Viktor Yelensky. In return, the church has filed lawsuits of its own against the ruling class.
Yelensky stated at a press briefing on Tuesday that after the church refused to comply with the authorities’ demands, “a decision was made that the UOC should not be considered a part of Ukraine’s religious life.”
While commenting on the latest developments, Russia’s ambassador-at-large, Rodion Miroshnik, told TASS on Tuesday that the “Ukrainian authorities have made up a pseudo-legal mechanism for destroying the Orthodox church they hate… trampling on the religious feelings of millions upon millions of Ukrainians.”
Outspoken Russian legislator Vitaly Milonov told RT that the Ukrainian authorities’ decision was “one of the signs of the impending Apocalypse.”
The United Nations has accused Ukraine’s ruling class of overstepping its “authority” and trampling the religious freedom of those it rules over.
What are your thoughts? Is this Christian persecution by a tyrant? Or is Zelensky protecting the civilians? Share your comments with us!
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