The majority of people in Ukraine are Orthodox Christians, however, there is a divide between two branches: one of them is traditionally linked to the Russian Orthodox Church – Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), and the other one is the independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine. The world’s Orthodox leaders recognised this latter denomination in 2019.

Ukrainian heads of church incriminated the Russian branch, accusing them with circulating pro-Russian propaganda and spying on people. Based on recent polls, 82% of Ukrainians had trust issues with the UOC. 

265 lawmakers agreed to pass legislation  to ban the Russian – Ukrainian Orthodox Church this Tuesday. A government agency will create a list of “affiliated” institutions, whose activities will be forbidden, mainly targeting Russian Orthodox organisations. According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy this step is supposed to empower Ukraine’s “spiritual independence”.

The metropolitan Klyment of UOC argued that their church has no connections with “foreign centres” and condemned the law that targets church property: “The Ukrainian Orthodox Church will continue to live as a true church, recognized by the vast majority of practicing Ukrainian believers and churches of the world.”

Lawmaker Iryna Herashchenko stated it had been an essential step, to avoid national security issues: “This is a historic vote. Parliament approved a legislation which bans a branch of the aggressor country in Ukraine”. 

Other lawmakers think the process would be long and intricate, because each Orthodox parish is a separate body. They would be provided nine months to think about leaving. After that period, the courts could ban them, based on individual cases. 

Lawmaker Roman Lozynskyi stated: “Today we have embarked on the inevitable path of cleansing from within the Kremlin’s agent network, which has been hiding behind the mask of a religious organisation for decades.”

Source: https://premierchristian.news/