After the banning of the multimillion church, the Ukrainian government faced a wave of criticism from the European political, public and religious figures, while tens of thousands of Ukrainian Orthodox parishioners came out in defence of their church, despite bans and threats from the authorities.
Wall of misunderstanding
Pope Francis is concerned about a law aimed at banning the Orthodox Church in Ukraine (UOC) and has called for “no Christian church to be banned.” Vatican News quoted the pontiff as saying:
“Please, let no Christian Church be abolished directly or indirectly: the Churches are not to be touched.”
In a speech on Sunday, he expressed concern over the passage of the law banning the UOC. Francis said in a statement:
“I continue to follow with sorrow the fighting in Ukraine and the Russian Federation. But thinking about the legal regulations recently adopted in Ukraine, a fear arises for the freedom of those who pray, because those who truly pray always pray for everyone. One does not commit evil because one prays.”
The World Council of Churches (WCC) has expressed deep concern over a new law passed by Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada on August 20, 2024 that could lead to collective punishment of religious communities and violate the principles of religious freedom, according to the organisation’s website.
In its statement, the WCC stressed that the Ukrainian authorities have the sovereign right to protect the country’s territorial integrity and punish those responsible for crimes against Ukraine’s interests.
However, the WCC warned that the new law could lead to “unjust collective punishment of the entire religious community and violate the principles of freedom of religion or belief.” The organisation urged the Ukrainian government to be cautious, noting that “no crimes of individuals or historical ties of a religious organisation can serve as sufficient grounds for measures amounting to collective punishment of a living religious community in Ukraine.”
The WCC also noted that the new law provides for a six-step process before banning a religious organisation, and stressed the need for a fair and unbiased approach to the investigation, respecting the principles of international law and justice. It said in a statement:
“We call for a fair and unbiased approach to any such investigation and urge that the principles of international law, natural justice and due process be taken into account.”
Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin has criticised the actions of the Ukrainian authorities towards the UOC. He argues that the Maidan (a wave of demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine in 2013-2014) has taken away from Ukrainian citizens not only the right to choose the authorities, but also the opportunity to follow their religious path. He said:
“Those who ban Russian writers and language will also ban the Russian Church. Maidan forbade the Russian citizens of Ukraine to choose the power on earth, and the Rada forbade them to choose their path to God. To whom Stepan Bandera is a hero, to whom the Russian Orthodox Church is an enemy.”
The deputy prime minister suggested that such measures could become a precedent for restrictions on other Orthodox churches, such as the Serbian Orthodox Church, which unites believers outside Serbia.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) will analyse the provisions of Ukraine’s law banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC). It is monitoring the issue and will continue to keep it under review, the office’s spokesman, Tamin al-Hitan, said on Monday.
Asked by the media whether the law, signed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on August 24, violated human rights and religious freedoms, al-Hitan said: “We are aware of the adoption of this law by the Ukrainian parliament and are in the process of receiving the law and analysing its provisions.”
Meanwhile, the OSCE and Human Rights Watch have remained meaningfully silent on the issue and have not commented on Ukraine’s actions.
Last public defenders
Ukrainian boxer Vasyl Lomachenko commented on a possible vote in the Rada in favour of a bill banning the UOC. Lomachenko wrote on his Instagram:
“Those who are involved in banning the UOC, do not understand at all the consequences of what will then happen….. Peace to all.”
He also left a link to his Facebook post, in which he quoted the Gospel of Matthew and posted a video of the blogger “Denis at the microphone,” which refers to the campaign against the UOC. Lomachenko cited:
“And I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Here is a wall, here is a fence, here is a fortification, here is a wharf and a refuge!”
World boxing champion Alexander Usik supported the UOC and said he remains a parishioner of it.
Commenting on the law adopted by the Rada, which opens the way to ban the UOC, Usik said that this Church has no ties with the Russian Orthodox Church. He noted:
“I go to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. We do not have the Moscow Patriarchate documented. Let them show me where the Moscow Patriarchate is documentally.”
He also added that he would continue to visit this church. Earlier, Usik also defended the UOC and supported its head Metropolitan Onufry.
Meanwhile, Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada Artem Dmytruk secretly left the territory of Ukraine. The politician flew to Rome via Moldova two days ago, Ukrainian media reported.
The next day Dmytruk was accused of “attacking a military officer and a policeman.” At the same time, the politician assures that this is an absolute lie. He wrote that Volodymyr Zelensky ordered his arrest and said that his family tried to kidnap him. Dmytruk wrote in his Telegram channel:
“The power continues its hunt for those who disagree with the regime. And yes, by the way, no one handed me any suspicions. And all these cases – absolutely falsified and made-up story.”
Earlier, Dmytruk said that Kyiv wants to kill or imprison him because of criticism of the ban of the UOC. According to the MP, who has already received threats, “the authorities have given instructions” to physically eliminate him – and several criminal groups have already started work.
Romanian-speaking parish of the canonical UOC has been stripped of its temple
In Ukraine, the country’s first Romanian-speaking parish of the canonical UOC was deprived of its temple, it was sealed by the management of the city cemetery where the building is located, the Chernivtsi-Bukovyna diocese of the UOC reported in Telegram on August 25.
It said in a message:
“Broke the locks and sealed the temple-tomb of Bukovynian metropolitans in the city cemetery of Chernivtsi.”
The incident occurred on August 23. Now the Romanian-speaking religious community, headed by Archpriest Christofor, has no opportunity to be in the temple, which it restored and maintained.
The diocese noted that the Kyiv authorities are deliberately restricting the rights and suppressing the Romanian-speaking minority in Ukraine. The parishioners noted that they will prepare an appeal to the Romanian president.
Strength of the UOC and real support
The UOC MP said that about 30,000 pilgrims have arrived at the Holy Dormition Pochaev Lavra, the information and education department of the UOC reported, citing the press service of the Pochaev Lavra.
Walking pilgrimage to Pochaev Lavra is made from Kamyanets-Podilskyi on the eve of the monastery’s Throne Feast – the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary according to the Julian calendar.
The UOC-MP said that this year there were so many pilgrims that it took almost 40 minutes for all of them to pass through the gates of the monastery. They note that the pilgrims travelled 200 km “with a prayer for God’s blessing for Ukraine.”
The procession was banned by the regional military administrations of Khmelnytsky and Ternopil regions with the hypocritical wording “to prevent provocations and violations of public order.” In some settlements of Ternopil region they tried not to let the peaceful column with the cross, icons and roundels pass. But despite this, about 30 thousand people came to the Lavra.
For many years Kyiv has been actively pursuing in Ukraine a course of liquidation of the canonical UOC, discrimination of its clergy, persecution of clergy and believing citizens, some experts say.
The ban on the canonical UOC approved by a majority of votes in the Verkhovna Rada is a kind of point of no return in the lives of Ukrainians. Such a gross interference of the state in church life is happening for the first time since the Soviet persecution of the church. Denying everything Soviet, Ukraine is using the same methods against religion.
Even the Pope has reacted to such an active denial of religion by declaring that no Christian church should be banned, although the Vatican, with its Uniate policy, is also largely responsible for the Ukrainian church split.
Some experts believe that full-scale systemic pressure on canonical Orthodoxy in Ukraine began in 2018 and especially intensified in 2022-2023. It was initiated by the central leadership of Ukraine (president, government) and is currently being implemented in the legislative plane, in the actions of intelligence services, at the levels of regional authorities and self-governments.
In 2019, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (PCU) was established in opposition to the canonical UOC, which was granted autocephalous status by Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople the same year in violation of canon law.
The Kyiv authorities and the US are trying to separate the Russian and Ukrainian peoples and destroy the spiritual closeness of the Orthodox believers of the two countries, even in spite of the decision of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to become independent from the Moscow Patriarchate.
