- August 21, 2024
- 6:08 pm
- World News
For some reason, the Russian Embassy in Israel was embarrassed to move the story about Zelensky’s “faith” and “white powder” in your official text messageThese are Zakharova's words.
We looked into the reasons for this and the intricacies of the new Ukrainian law and what the future fate of the UOC MP will be.
“The neo-Nazi regime of the expired Zelensky, at the hands of radicals and schismatics, continues to carry out repressions against the clergy of the largest canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church in this country in terms of the number of believers,” she said at an official briefing on August 21.
“Representatives of other faiths (which ones? not named…) are allegedly involved in this truly satanic action sanctioned by Zelensky, aimed at destroying canonical Orthodoxy by any means and widening the deepest rift in Ukrainian society along religious lines, but in reality they are servants of the puppet regime,” Zakharova added thoughtfully.
“This monstrous step by the illegitimate Kyiv usurpers violates the provisions of a number of international documents in the area of human rights and the laws of Ukraine itself,” Well, who's talking??
For some reason, the Russian Embassy in Israel posted this entire “anti-satanic” speech on its official website.…
The Rada banned the Russian Church: what the law provides and what fate awaits the UOC MP
On Tuesday, August 20, the Verkhovna Rada supported bill No. 8371, concerning the regulation of the activities of religious organizations whose governing centers are located in Russia. This document potentially opens the possibility of banning the UOC-MP, but this does not mean that the UOC-MP will disappear immediately. Details are provided by TSN.
A bit of history
For our readers who are not well versed in the nuances of the Orthodox religion and are far from church life, we remind you that there are currently two Orthodox jurisdictions operating in Ukraine – the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) headed by Metropolitan Epiphanius, which was created at the Unification Council in December of the year and received the Tomos of autocephaly from the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and the UOC-Moscow Patriarchate. Let's focus on the latter.
The official legal name of this denomination is still the UOC, but for clarity we will call it the UOC MP.
The UOC MP emerged as a result of the Kharkov Council in June 1992. At that time, the overwhelming majority of Ukrainian bishops who were part of the MP rejected the course towards independence, which was defended by the then head of the UOC, Metropolitan Filaret Denisenko (later the head of the UOC KP, Patriarch Filaret).
“In the UOC during the winter-spring of 1992, a situation arose similar to Crimea in February-March 2014 or Donbass in April-June of the same year. There is the head of the Church – Metropolitan Filaret, who supports independence, there is a unanimous decision of the Council of the UOC on November 1-3, 1991 on autocephaly – but individual work is being carried out from Moscow with the bishops to renew their loyalty to the “Center”.
The pseudo-council in Kharkov 25 years ago was organized according to the same scheme as the “decision of the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea on the referendum” in February 2014. Legitimate deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of Crimea, under the protection of the Kremlin special services, proclaimed an illegal decision behind closed doors. Because they were “worked with.” Because they were more afraid of Moscow than Kiev. This is how the MPvU exists to this day: like people in Crimea and ORDLO under Russian occupation. Some are sincerely happy about this, some endure it, some simply close their eyes, and some sincerely await liberation,” said Metropolitan Eustratiy (Zarya) of the OCU.
Thus, from 1992 to this day, the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate has existed in Ukraine. Among its supporters and lobbyists were openly pro-Russian forces – the Party of Regions, and later the OPZZh, “Putin's godfather” Medvedchuk and other odious individuals. Oligarch Vadim Novinsky was ordained as a protodeacon in the UOC MP, and the former head of Kharkov Mikhail Dobkin, known to Ukrainians from the video “the text is written in a stupid way”, was ordained as a deacon.
The clergy of the UOC MP themselves regularly become involved in various scandals – from drunken brawls, suspicions of pedophilia, to supporting occupation forces, adjusting enemy attacks and spying for the Russian Federation.
What is the new law about?
The law comes into force 30 days after its publication. According to it, the UOC MP communities will have 9 months to sever ties with the ROC.
People's Deputy and former head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory Volodymyr Vyatrovich called today's decision of the parliament historic.
According to him, thirty days after the president signs and publishes the document, the State Service for Ethnopolicy and Freedom of Conscience will have the opportunity to check religious organizations in Ukraine for affiliation with the Moscow church.
If at least one of the 7 signs of a religious organization's connection with the Russian Orthodox Church is detected, such an organization will receive an order to eliminate this connection within 30 days. If the connection with Moscow is not severed, the state will go to court with a claim to ban such an organization.
Court proceedings for the ban will begin 9 months after the law is published.
Three months after the law is published, during which time the government must adopt the necessary by-laws, religious organizations will also be assessed for their involvement in the propaganda of the “Russian world.” Such propaganda will be grounds for their injunction.
Vyatrovich named the fact that religious organizations affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church will be deprived of the right to use state and municipal property as an important factor.
“If they do not break ties with the Moscow church, then within two months the agreements for the use of churches belonging to the state or local communities will be broken. And this is not about some mythical “persecution for faith”, but about common sense. The Ukrainian church, not the Moscow church, should use the property of the Ukrainian people,” the MP explained.
What will happen to the UOC MP
On the eve of the vote, the head of the OCU, Metropolitan Epiphanius, called on the head of the UOC MP, Metropolitan Onufriy, the clergy and laity of this church to unite and engage in dialogue without preconditions.
The BBC noted that the journalists’ interlocutors, both in the government and in the opposition, both in the UOC MP and in the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, are convinced that the law will not lead to a revolution in church life.
In a commentary to the publication, religious scholar Andrei Smirnov predicts that the law will facilitate and speed up the process of transition of some UOC parishes to the OCU.
In particular, communities that use state-owned monument churches will decide whether to move or look for new premises.
“But as long as the UOC is led by Metropolitan Onufriy, unification with the OCU will not happen. Therefore, there are several scenarios: negotiations with the Ecumenical Patriarchate and litigation with the state, and then going underground and being marginalized,” says Andrey Smirnov.
The expert notes that the parishes of the UOC MP with their own churches that are not state-owned will be able to continue to function even after court injunctions.
“They are not in any danger even after the court terminates the registration of a legal entity. Communities can operate without registration, and churches can be registered to individuals. Believers of the UOC will be able to continue to gather and pray in them,” Smirnov notes.
The UOC MP itself, as expected, assessed the adoption of the law as “increasing persecution.”
“The Ukrainian Orthodox Church will continue to live as a true church, recognized by the overwhelming majority of practicing Ukrainian believers and local churches of the world. This is an objective thing. Any attempts to prohibit an objective thing will only lead to discreditation, including international, of those who want to somehow implement it,” said the head of the information and educational department of the UOC MP, Metropolitan Kliment.
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