The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's unicameral parliament, has approved a law banning the country's biggest Orthodox church denomination.
Russia Today (RT) reported that the Verkhovna Rada's proposal officially prohibits the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), which Kyiv has repeatedly accused of having ties to Moscow. The proposal, endorsed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, also explicitly bans the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) and all religious institutions affiliated with it.
People's Deputy (PD) Yaroslav Zheleznyak confirmed the passage of the law in a series of Telegram posts on Aug. 20. "Among the people, it [is called] the law banning the Moscow Church," he said. Earlier that day, 265 PDs voted in favor of the law while 29 voted against it and four PDs abstained.
While the law enshrining the ban will take effect in 30 days, it contains a caveat that gives the UOC nine months to sever all ties with the ROC. However, the UOC had declared full autonomy from the ROC several weeks after the Russia-Ukraine war broke out in February 2022. Despite this, Kyiv continued to accuse UOC clergy members of having ties to Moscow – often raiding churches and arresting prelates. (Related: War on CHRISTIANITY: West is mum on Ukraine's proposed legislation to ban Ukrainian Orthodox Church over alleged Russian ties.)
Verkhovna Rada Speaker Ruslan Stephanchuk said a week prior that the law would certainly result in the banning of "the Russian church in Ukraine" – pertaining to the UOC. Zelensky himself also referenced the law's imminent approval around the same time, claiming that it would "reinforce Ukraine's spiritual independence."
According to RT, "Ukraine has long experienced religious tensions" even before the war between Kyiv and Moscow broke out. The UOC and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), which has the backing of Kyiv, are the two main rival factions. However, the ROC has denounced the OCU as schismatic.
"The UOC remains the largest Orthodox church in Ukraine, with more than 8,000 parishes across the country. However, some of these parishes are choosing to transfer to the jurisdiction of the OCU under pressure from authorities in Kyiv."
Ukraine's proposal to ban the UOC not without criticism
According to the Associated Press, the proposal denounces the ROC as "an ideological extension of the regime of the aggressor state" and "an accomplice to war crimes and crimes against humanity." But to extend this ban to the UOC, which has already declared its autonomy from the Russian counterpart, appears to be a bit too much.
Meanwhile, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said criminal proceedings have been initiated against over 100 UOC clerics for alleged war crimes since February 2022. Almost 50 of them have already been charged, while 26 have already been sentenced by courts. The SBU added that some UOC clerics were exchanged for Ukrainians in the custody of Moscow.
But Robert Amsterdam, a lawyer representing the UOC, denounced the legislation as a "grotesque violation of religious freedom" and called it "religious cleansing."
He argued that the new law makes it impossible for the UOC to defend itself because the proposal targets any organization that the ROC purports to control as per its governing documents. According to the lawyer, the UOC can't control what's in the ROC charter.
Moreover, Amsterdam also pointed out that the proposal targets any religious organization whose "authorized persons" are convicted for crimes against Ukraine's security. This amounts to illegal "collective punishment against an entire church and its believers for the alleged actions of its leaders, he continued.
"It's rare in law to find a bill so contemptuous of legal standards as this bill," the lawyer remarked. "We will go to every court we can. We will go to the United Nations."
Head over to UkraineWitness.com for similar stories.
Watch this video about Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukraine's Chief Rabbi Yaakov Bleich planning to ban the UOC.
This video is from the Cynthia's Pursuit of Truth channel on Brighteon.com.
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