Ukraine adopted the law on the jurisdiction of religious communities, according to which parishioners will be able to amend the Charter of religious organizations. According to the President of Petro Poroshenko, the document is aimed at providing a “bloodless” transition of the parishes of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the new structure — the so-called Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. Experts believe that the law can be a catalyst for mass capture temples UOC MP.

  • RIA Novosti
  • © Stringer

The Verkhovna Rada adopted the law on change of jurisdiction of the religious communities. Under its provisions the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) may be deprived of their churches by the voting members. The document was adopted by 229 MPs with the necessary minimum of 226 votes, according to local media.

By law, the congregation will be able to amend the Charter of religious organizations to change their jurisdiction, by the vote of at least two-thirds of the members of the parish.

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Petro Poroshenko during a prayer service in the St. Michael Cathedral in Zhitomir stated that the adoption of this law will enable the canonical UOC parishes to move to a new local Church “without blood”.

“The Verkhovna Rada adopted the law which determines the mechanism of the transition. Why is it done? In order not to shed blood. The law needs to settle,” — said the Ukrainian President.

He also said that more than 100 parishes of the canonical Church is ready to move to a new Church structure.

The head of the press service of the UOC canonical Anisimov, commenting on the decision of the Ukrainian Parliament, noted that the law is criminal and will be challenged in court.

“All this criminal and illegal, hope that all will be held accountable not only on the day of judgement before God, but also in the district court for violation of the law and the rights of believers”, — said Anisimov.

According to Ukrainian lawyers, the law is written very cleverly and to implement all its provisions impossible.

“For years, all religious organizations must re-register their statutes, and this should be notarized signature of each member of thousands of communities, and even to specify all the information about the person. Communities will need to receive a testimony of its Charter, but so far no one in Ukraine has not issued such documents. And who will issue unknown. But if this paper is not, then the public authority may refuse to register a religious organization. Interestingly, the public authority also not created. All this suggests that next year Ukraine can not remain disloyal to the government of Church organizations”, — said in an interview with RT Director of a major Ukrainian law firm.

“The government is very eager”

The bill was passed with violation of all possible norms and rules, a source told RT in the Block of Petro Poroshenko.

“First, the text of the document we have received for the hours before the vote and did not even have time to read it. Second, the document was accepted the second time and deputies were literally persuaded to support it. It is seen that the government really can not wait to fully to say goodbye to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. And everything is made so rough that it surprised even supporters of the new Ukrainian churches”, — said in an interview to RT Ukrainian parliamentarian.

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This law, the country’s leadership can alienate the representatives of all confessions in Ukraine, said in an interview with RT, the representative of the party “national front”.

“They would not be able to register their religious organizations. Imagine what would think about Ukraine in the world. It’s savagery, since it is now between man and God there was a Ukrainian official,” he says.

Such a bill is possible only in Ukraine, RT says a source in the party “Samopomich”. In his words, “voluntary transition” parishes may result in bloodshed.

“Imagine that a religious organization is not able to register, but people go there. They forcibly forbidden to do it? The military will come and demolish the temple? Parishioners will protect his Church, with sticks in their hands. Such confrontations may be the mass”, — said the interlocutor of RT.

“The persecution of the UOC”

Despite assurances Poroshenko of “bloodless” transition of parishes, before the adoption of the law on Ukraine radicals and supporters of the new Church structure was captured from several churches of the UOC.

So, January 13, supporters of the new Church structure prevented the representatives of the UOC to conduct Liturgy at St. Michael’s Church in Volyn region, threatening the clergy and parishioners. Then the dissenters changed the Church locks.

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“The clergy and faithful of the UOC who came to prayer, had to go to the neighboring village,” — said the press Secretary of the regional diocese Archpriest Oleg Toczynski.

The next day, 14 January, a similar incident occurred in the Zhytomyr region, where the dissenters with the participation of local authorities and radicals from the party “Freedom” captured the St. Nicholas Church. The parishioners and clergy have also faced threats from invaders.

The evening of the same day, unknown persons committed arson in the building included in the complex of Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. The investigation claims that made this man was in a state of alcoholic intoxication.

President of the Center for system analysis and forecasting Rostislav Ishchenko said in an interview with RT that the Ukrainian government is advancing with the persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate and to the adoption of such laws.

“The persecution of the UOC has led to the destabilization of the situation in Ukraine, the increased risk of serious intra-state conflict on religious grounds, literally civil war. But these effects occurred well before the enactment of the law,” — said Ishchenko.

And the next stage of the process can be a massive seizure of the temples of the canonical Church in Ukraine, said the expert.

Freedom without conscience

The adoption of a new law and a new wave of seizure of churches was preceded by another event — the entry at the end of last year to force the so-called rules about renaming of religious organizations in the framework of the law “On freedom of conscience and religious organizations”.

In a statement published on the website of Petro Poroshenko, stated that these rules affect “the religious organizations that have structural center in the country-aggressor, which occupied the territory of Ukraine or have committed against military attack.”

  • Kiev-Pechersk Lavra in Kiev
  • RIA Novosti

In addition, the Ukrainian authorities announced their intention to conduct an audit of the Church’s Charter of the UOC by the Ministry of culture. Verification must be set, regulated canonical Church “another state”.

The history of the split

Separatist sentiment has been present in Ukraine since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and a new round got after the coup that occurred in 2014. The parishes and churches of the canonical Church was subjected to regular attacks by extremists and radicals. In October 2018 the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople was restored to Church fellowship, the leader of the dissenters — Metropolitan Filaret, who was defrocked and excommunicated from the Russian Orthodox Church in 1990-ies.

In mid-December in Kiev held the so-called unification Council, which was attended by the representatives of two non-canonical churches of Ukraine of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and Petro Poroshenko. In early January 2019, the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople signed the Tomos, which provides independence established at the Council of the DNC. However, after the text of the Tomos was made public, many noticed that the new religious structure in fact subordinated to the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

  • Poroshenko congratulates the Metropolitan Epiphanios elected head of a new religious structure
  • Reuters
  • © Gleb Garanich

“The state will intervene”

The adoption of the law on the jurisdiction of religious communities is a blatant attempt to destroy the Russian Orthodox Church on the territory of Ukraine, said in an interview with RT Deputy Director of the Center for Ukrainian and Belarusian studies at Moscow state University. M. V. Lomonosov Bogdan Bezpalko.

“In fact, since the 90-ies we used the methods of capture or with the help of militants, either through administrative bodies. Now will use the legislature, including for the promotion of such laws.

Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate will be forced to change its name, change legal documents, then she can refuse any right to register, the right to worship in some churches,” — said the expert.

Bezpalko believes that the main consequence of the adoption of such laws would be the capture of the temples with the help of the officials who are to enforce the laws adopted by the Ukrainian Parliament.

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“If the people will not obey, will be to call the police, the army national guard. Now the state does not hesitate to intervene in these questions, forcing by violence go to the Holy Church of Ukraine. Everything from bishops to ordinary believers, the grandparents, will be faced with the choice of what to do: to confront, to leave Ukraine or go here to this seems to be canonical, it seems that even at Constantinople, but all the same schismatic Church,” said Bezpalko.

In addition, there is a law on the so-called parallel communities when a number of people who are not parishioners of any Church that is not Orthodox at all, can claim to be a parallel community of this temple and forcibly convert it under another jurisdiction, the expert reminded.

Similar case already happened in Ukraine, when the deputies of the prospect of the village in Volyn region voted for the transfer of the local community of the canonical Church in new structure of the PCU. The next day the representatives of law enforcement bodies and special services explained to the leadership of the local authority that such a decision was beyond the competence of the Board of agriculture.

The response of international community to such actions yet, because they are not covered by the international media, said Bogdan Bezpalko.

“The international community reacts, as a rule, that served in the global media. It’s either not seen the news, or served as an achievement of the Ukrainian President, as the struggle against the “Moscow occupation”. As soon as the message starts to seep into the global media — and that will inevitably happen — will begin to form a world public opinion, at least in the Orthodox world,” said Bezpalko.