In Russia, the orthodox Church the Krieg against Ukraine, while in Ukraine thousands of churches are under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate. Now the Ukrainian Parliament decided to Orthodox Church with connections to Russia forbid.
In a second reading in the Parliament building In Kyiv, the Rada, the controversial bill received a large majority, with 265 of 322 MPs present voting in favor.
Banned for supporting the war
The reason for the ban is the Support of the War of aggression against Ukraine by the Moscow Patriarchate. The Ukrainian branch of this church is said to be the crime against their own people.
Officially, the law serves to protect national security and religious freedom. President Volodymyr Zelensky has yet to sign the law. According to MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak, it will come into force 30 days after its publication. After that, the communities will have nine months to distance themselves from Moscow.
Moscow sees Ukraine as part of Russia, even in ecclesiastical terms
In the fragmented Ukrainian church landscape, fewer than 10,000 communities nor to the church loyal to Moscow. That is more congregations than the national Orthodox Church of Ukraine has. However, the latter has more believers. Moscow maintains that Ukraine is also part of Russia in ecclesiastical terms, and Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova commented on the ban accordingly: “The aim is to destroy the deeply canonical, true Orthodoxy,” she said.
The Ukrainian state violates the right of its citizens to Religious freedom said the head of the Committee on Church Affairs in the Russian Parliament, Olga Timofeeva. “Today we have taken the inevitable path of cleaning up the Kremlin’s network of agents, which has been hiding behind the mask of a religious organization for decades, from within,” wrote Ukrainian MP Roman Losynskyj on Facebook.
Warning from Ukraine’s western partners
While the law was being discussed, however, Western partners die Ukraine, die religious cleavage in the country not through the Ban “The law promotes a mood that is directed against a large group in society,” said theologian Regina Elsner from Münster to the German Press AgencyIt could be that Orthodox believers who do not want to renounce their church will go underground or only meet in private homes.
Clear cases of collaboration with Russia
“Ukraine has no right to ensure its security,” said the professor of Eastern Church Studies. There are clear cases of collaboration with Russia among the bishops and priests of the Moscow Church. Ukraine is already taking steps against this criminal But simple Believers should not be forced to decide for or against a church.
Russia and Ukraine formed a unified church space
The Church dispute in Ukraine has been evident for years in the country’s important monasteries. The Moscow-loyal Cave Monastery in Kiev is considered an architectural monument. The state is trying to take building after building away from the monks and pilgrims. Such steps are made easier by the new law. In the large Pochaiv Dormition Monastery in western Ukraine, the westernmost outpost of Russian Orthodoxy, there are also signs of a expropriation an.
Russia and large parts of Ukraine formed over Centuries a uniform Church roomwhich belonged to the Moscow Patriarchate. Since independence, Ukraine has also tried to ecclesiastical independence to obtain.
Many believers separated from Russia
In 2018, World Patriarch Bartholomew recognized an Orthodox Church in Ukraine in Constantinople that is no longer subordinate to Moscow. The Moscow-loyal Church in Ukraine declared its formal separation from Russia in May 2022 after the Russian invasion. The state does not believe this – hence the Ban In fact, many of the supposedly Moscow-loyal communities and their believers are very loyal to Ukraine and have solved by Russia says Elsner of her experiences. However, the new law tars everyone with the same brush.