Bill on Banning Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine Registered in Verkhovnaya Rada

Interfax ^ | 11/23/22

[marshmallow]

Moscow, November 23, Interfax - A bill banning the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine has been registered in the Ukrainian Verkhovnaya Rada.

The bill outlaws the activity of any religious organizations or institutions, which are part or in any way accountable to the Russian Orthodox Church "in canonical, organizational and other issues," the European Solidarity Party said on Telegram.

The party said that the bill aimed at preventing threats to the national security of Ukraine and providing order, and described "the liberation of Ukraine from the Russian Orthodox Church as yet another step towards independent Ukraine."

The Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church declared its independence on May 27, 2022, over disagreement with Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all Russia on the special military operation in Ukraine. It was decided to stop commemoration of Patriarch Kirill.

The Moscow Patriarchate explained the Council's decision with external pressure and said that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church had simply reaffirmed its independent status acquired in the early 1990s, while preserving spiritual unity with Moscow. It was noted that only the Local Council could change the status of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Some bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church disagreed with the decision of the Council in Kiev to declare independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, so certain dioceses, including those in Donbas and Crimea, continued to commemorate Patriarch Kirill.

[MeganC]

Seems a sensible decision when Putin’s buddy Kirill runs the Russian church.

[vladimir998]

I’m all for an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church (which they now have) but making the ROC formally illegal is just an unnecessary over-action at this point.

[Sacajaweau]

it’s called ethnic cleansing...porochenko wanted no russian anything...including language

[MinorityRepublican]

Patriarch Kirill is a stooge of Putin so that makes sense.

[Cronos]

Poroshenko made Ukrainian the language of Instruction in state schools.

This was triggered by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and by Putin using the Russian language and Russian Orthodox church to push allegiance to Moscow.

Prior to 2014 and Putin’s invasion there was no such movement

[Cronos]

I agree. This proposed ban is unnecessary

[Czech_Occidentalist]

Can you imagine that during World War II a church based in Germany with close ties to the Nazi leadership would have been allowed to function freely in the UK?

[vladimir998]

“it’s called ethnic cleansing...porochenko wanted no russian anything...including language”

The Russians have been practicing ethnic cleansing on Ukrainians off and on for generations now. The whole concept of Little Russians is about wiping out the special identity of Ukrainians.

Steele, Jonathan (1994). Eternal Russia: Yeltsin, Gorbachev, and the Mirage of Democracy. Harvard University Press. p. 216. ISBN 978-0-674-26837-1. Retrieved 3 December 2016. Several centuries later, when Moscow became the main colonizing force, Ukrainians were given a label which they were to find insulting. [...] The Russians of Muscovy [...] were the ‘Great Russians’. Ukraine was called ‘Little Russia’, or Malorus. Although the phrase was geographical in origin, it could not help being felt by Ukrainian nationalists as demeaning.”