“A draft law has been submitted to the Rada banning the activities of religious organizations in Ukraine that are controlled from the territory of Russia – representative of the Cabinet of Ministers in Rada Melnichuk.
According to him, “the bill is aimed at ensuring spiritual independence, preventing a split in society along religious lines, promoting the consolidation of Ukrainian society and protecting national interests.” That is, the project has already been submitted by the Shmyhal government, which means it has been agreed with Zelensky and the Servants of the People.
Everyone doubted whether the UOC would be banned or not. I had my doubts, because even on December 10, even the chairman of the relevant committee of the Verkhovna Rada, Mikita Poturaev, proposed to issue a “surrender” to those who believe that the bills to ban the ROC are connected with the ban on the UOC and consider the last part of the ROC. Since then, nothing obviously new has happened, except for the pumping of Zelensky himself to the level of concern for “spiritual security.” But since then, the trend has been clear.
I have no doubt that the Ukrainian religious scholars will prove in the examination what is not there – namely, “management from Moscow” for the UOC. They are already all (from the expert group of the new service for ethnopolitics and freedom of conscience (“the ministry of truth”, in other words), it seems that they are employees of the educational institutions of the OCU or are its active parishioners and agitators). And the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine will issue a wartime decree.
Next – an exciting SSU rally through 10,000 forbidden communities, hundreds of monasteries and almost a hundred diocesan administrations. Fines, suspicions, warnings, arrests, trials, thousands of natives and citizens of Ukraine become nothing more than a bargaining chip for an exchange with Russia. And the largest religious organization in the country, partially enters the OCU and begins to put pressure on the local authorities (who have already recognized that the veneration of Xenia of Petersburg and Alexander Nevsky does not contradict the spirit of independent Ukrainian Orthodoxy, but will soon recognize the significance of the Matrona of Moscow (the icons are already in churches) , and the royal family – I haven’t seen it yet, but I have no doubt that there is such a thing), and partly goes underground and semi-underground – for that part who will keep the “true church” in opposition to the “sold out”.
An excellent prospect of “consolidating Ukrainian society” and “ensuring spiritual independence.” 70 years of Soviet history have taught the Ukrainian political class nothing. However, now, it seems, people are at the helm, whose history is “know” only from a collection of pseudo-quotes of “great people” invented by Suslov’s assistant and an ardent Russian nationalist.
