The head of the State Service for Ethno-politics and Freedom of Conscience, Viktor Yelenskyy, has commented on the bill adopted in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on October 19, 2023, designed to ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. This is reported by Radio Liberty. The official claims that the adopted law will not prevent supporters of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from practicing their faith.

“We are talking about ending this influence, about dismantling the structures of the Moscow Patriarchate. But in no case is it about people who previously belonged to this church not being able to practice their faith and express their religious feelings with dignity. Subordination to the Moscow Patriarchate is not part of the Orthodox doctrine”, – Victor Yelensky is convinced.

In addition, the official emphasized that ordinary priests and believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church allegedly demand from the episcopate to break relations with the Russian Orthodox Church. “They have repeatedly appealed to their clergy and say: ‘We are not required to renounce the symbol of the Orthodox faith, we are not required to renounce the truths of the seven councils of the undivided church”, – Yelenskyy claimed.

We will remind, earlier we reported that in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine voted in favor of the bill to ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.