On February 29, a meeting of the Council of Churches and Religious Organizations under the Chernivtsi RMA was held in Chernivtsi. The meeting was chaired by Viktor Yelensky, Chairman of the State Service of Ukraine on Ethno-politics and Freedom of Conscience. This is reported by the website of the SSRF.

The main topics of discussion were holding a prayer breakfast in Bukovyna, religious freedom in the conditions of aggression, cooperation between state and religious structures, as well as the problems of mobilizing priests during the war.

During the meeting, Yelensky said that if the UOC “withdraws from the ROC,” Bill 8371, “a lot of money has been spent to discredit it,” will not concern the UOC.

“This corresponds to the expectations not only of Ukrainian society, but also is the request of many clerics, clergy, and even two metropolitans of this Church, who called for the severing of ties with the ROC”, – said the head of the SSRF.

We shall remind you that earlier we reported that religious scholar Yuriy Chernomorets, a well-known supporter of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and a member of the SSRF religious expert review of the UOC Charter, said that draft law 8371 was not intended to ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, but only aimed at “banning links between religious organizations and centers in the aggressor country”.