A Ukrainian MP of the European Solidarity party has claimed that the law No 8371, which is planned to be adopted in the Ukrainian parliament in the second reading, is not actually aimed at banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. He wrote about this in an author’s article on the website of the Espresso TV channel.

“As for the UOC-MP and other Ukrainian religious organizations, they are subject to the prohibition to be affiliated with the ROC. That is, a Ukrainian religious organization cannot be part of the structure of the ROC, its activities cannot be managed by the ROC, etc. (the signs of affiliation are listed in detail in the new Article 51 of the Law on Freedom of Conscience). In other words, if the ROC, being an organization of clearly anti-Ukrainian direction, has an extensive structure in Ukraine, then all Ukrainian organizations affiliated with it should either withdraw from this structure or stop its activities”, – the MP wrote.

In addition, Knyazhytskyy said that as a result of the adoption of the law, religious organizations whose affiliation with the Russian Orthodox Church will be proven will be deprived of the right to own real estate. The State Service for Ethno-politics and Freedom of Conscience (SSEFC) will determine the degree of affiliation of religious organizations with the ROC.

“Additionally, the SSEFC shall take other measures against such an organization. For example, it can initiate the termination of agreements on the use of state and communal property by a religious organization affiliated with the ROC. The draft law provides for an appropriate procedure. Also, the SSEFC will notify of the decision other religious organizations, which, according to the SSEFC, are part of the structure of the Ukrainian religious organization recognized as affiliated with the ROC. These religious organizations will have the opportunity to withdraw from the structure of the ROC at their level, breaking ties with the organization that is recognized as affiliated with the ROC”, – the MP said.

We would like to point out that recently the authors of the bill No. 8371, aimed at banning the activities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, have started to massively publish articles and comments in which they prove that the said law will allegedly not affect the UOC. We recently reported that the head of the committee on humanitarian and information policy, MP of the pro-presidential party Nikita Poturaev, said that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was not obliged to declare autocephaly or enter another jurisdiction in order to break relations with the Russian Orthodox Church. In the MP’s opinion, “formal withdrawal from the Russian Orthodox Church’s church structures” is enough for the church to do this.