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02 December 2022, 18:55Russian Orthodox Church slams Ukraine's plans to ban Ukrainian Orthodox Church
Moscow, December 2, Interfax - The Moscow Patriarchate considers the Ukrainian authorities' intention to ban Russia-linked religious organizations to be targeting the most vulnerable part of Ukraine's population.
"The Ukrainian leadership are prepared to act against their own population, and the most defenseless and unobjecting kind at that, the believers and the clergy of the largest and the only canonical Orthodox Church in Ukraine," Russian Orthodox Church spokesperson Vladimir Legoyda said on Telegram on Friday.
He was commenting on a decree by Ukraine's President Vladimir Zelensky, which would pave way for a total ban on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC).
Not only does the bill encroach on the norms of law, it also indicates the "loss of remnants of common sense," given that the UOC has always supported its people and the Ukrainian state in every way it could, always calling for peace and praying for peace, Legoyda said.
Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council has decided that the bill should conform to international law in the sphere of the freedom of conscience and Ukraine's obligations as a member of the Council of Europe, he said.
"How this task will be implemented, if a breach of the freedom of conscience is the aim and essence of this bill, remains a mystery," Legoyda said, while worrying about "political games [using] as a bargain chip the innocent people - ordinary believers and the humble, honest priests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, whose sole blame is their keeping the faith of their fathers," Legoyda said. |
