The government of Ukraine announced today that one of the two Orthodox churches in the country - the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) - may soon be banned because it has not completely severed its ties with Moscow, the Associated Press reports, quoted by BTA.
The ban affects the Kiev Metropolis of the UOC, which is led by Metropolitan Onufry. Although the church declared independence from the Moscow Patriarchate in 2022 and has repeatedly stressed its position, Ukrainian authorities claim that the UOC has not taken the necessary steps, such as revising its statutory documents, to finalize the independence process.
In July, the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DSESS) issued an order requiring the church to sever ties with the ROC within a month. If the UOC fails to comply, the government has filed a petition with the court for a complete ban on its activities. The church will have the right to one appeal to a higher court, a procedure that could take months.
The law, adopted by the Verkhovna Rada last year, also allows for restrictions on the use of property by organizations affiliated with the ROC, including monasteries and regional dioceses. The UOC's Kyiv Metropolis still governs many parishes and monasteries in the country, but most Orthodox Ukrainians identify as members of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), which has been autocephalous since 2019.
The Ukrainian government has designated the UOC as a branch of a “foreign religious organization whose activities are prohibited in the country“, due to its continued ties to Moscow and the ROC's support for the Russian invasion.