Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle USA Late yesterday, July 8, 2025, the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) found that the Kyiv Metropolis of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) had signs of affiliation with the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). This announcement was posted on the official website of DESS at https://dess.gov.ua/vyiavleno-oznaky-afiliyovanosti-kyivskoi-mytropolii-upts-z-rpts/. Yesterday’s findings were made pursuant to the controversial Ukrainian Law 3894, which, among other things, amended the Law of Ukraine “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations.” A Google translation of the complete text of Law 3894, together with my comments, can be accessed at https://www.unifr.ch/orthodoxia/de/assets/public/files/Dokumentation/Anderson/LAW…
Browsing: Ukrainian Orthodox Church
Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle USA Relations between the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) continue to worsen. Certainly, a major factor has been the loss of UOC churches to the OCU. The loss of churches is a complex issue. There are situations where a UOC religious community voluntarily decides by a fair vote to change its affiliation to the OCU. However, difficult questions can arise as to who is eligible to vote. If a village has only one church, should villagers who rarely attend services be able to vote or should the voters be limited…
Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle USA At the very short negotiation session in Istanbul between Russia and Ukraine on the afternoon of June 2, Russia presented a three-page memorandum on its proposed terms for settlement. TASS reported: The memorandum Russia handed over to the Ukrainian side today in Istanbul consists of two parts, Russia’s chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said. “We handed over to the Ukrainian side our memorandum, which consists of two parts. The first one is about how to reach a truly lasting peace. The second part highlights the steps to be taken toward a real ceasefire,” he said, adding that…
Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle USA On August 20, the Ukrainian Rada approved on the second reading Draft Law 8371 without discussion and by a large majority vote. https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-parliament-legislative-ban-ukrainian-orthodox-church-539e0f3a6d657277aa4fa93b8ec53505 The Draft Law is now being prepared for the signature of President Zelensky. https://itd.rada.gov.ua/billInfo/Bills/Card/41219 It appears absolutely certain that the President will sign 8371 as he repeatedly urged its passage in his nightly addresses last week. In the event of an alleged violation of the new law, there are a series of administrative steps that will occur. A very brief summary of these administrative steps is as follows: (1) On the initiative of the…
Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle USA On January 12, the Russian news agency Novosti reported that Archpriest Alexey Uminsky failed to appear for the second time before a Moscow diocesan court (Link). Novosti interviewed Archpriest Vladislav Tsypin, deputy chairman of the diocesan court. Tsypin stated: Yesterday we waited for him [Uminsky] for 4-5 hours. He is being summoned to court due to failure to comply with the instructions of the hierarchy, the Patriarch, to read a prayer for Holy Rus.’ This quotation is the most authoritative information to date that the current proceedings against Uminsky are based on his failure to recite this prayer. The…
Source: Public Orthodoxy Talia Zajac Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Niagara University I first heard the rumor’s confirmation as I was heading out the church door. The cantor was saying goodbye to me and added with a half-smile that change was inevitable. The Julian calendar was bound to fall behind the Gregorian calendar, he said, so much that Christmas according to the two calendars eventually would be celebrated hundreds of days apart, instead of the current difference of thirteen days. I knew then that the rumor was true. Parishioners and priests had whispered for years that the Ukrainian Greek…
Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle USA On August 7, 2023, Metropolitan Pavlo, vicar of the Kyiv Lavra, was released from the Kyiv pretrial detention center following the posting of bail in the amount of UAH 33,300,000 ($902,183). https://www.ukrinform.ua/rubric-society/3745466-mitropolit-pavlo-vijsov-izpid-varti-pid-zastavu-advokat.html The attorney for Pavlo, Archpriest Nikita Chekman, posted the details on his Telegram site. https://t.me/s/nikita_chekman His description is as follows: Today, August 7, 2023, the Vicar of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra was finally released from custody. We will remind you that the Solomyansky district court of the city of Kyiv changed the preventive measure of Metropolitan Pavlo from 24-hour house arrest to detention with bail in…
Source: Public Orthodoxy Lidiya Lozova British Academy Fellow in the Theology and Religion Department, University of Exeter First, I would like to say two things. From 2009 to 2019, I was quite involved in the life of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC)—from singing and helping a priest-monk at a local parish near Kyiv to assisting the bishop during international trips to translating for international ecumenical guests at Lavra, the metropolia, and the Kyiv Theological Academy. Second, I was among the authors of the recent statement against violence in resolving conflicts among church communities in Ukraine, which was drafted after violence was used…
Source: Public Orthodoxy Rev. Bohdan Hladio A Ukrainian Orthodox priest within the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate As I write this, the drama surrounding the expulsion of the monks of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under Metropolitan Onuphry from the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra is being played out, a drama simultaneously sad, understandable, and scandalous. I first visited the Lavra in November of 1988. A portion of the monastery had just been re-opened, and it was moving to see how the monks were re-establishing monastic life after decades of Soviet persecution. One of the elderly monks “boasted” that he had been expelled from…
Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle USA On January 23, 2023, President Zelensky of Ukraine signed Decree № 26/2023 “On the application of personal special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions).” https://www.president.gov.ua/documents/262023-45613 Attached to the decree are the names of 22 individuals, all of whom are representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church. Six individuals are sanctioned for 30 years, while 16 are sanctioned for five years. See also https://lb.ua/society/2023/01/24/543485_zelenskiy_zaprovadiv_sanktsii_proti.html. The first person on the list of those sanctioned for 30 years is Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev), presently Metropolitan of Budapest and Hungary. As is well-known, he was chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department…
Source: Get Religion by Terry Mattingly This was a very important weekend in the history of Eastern Orthodox Christianity in Ukraine and Russia — for those (including journalists) who believe that religious traditions and symbols matter as much as statements by government officials and headlines in Western media. At the center of the drama, of course, was the city of Kiev, as it is known in to Russians and many Ukrainians, and Kyiv, as it is known to many Ukrainians, as well as officials in the United States and the European Union. Here’s the quotation I keep thinking about, drawn…
Source: Eurasia Review By Paul Goble Despite its efforts to position itself as a Ukrainian church rather than a church of the country that is invading Ukraine, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate is now showing its true colors by dismissing from pastoral service priests that have denounced the invasion and cooperated with the autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine. The number of such cases is still small and is being handled not by the Russian metropolitanate of Kyiv but by other UOC MP bishoprics, something that keeps this development out of the public eye and likely reflects the…