Source: Public Orthodoxy Dr. Sergii Bortnyk Director of the ‘Academic Initiative’ Charitable Foundation (Kyiv, Ukraine) Recent weeks have been quite intense in Ukraine’s religious sphere. Undoubtedly, the most resonant event was the adoption of Bill No. 8371 by the Ukrainian Parliament on August 20. In its latest version, it was titled “On the Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Sphere of Activities of Religious Organizations,” but it is informally known as the “law banning the UOC (Ukrainian Orthodox Church).” The bill’s adoption was demanded by a significant number of opposition deputies, particularly from the “European Solidarity” party, led by former President…
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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: 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: Christian Network Europe During an inter-church discussion, representatives of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church concluded that it would be best to re-unite both denominations. Therefore, they recommend renewed cooperation. “It is crucial to preserve the spiritual unity of the Ukrainian people, the origins of which go back to the ancient Kyiv Orthodox tradition”, the clergy write in a statement, as reported by Risu.ua. They drafted the document during a so-called inter-church dialogue that took place in the St Sophia Church in Kyiv, as reported by Orthodox Times. Dialogue To achieve unity, the clergy propose…
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: Orthodox Christianity Morozovka, Ukraine — At the recent celebrations in honor of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine’s name’s day and the 5th anniversary of his enthronement as primate, hierarchs and representatives from around the Orthodox world proclaimed that they recognize precisely only the Ukrainian Church headed by him, that only it bears the grace of God. Now, in the aftermath of this pan-Orthodox celebration in Kiev, another priest has made the same confession, resolving to return to the canonical Church from schism, together with his entire flock. His Eminence Metropolitan Anthony of Boryspil and Bovary, the chancellor of…
Source: Union of Orthodox Journalists by Olga Tsviliy Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople Patriarch Bartholomew rejected the proposal of the Primate of the Antioch Orthodox Church to hold a pan-Orthodox discussion of the religious situation in Ukraine. In a letter to the Primate of the Antiochian Orthodox Church, Patriarch John X, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople declared that “he has good reasons” to refrain from a general Orthodox meeting on the Ukrainian church issue, reports the official website of the Russian Orthodox Church. Patriarch Bartholomew called the discussion of the religious situation in Ukraine “useless” and reminded the Primate of the Antiochian Church…
Source: Union of Orthodox Journalists by Tatyana Chaika Serbian Church published an official statement on the situation in Ukraine The official statement emphasizes that the only Church that the Serbian Patriarchate recognizes in Ukraine is the canonical UOC. The full translation of the document, published by the Press and Mass Media Bureau of the Serbian Orthodox Church, is available on the DECR website of the Russian Orthodox Church. The text of the document below is given in full. As far back as in November last year, the Serbian Orthodox Church was the first among the autocephalous Orthodox Churches to react officially, at the highest…