On Independence Day, President Zelensky signed Regulation № 8371 banning the actions of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) in Ukraine via the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC)
On 24 August 2024, President Zelensky signed Regulation No. 8371 “On Defending the Constitutional Order within the Subject of Spiritual Organizations”, aimed toward banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) which had been adopted by the Verkhovna Rada 4 days earlier.
The legislation will come into impact 30 days after its publication. Nevertheless, except for one provision – in accordance with which UOC communities can have 9 months to sever ties with the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC).
In his handle, President Zelensky mentioned “Provided that the Russian Orthodox Church is an ideological continuation of the regime of the aggressor state, an confederate of battle crimes and crimes towards humanity which can be dedicated within the identify of the Russian Federation and the ideology of the ‘Russian world,’ the actions of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine are prohibited.”
Regulation No. 8371 says that the exercise of spiritual organizations affiliated with a overseas spiritual group which is prohibited in Ukraine isn’t allowed and such spiritual organizations are terminated in accordance with the process established by legislation.
Parliament: 265 votes for Regulation No 8371, 29 towards and 4 abstentions, 24 didn’t participate within the voting
The choice was supported by 265 members of Parliament, with 29 voting towards and 4 abstaining.
Within the “Servant of the Folks” (Social gathering of President Zelensky), 173 MPs voted for the legislation,
“European Solidarity” gave 25 votes,
“Batkivschyna” (“Fatherland”) – 17,
“Platform for Life and Peace” – 1,
“For the Future” – 9,
“Holos” (“Voice”) – 18,
“Dovira” (“Belief”) – 11,
“Restoration of Ukraine” – 0.
Impartial MPs contributed 11 votes.
This final legislation is a part of the method of de-russification and cultural de-colonization of Ukraine which began with the political and territorial independence of Ukraine from the late Soviet Union on 24 August 1991 and continued with the imposition of the Ukrainian language as the only real official language of the nation, the rewriting of its historical past, the revision of schoolbooks, the renaming of cities and streets, the elimination of public artworks reminding Communism and the Soviet Union.
The final necessary stone of Soviet heritage to be eliminated was the surviving hyperlink of the Patriarchate of Moscow and All Rus with its historic department in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC-MP) which, with its about 11000 parishes, stays the bulk faith within the internationally acknowledged borders of Ukraine.
A lot of its parishes situated within the occupied territory of Crimea (2014) and within the a part of Donbas captured by the Russian Federation had been annexed de facto by the Russian Orthodox Church and Russian Patriarch Kirill.
Within the sovereign territories of Ukraine, the UOC and the (nationwide) Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) created in December 2018 by the merger of a number of Church buildings and shortly after affiliated with the Patriarchate of Constantinople now have roughly the identical variety of parishes.
Details of Regulation No 8371
Spiritual scholar Andrii Smyrnov defined in an interview what Invoice No 8371 gives for:
– The actions of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine are prohibited. The UOC-MP can’t be a part of the construction of the ROC or be in any other case affiliated with it.
– The actions of the UOC-MP will not be allowed, and its spiritual organizations might be terminated on the idea of courtroom selections 9 months after the publication of the legislation.
– The State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Coverage and Freedom of Conscience research, approves and publishes an inventory of spiritual organizations affiliated with the ROC.
– The UOC can proceed its actions if it breaks administrative ties with the ROC.
– Simplification of the change of jurisdiction means of UOC-MP parishes and monasteries to the OCU.
– Contracts for using state property concluded with the UOC-MP are terminated forward of schedule.
– Free lease of state and municipal property by spiritual organizations.
– Propaganda of the neocolonial ideology of the “Russian world” is prohibited.
The spiritual scholar predicts that the legislation will facilitate and speed up the method of migration of some parishes of the UOC-MP to the OCU.
Particularly, communities that use state-owned church buildings will determine whether or not to switch or search for new premises.
In accordance with Andrii Smyrnov, the parishes of the UOC-MP (these with their very own church buildings not in state possession) will proceed to operate even after courtroom bans. And these are the bulk.
“They aren’t in peril even after the courtroom terminates the registration of a authorized entity. Communities will be capable of function with out registration and to register their church buildings within the names of people. Believers of the UOC will proceed to have the ability to collect and pray in them,” the professional famous.
The UOC-MP and the Russian Orthodox Church: autonomy however no schism
Because of the assist of Patriarch Kirill to Putin’s battle on Ukraine, the UOC-MP has progressively distanced itself from the Russian Orthodox Church. In 2022, it revised its statutes to strengthen its full autonomy and independence from Moscow. The UOC-MP has no consultant within the Moscow Patriarchate however it has not seceded from it and won’t in an effort to protect its canonical standing contained in the Moscow Patriarchate.
On 27 Might 2022, the Council of the UOC-MP eliminated all references to such dependence from its statutes, stressing its monetary autonomy and the absence of any exterior interference within the appointment of its clergy. It hereby dissociated itself from the Russian Orthodox Church and stopped commemorating Patriarch Kirill at its divine companies due to his blessing Vladimir Putin’s battle on Ukraine. This distancing did nonetheless not result in a schism from Moscow Patriarchate and partly preserved the non secular communion with the Moscow Patriarchate.