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Orthodox churches in Crimea have complicated status

UPTs: SITUATION FOR DIOCESES IN CRIMEA MANIFEST UNITY OF RPTs

RIA Novosti, 5 August 2015

 

The fact that the dioceses of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UPTs) in Crimea did not change their canonical subordination to Kiev after the reunification of the peninsula with Russia testifies to the unity of the Russian Orthodox Church (RPTs), and the UPTs is an autonomous part of it, the head of the press service of the Ukrainian church, Vasily Anisimov, told RIA Novosti.

 

On Wednesday, the commissioner for human rights in the republic of Crimea, Liudmila Lubina, told journalists that the UPTs of the Moscow patriarchate functions on the territory of the peninsula as a foreign structure, and therefore its priests must obtain a labor permit for carrying out their activity. Priests in Crimea are foreigners as to their legal status, because they represent the UPTs.

 

"The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is a part of the Russian Orthodox Church. Reregistration has to do only with legal subordination and not ecclesiastical subordination. It is important for us that all dioceses function without hindrance and preserve their canonical subordination. The fact that the dioceses of the peninsula were not severed from the UPTs testifies that we can be united," Anisimov said.

 

He said that parishes of the RPTs are located on the territory of almost 70 countries of the world, and all states have different laws. After the reunification of Crimea with Russia, the UPTs had to reregister under the conditions of new legislation. The news agency's interlocutor suggested that the Crimean dioceses have foreign status because they remit a part of their finances to Kiev for the needs of the UPTs, as was the case before.

 

"It is also important to remember that despite the legal status of the UPTs on the peninsula, the bishops of the Crimean dioceses remain bishops not only of the Ukrainian but also of the Russian Orthodox Church," Anisimov noted.

 

Crimea became a Russian region again after a referendum was conducted in March 2014. However the Crimean dioceses of the UPTsMP did not change their subordination and they are, as before, administered by the synod of the UPTsMP led by the metropolitan of Kiev and all-Ukraine. At the present time, several churches of the Orthodox rite are operating in Ukraine, the largest of which and the only one recognized by all local Orthodox churches of the world is the UPTsMP. (tr. by PDS, posted 5 August 2015)


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