RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS


Pro-Moscow Ukrainian church condemns state interference in its affairs

UPTsMP SYNOD REVIEWS SITUATION IN ZAPOROZHE

RISU, 14 March 2018

 

Today, 14 March, a session of the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow patriarchate (UPTsMP) was held in Kiev. Archpriest Alexander Bakhov, the head of the synod's legal department, delivered a report to its participants concerning the opening of criminal proceedings by the prosecutor's office of Zaporozhe oblast. This was reported by the Information and Enlightenment Department of the UPTsMP.

 

Specifically, the archpriest noted that on the website of the prosecutor's office of Zaporozhe oblast there appeared information of the following contents: "On 11 January 2018, information about signs of criminal violation of law provided by part 3 of article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (violation of the equal rights of citizens based on their race and national affiliation, religious convictions, disabilities, and other grounds) was entered into the Uniform Register of Pretrial Investigations relating to the commission by individual representatives of the Zaporozhe diocese of the UPTsMP, the public organization 'Radomir Orthodox Union,' and other unidentified persons of deliberate actions aimed at inflaming national and religious strife and hatred and offense to the feelings of citizens because of their religious convictions that elicit severe consequences in the form of provoking confrontations and mass disorders in Zaporozhe oblast and other regions of Ukraine."

 

The Information and Enlightenment Department reported that after listening to the report, the bishops expressed their concern and noted that the criminal proceedings on religious grounds bear a political character and have the goal of interference in the internal affairs of the UPTsMP.

 

"They concluded that such actions introduce a new scenario in the form of criminal prosecution of a religious community for the fact that in its activity it is guided by holy canons and rules, according to which the church does not meet the needs of persons from other religious communities.

 

"It was also noted that according to international law, the state does not have the right to violate the autonomy of a religious community and to interfere by any other means in its internal affairs. A religious community determines its procedure and means of conducting or not conducting rituals for persons of other religious communities independently," the synod's decision says.

 

The synod also "ruled to consider that this criminal proceeding should be shut down inasmuch as representatives of the Zaporozhe diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church acted in accordance with the legislation of Ukraine and on the basis of canons of the Holy Orthodox Church.

 

We recall that in January 2018, Zaporozhe was stirred up by the news that a priest of the UPTsMP refused to conduct a funeral for a boy because he had been given the sacrament of baptism in the "uncanonical" UPTs of the Kiev patriarchate. As a sign of protest against clergy of the Moscow patriarchate, activists conducted a flash mob and called for bringing children's toys to the churches of the UPTsMP.

 

During the demonstration at one of the churches of Zaporozhe, representatives of the "armed wing" of the diocese, the Radomir organization, beat up two members of the Anti-Terrorist Operation.

 

During searches, the Ukrainian security service found an automatic weapon and a pro-Russian symbol in the home of a Radomir member.

 

Later, local activists acted against a procession of the cross in Zaporozhe, which clergy of the UPTsMP planned to conduct.

 

On 11 January 2018, the priest Anatoly Revtov left the Zaporozhe diocese of the UPTsMP because of its anti-Ukrainian position.

 

On 11 March, the parish of a priest of the Zaporozhe diocese of the UPTsMP, Igor Savva, was taken away from him because he prayed with parishioners for the Ukrainian army. (tr. by PDS, posted 14 March 2018)


Background article:
Pro-Moscow church disciplines Ukrainian cleric
March 12, 2018


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