Ukraine’s parliament voted on Tuesday on a bill that would ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), which has historic links to Russia but severed ties with the Moscow Patriarchate following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The UOC has also denounced the Russian invasion, but these steps were not enough for Ukrainian officials, who still accuse it of having ties with Moscow. The crackdown on the UOC has involved church raids, the arrest of priests, and the eviction of clergy from the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, also known as the Monastery of the Caves.
The legislation would allow Ukrainian authorities to ban the UOC by prohibiting the activity of the Russian Orthodox Church or any religious groups tied to it.
President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to sign the bill into law since he welcomed its passing. “Today, I want to note the work of the Verkhovna Rada. A law on our spiritual independence has been adopted,” Zelensky said.
Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’s chief of staff, said after the bill was passed that “there will be no Moscow Church in Ukraine.”
The Ukrainian government has supported the similarly named Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), which was granted independence from the Moscow Patriarchate by the Patriarchate of Constantinople in 2019.
As of 2023, the UOC remained the largest of the two Orthodox churches in Ukraine, as only a small number of parishes decided to join the OCU following the Russian invasion.
Protecting “democracy”.
Yep democracy and free speech!
LOL, that's what I was going to say.
Well it is the kind of democracy that does not separate between chuch and state. The kind of democracy that learns from history that banning religions is always a promising avenue toward societal progress. This would also be the kind of democracy that has no patience with perversities like a free press. It is the kind of democracy that doesn't engage in frivolous activities like what have you? Elections. It is the kind of democracy that out of sheer necessity keeps blacklists of people critical of their policies. It would silence critical bloggers by convincing counterarguments such as arrest them to let them be beaten to death in jail or just good old fashioned assassinations. Everyone knows intimidation is the life blood of a liberal democracy.
The UAC is literally a Russian propaganda vassel that deserves to be banned. Prove me wrong.
Prove you're right. You're the one that said it.
No need to prove anything. The Ukes just shut it down. (God is everywhere; so no worries!)
He said the UAC is LITERALLY a Russian propaganda vassal. I want proof. I could care less if you don't.
Even if they are a vassel it doesn't mean they should be banned. Where is freedom of religion?. Ukraine has a dictator. It is not a democracy. A corrupt country.
Ukraine has a religion ; the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, free of Putin’s grasp
Ukraine has a number of religions.
The regions returned to, annexed by, or occupied by Russia seem to actually be less predominantly Orthodox than the rest of Ukraine. Lots of Muslims in Crimea, for example.
Oh yeah with the Crimea Tatars
You ARE Talking about Russia, Right?
Well no, but if even you with your blinders on are confused that should tell you something.
I would decline to defend Russia, but then it is not Russia about who I am asked to believe in them defending their democracy and then pay for this rude insult.
It is logical. Christian Church and Satanism are incompatible.
Not really sure you're accurate. I'd argue that Christianity THRIVES on Satanism.
Well no, not really. Satan is an invention that purports to be an answer to the problem of the theodicy in monotheistic religions that evolve to lead to maximalist properties, omnibenevolence, omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence of (a single) God. The idea of Satan is therefore a pretty early invention, in a somewhat recognizable form dating back to about 600 BCE, quite some time before Christianity evolved first within the Jewish religious world. So far from being incompatible, there is actually no use for a Satan without a God.
Not a hopeful sign for a future liberal society. Hopefully this is just a tantrum and will be reversed soon.
Western heretics. It became abundantly clear when they switched Christmas to a pagan date of winter solstice.
Will it have brought practical changes or is it just for shit and giggles being symbolic and all?
Just a show of biceps.
Its well known that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (From Russia) is a vassel of Russian propoganda and they make no attempt to hide it themselves. It is completely OK to stop this well of Russian propaganda.
Does Russia even need propaganda, apart from telling the truth? (concerning the US regime's proxy war in Ukraine, that is).
Yes
The American Conservative has an article right now about the constant attacks on the traditional church since the Biden-financed coup in 2014. The attacks started especially around 2019 it seems.
They attack parishes, beating them, vandalizing the churches. When the churchgoers call the police, the police do nothing.
When a church had to be evacuated because of attacks, the police cordoned it off to prevent the parish from returning.
They show fake documents saying an UOC church has been transferred to the state-controlled OCU. The police are on the forgerers' side, and they are often people connected to the local government.
Then they put up a large Ukrainian flag on the roof.
Biden's attack on conservatism continues. Russia has now announced that those who are persecuted in the West for not embracing cultural Marxism can come to Russia, starting this fall, and live with traditional values, as they say.
Adherence to the Julian calendar is quite an important thing to Eastern Orthodox churches and their congregations. You know that, so enough of the rhetoric w.r.t. doctrinal differences.
My point was clear; Zelensky is decisively/deliberately carrying out a cultural pogrom against the Russians, on historical Russian land, which will most likely become/is 'Russian' again.
Also rhetorical, is the source and inspiration for his actions. Desperate times/actions as directed by the Empire.
Most know this history; modern Ukraine came about, again, in 1991 and was based on neutrality.
Change those conditions and a whole bunch of other horse$hit from 2014 and we have what we have today.
In the end, there will be a partitioned Ukraine where Ukrainians and Russians will both have there identity and culture.
The irony of a Jewish Ukrainian president, allowing for a Nazi battalion to exist meanwhile erasing Orthodoxy and the Russian language from their historical territory is baffling.
Great job Victoria!
So far as I can tell, there’s no “erasure” of Orthodoxy going on. There are still Orthodox Ukrainians worshiping in Orthodox churches. Just not under control of the Moscow Patriarchate and its “former” KGB agent Patriarch.
Changing Christmas from January 7 to December 25 is erasure as is banning Russian books.
I'm unaware that whether or not a church is "Orthodox" hinges on its decisions regarding liturgical calendar. Are you aware of any actual doctrinal differences between the Orthodox Church that supports the Ukrainian regime and the Orthodox Church that supports the Russian regime?
The Western elites cult of Satanism seems to expand it's influence yet again. The questions is, when, if ever, will the people wake up, take notice, and rise up?
Interesting that other people are making a point of the calendar in the comments. I don’t like the new calendar either, but I like what St Paisios said “the new calendar was made by a heretic (the pope), and the old one by an idolator (pagan Julius Caesar),”
Regardless I find it so hilarious that these democracies which grand stand about freedom are banning the Orthodox Church in their country. The Ukranian “church” was made by the state department with our best bud and “loyal subject of the Turkish Republic,” (as one Zaporzhian bishop said) the Ecumenical Patriarch. Does MP have problems? Yeah, sure. They also have a history of giving lots of autonomy, see the Finnish Orthodox Church. Of course none of that makes the headlines though because westerns think the Patriarch is like a mini-pope.
I feel for all the faithful orthodox who are caught in the middle of this stupid and evil war that I wish would come to an end
Because of where I am from, how I was raised, and the politics I developed into, I tend toward western “liberal” tenet of “separation of church and state.”
That doesn’t seem to be something either the Ukrainian or Russian regime is into.
I’m sure that Ukrainians who hold to the authority and doctrines of the Moscow Patriarchate are outraged at the Ukrainian regime’s impositions on them, and agree that they have every right to be outraged.
But it remains a fact that the Ukrainian regime’s crackdown is not on Orthodoxy per se; it is, rather on Moscow-Patriarchate-affiliated Orthodoxy. Practitioners of that version of Orthodoxy find themselves in the same position as, say, Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia.
That is some racist s**t right up in there. Unbelievable. I mean, I'm atheist all day long but I still defend the right of people to believe or not-believe as they like.
At least this is an ACTUAL example of Christian persecution; not the horsesh*t that some American Christians claim is persecution but really REALLY isn't.