Ukrainian Church requests protection from Zelensky

He did so in an open letter to Zelensky. In it, he refers to several regions where local authorities forbade all activities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, claiming that it worked for the Russian enemy.

"No legal or normative legal act of Ukraine gives state and local self-government bodies the right to prohibit or interfere in the activities of religious organisations, even under martial law". That is what Metropolitan Anthony of Boryspil and Brovary writes to the Ukrainian President.

The clergyman warns that these "illegal acts" destabilise the situation and "outrage religious citizens." He points out that Ukrainian Orthodox believers defend the state and rebuild the country but are backstabbed by their fellow citizens, who confiscate their churches and intimidate them.

Thus, he asks Zelensky for "immediate intervention to maintain peace and stability in the country" and protect the "constitutional rights of the citizens of Ukraine."

Unanimous vote for ban

Boryspil is one of the regions that introduced a ban on the Moscow Patriarchate. The city council decided to suspend all activities of the denomination. All facilities will be taken under protection, and special conditions will be imposed on them, Union of Orthodox Journalists writes. According to the city council, several priests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church collaborate with the Russian occupiers. The deputies voted for a ban unanimously.

Furthermore, Deputies of the Lviv Regional Council demand a ban on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The politicians argue that the denomination expresses anti-Ukrainian sentiments, such as refusing to bury Ukrainian servicemen. Therefore, they call "on the state to legislate the ban on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as a structural unit of the Russian Orthodox Church and religious organisations that are part of it."

Mayor: Civilians should renounce Ukrainian Orthodox Church

Parishioners of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the Ukrainian city of Chortkiv should withdraw themselves from the services of the denomination under the Moscow Patriarchate. That is the appeal of the town's mayor in a video on Facebook. In addition, he called on well-known people within the denomination to convince their fellow parishioners to leave voluntarily.

If that would not be enough to stop the services in the Church, the mayor warns that he will activate other townspeople to ensure that the priest of the UOC will no longer lead services.

Furthermore, the mayor announced that he is in favour of a complete ban on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Dialogue far away

Dialogue between the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under the Moscow Patriarchate and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine under the Constantinople Patriarchate seems far away. Epiphany Dumenko, head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, said in an interview with nv.ua. That is reported by Union of Orthodox Journalists.

According to Dumenko, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine will not accept the conditions of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church for dialogue. The latter named three requisites for possible negotiations: cessation of the seizure of church buildings, re-ordination of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine hierarchs, and the awareness of inferiority of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine's "autocephaly."

Priest would rather do secular work than change denomination

Furthermore, Dumenko is surprised that not all priests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church join his denomination, Union of Orthodox Journalists writes. Dumenko says that many parishioners favour transferring to the Church under the Patriarchate of Constantinople and that he does not understand why some priests do not support this stance. "Many priests say that they would rather do secular work than transfer to the Constantinople Patriarchate."