Verkhovna Rada Committee favors the bill aimed against the UOC

October 5, the Committee on Culture and Spirituality of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine supported bill №4511 "On special status of religious organizations, whose senior centers are located in the state recognized by the Verkhovna Rada as an aggressor country". The next stage is a vote. This was announced on his Facebook page by the head of the Legal Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Archpriest Alexander Bakhov.

"This legislative initiative is discriminatory; it seriously violates the constitutional principle of non-interference and the separation of the state from the Church, – emphasized Bakhov, – and restricts the right to freedom of ideology and religion."

"What kind of European values are we talking about?" – the representative of the UOC said with indignation.

In case the bill should be adopted, a "special status" will be introduced for the UOC. It will be obliged to enter into a special agreement with the state. For this reason, community statutes are to be re-registered. In addition, the appointment of bishops, abbots and governors will take place only in consultation with the Ministry of Culture.

Read also

The Odessa Diocese showed how they revived from ruins a church seized by the OCU

The Odessa Diocese of the UOC published archival footage of the abandoned shrine, which believers had been raising from ruins for years.

In Britain, Evangelical Alliance urges Christians to preach among Muslims

British evangelicals urged Christians to stop fearing Islam and begin seeing migrants as a “mission field.”

Khmelnytskyi Eparchy delivers 20 tons of aid to hospitals and social institutions

Volunteers distributed a large humanitarian shipment among 16 medical and social institutions in the Khmelnytskyi region.

UGCC head blames Russia for tensions between Poland and Ukraine

Shevchuk claimed that Moscow is financing radical parties across Europe in an effort to undermine solidarity between Warsaw and Kyiv.

Priest to Dumenko: What are your fruits? Tears, fights, and forged documents?

A UOC cleric responded to statements by OCU head Epiphany Dumenko about the “restoration” of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.

OCU “hierarchs” in Dnipro hold prayer breakfast with Jews and Catholics

Around 400 participants, including representatives of Dumenko’s structure, held a joint prayer breakfast in Dnipro.