UOC priest: Statute of OCU parishes contradicts Ukraine’s legislation

The Synod of the OCU considered a new edition of the “model Statute of the parish of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Orthodox Church)”

The draft “model Statute of the parish of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Orthodox Church of Ukraine)” provides a slightly different interpretation of the Laws that prescribe the mechanism for changing the jurisdiction of religious communities. An analysis of the document that the Synod of the OCU decided to send to “eparchies” “for study and submission of proposals,” was made by the cleric of the Kherson Eparchy of the UOC Protopriest Gennady Shkil.

First of all, the clergyman drew attention to the fact that Para 1.14 of the statute, in which the name of the parish before its registration with the OCU must be specified, mentions only parishes of the UOC.

“The scans shows that if a blank space is left for the name where it should be entered, then the “Ukrainian Orthodox Church” is already printed,” the archpriest noted. “In theory, there must also be a space in the place of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in order to enter the UOC, UOC KP or UAOC there.”

"What is that? Does it mean that "parishes" of the UOC KP and the UAOC are not going to hold meetings on their transfer to the OCU? Or have the “statutes” been approved only for the parishes of the UOC which have already committed betrayal or are going to do this?” the clergyman wonders.

He also noted that Para 3.14 of the new Statute of the parish of the OCU states that the meeting on the change of jurisdiction is valid subject to the presence of all members of the parish meeting.

Para 3.15 states that the decision to change jurisdiction is taken “by consensus upon consent of all members of the parish meeting”, and Para 3.17 states that the protocol of the parish meeting must be approved by the “eparchial bishop”. Protopriest Gennady Shkil stressed that both of these points do not correspond to the current legislation of Ukraine.

“The protocol of the meeting must be approved by the “bishop”, which is not required by the Law. According to the Law, a decision of the parish meeting is enough to change the jurisdiction. But the approval of the protocol by the “bishop” is not the only violation of the legislation. The Law clearly, without any ambiguity, states that the decision to change jurisdiction is made by 2/3 of the number of members of a religious community. See Para 3.15. What is it? The decision to change jurisdiction is made by consensus upon consent of all members of the parish meeting. CONSENSUS!!! Does this mean that the OCU continues to ignore even the Law adopted specifically for them?” the priest of the UOC wondered.

In conclusion, Protopriest Gennady Shkil recalled that the Ministry of Culture has not registered the statutes of UOC parishes for a long time, on the grounds that they "are contrary to the current legislation".

“These “statutes” also contradict legislation. Will the Ministry of Culture react in the same way?” the clergyman asked.

As the UOJ reported, the members of the OCU Synod stated that the information about the seizure of UOC temples is a lie, and those communities that want to move to a new “church” are under real pressure. 

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