Kiev Patriarchate files a suit on restoration of its registration

"Patriarch of Kiev and All Rus-Ukraine" Filaret Denisenko. Photo: UA. Info

The District Administrative Court of Kiev received a claim from the UOC KP to the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine with a demand to restore the state registration of this religious organization, the court's website reported.

“A lawsuit was filed against the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine to cancel the order, in part where it is stated that the orders of the Ministry on registration of a new version of the Statute of the religious organization ‘Kiev Patriarchate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’, as well as of a new version of the Statute of the UOC KP Administration, are no longer valid The plaintiff cited is the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchate,” commented on the lawsuit on the website of the court. 

The Kiev Patriarchate asks to render illegal the order of the department of January 30, 2019, which declares the UOC KP invalid. Together with the statement of claim, this church structure also filed a petition to immediately suspend the action of the contested order.

Recall, the head of the Department for Religions and Nationalities of the Ministry of Culture, Andrei Yurash, said earlier that the Kiev Patriarchate and the UOC KP are different structures, and all the statements made on behalf of the Kiev Patriarchate are illegitimate. “Since patriarch Filaret asserts the idea that the Kiev Patriarchate exists – he has stated this many times – he probably believes that the existence of the religious organization called the ‘Kiev Patriarchate’ is identical to the very fact of the existence of the UOC KP,” said Yurash. He added that this does not correspond to reality, since "one religious organization is by no means synonymous with the church structure of the same name."

On June 25, 2019, "patriarch of Kiev and All Rus-Ukraine" Filaret Denisenko announced that he had quit the OCU and created the "Synod" of the UOC KP out of five "bishops".

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