Law Dept: There’s a risk that UOC believers won’t be able to serve in the army
Priest of the UOC with the military of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Photo: ukraine2day.com
Archpriest Alexander Bakhov, head of the Legal Department of the UOC, said that the forced renaming of the Church is illegal, but commented on the possibility of applying the law "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations" in relation to the canonical Church. He spoke about this during the press conference “Results of the UOC in 2022”, which takes place on December 29 in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.
“I would like to draw attention to one essential detail: suppose that this law is applied to the UOC. This law contains a provision that prohibits clergy, preachers and other representatives of the UOC from accessing the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations. Therefore, the majority of citizens of Ukraine will not be able to fulfill their constitutional obligations in this case,” said the head of the Legal Department of the UOC.
As the UOJ reported, Archpriest Alexander emphasized that by outlawing the UOC, some politicians believe that they are at war with Russia, but in fact they are at war with the Ukrainian people.
Read also
Ukrainian Baptists publish list of forcibly mobilized fellow believers
The International Council of Evangelical Christian Baptist Churches has published the names of 54 congregation members affected by forced mobilization, including several who have died.
Man arrested in Germany for cutting down LGBT flag outside Catholic church
Police in Mannheim detained a 58-year-old man who allegedly sawed down a flagpole displaying a rainbow flag outside St. Sebastian’s Church.
Metropolitan Victor leads patronal feast at persecuted parish
The UOC parish in Khmelnytskyi, which lost its church after it was seized, celebrated its patronal feast in a repurposed building.
Patriarch of Constantinople receives head of Jerusalem Church at Phanar
Patriarchs Theophilos and Bartholomew in Istanbul discussed inter-Orthodox and other pressing issues in Istanbul.
Archbishop John of Albania: Distorting Church teaching alters spiritual life
The primate of the Albanian Orthodox Church stressed that preserving Orthodox doctrine is inseparably connected with a person’s spiritual life and salvation.
Woman stabbed during Mass at Catholic church in Ireland
An unidentified man attacked a 50-year-old Catholic woman with a knife during Sunday worship in a town in County Waterford.