Metropolitan of Chernivtsi requests President to protect UOC’s rights

Metropolitan Melety (Egorenko) of Chernivtsi and Bukovina. Photo: news.church.ua

On May 1, 2020, Metropolitan Melety (Egorenko) of Chernivtsi and Bukovina wrote an open letter to President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky asking him to protect the rights of believers of the UOC. Photocopies of the letter were published on the Facebook page of the Chernivtsi-Bukovina Eparchy.

The UOC hierarch noted that the newly appointed head of the Chernivtsi Regional State Administration Sergei Osachuk is trying to correct the mistakes of his predecessor. However, representatives of the previous power are putting pressure on the official.

“In all honesty, I can testify that the head of the RSA has a balanced and consistent policy regarding interfaith relations in the region,” the bishop added.

He drew the President’s attention to the fact that the UOC believers do not seek any special attitude towards themselves but merely ask to stop the violation of their rights and the forced unlawful transfer of communities to the OCU.

“Contrary to the current legislation, the former acting Chairman of the RSA Pavliuk M.V. issued unlawful Orders Nos. 312-r, 354-r, 438-r, 441-r, 452-r, 458-r, 463-r, 479-r, 483-r, 764-r, 800-r, 828 -r, 854-r, 855-r, 933-r “On the registration of the statutes of religious organizations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the new edition” and thereby forcibly and with gross violation of the current legislation transferred a number of religious communities,” said Metropolitan Melety.

The hierarch of the UOC recalled that they used false information and forged documents when preparing these orders.

“The indicated orders have not been cancelled so far,” Vladyka Melety emphasized.

The bishop also drew the attention of the head of State to the fact that the state registrar, a leading specialist of the Department for Religions and Nationalities of the Department of Culture of the Chernivtsi RSA Nikolai Gergeliuk is a clergyman of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and, therefore, is not objective. Previously, he has repeatedly violated the laws and insulted the clergy of the UOC who applied to the RSA.

“The requests of the clergy and believers of the Chernivtsi-Bukovina Eparchy of the UOC for bringing to justice a violator of laws who incites sectarian strife and impedes the normalization of state-religious relations in the region, unfortunately, are not taken into account,” said Metropolitan Melety.

He said that believers hope to protect their rights and return the religious situation to the rule of law.

“Of course, it is difficult to quickly establish law and order in such a sensitive field as church-state relations, where in recent years the previous government made many serious mistakes. Despite this, we hope for the normalization of these relations and look forward to the return of the aforementioned cases to the rule of law, the UOC hierarchy concluded. “I wish you, Mr. President, God's help in your work for the benefit of our people and our state.”

Earlier, Ruslan Bortnik, Director of the “Ukrainian Institute for Policy Analysis and Management” noted that regional elites continue to play the UOC factor in their interests. 

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