Lawyer: Over 100 UOC parishes are illegally converted to OCU in Kyiv region
Archpriest Nikita Chekman. Photo: screenshot of the video on the Pershy Kozatsky YouTube channel
Only in the Kyiv region, the authorities carried out more than a hundred illegal re-registrations of the communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the OCU. Archpriest Nikita Chekman, lawyer of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, said this in an interview with the website dialogtut.org.
“People who have nothing to do with a religious community from a legal point of view vote for its transition to another jurisdiction,” Fr. Nikita said. “And officials receive documents that contradict the requirements of the law, but still make decisions on registering charters in a new edition and on changing their confessional affiliation.”
According to the lawyer, such actions of civil servants have signs of a crime under Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (abuse of power or official position – Ed.).
“We hope law enforcement agencies will properly investigate everything. We use all possible procedural instruments for this end,” the lawyer said.
He also explained who has the right to decide on the jurisdiction of a religious community.
“They have statutes that stipulate who can be a member of a religious community and what decisions he can make. As a rule, this is a person who regularly participates in the Sacraments in this particular church, confesses and takes communion, is in obedience to the rector, agrees with the Charter on the management of the UOC, etc. That is, there is a certain exhaustive list, possibly imperfect from the point of view legal protection, but defined by statute. A person who does not meet the criteria stipulated by the charter of a religious community has neither the legal nor the moral right to interfere in the life of a particular parish,” the archpriest emphasized.
As the UOJ reported, on May 31, in the village of Cherniakhiv, Kyiv region, OCU activists seized the UOC temple without waiting for a court decision in the case of its illegal re-registration.
Read also
OCU backs plans to destroy UOC hospital church in Zaporizhzhia
Fotiy Davydenko says he is “pained” that a UOC church stood next to wounded soldiers.
Georgian Church responds to RF SVR claims of Phanar election meddling
A representative of the Georgian Patriarchate called the Russian intelligence service’s claims that Patriarch Bartholomew is trying to influence the election of a new Georgian patriarch “unthinkable.”
DESS congratulates Ukrainians on Passover
DESS has published an address in which it compared the biblical Exodus with the modern path of the people toward freedom and peace.
Amsterdam: Zelensky attacks UOC as he wants to control independent thought
An international human rights defender stated that the Kyiv authorities are pursuing the goal of turning religion into a government department.
Jewish believers banned from visiting Western Wall during Passover
Israeli police announced restrictions for Jewish holidays.
OCU: Filaret did not want UOC-KP to exist after his death
The OCU insists that Filaret wanted the Kyiv Patriarchate to cease to exist after his death.