MP: UOC ban will not turn away believers from the Church

People's Deputy of Ukraine Anatoliy Burmich. Photo: apostrophe.ua

Ukrainian MP Anatoliy Burmich said in an address published on the Telegram channel "Yevgeniy Shevchenko’s Ukraine" that the Ukrainian Constitution guarantees everyone the right to freedom of religion, and therefore nothing will be able to turn believers away from the UOC.

The MP noted that it is impossible to attribute the actions of individual believers or clerics of the UOC to the entire Church.

According to him, such generalisations of "misdemeanours" were once made only by the Bolsheviks, as well as the Nazis under the leadership of Adolf Hitler.

"The Bolsheviks, led by Lenin and Trotsky, hung, burned, strangled, blew up, imprisoned, but faith as it was, so it is. It only became stronger after that," he said.

Burmich also said that the Ukrainian people have been in the Christian faith for 1,035 years and it is Orthodoxy that is their identification.

"It seems to me that these processes that are initiated by certain forces with regard to the Church, are not quite right and they will not lead to anything good. This should not be done. <...> Everyone can choose the faith they want, but the Constitution guarantees us freedom of religion," he added.

As reported, MP Anatoliy Burmich said that the processes related to the ban on the UOC were "ordered by the forces of Ukraine's senior overseas friends".

Read also

UOC hierarch: Govt using holy relics that Lenin took away from believers

From a legal standpoint, many churches today belong to the state, but morally, this is unjust, explains Metropolitan Theodosiy.

Vatican and Russian diplomats discuss ending war in Ukraine

The conversation focused on a general review of global affairs, with a special focus on the war in Ukraine.