DESS head: There isn’t a single word about UOC in bill 8371
Viktor Yelensky. Photo: Unian
The DESS head Viktor Yelensky in a comment to the Voice of America assured that bill 8371 on the UOC ban has nothing to do with the UOC, and those who criticise it, do it for money.
"Of course, if people get very big money for discrediting Ukraine and this bill, it is profitable for them to distort its content," Yelensky said and assured that "in reality, there is not a single word in the law about the ban and the UOC-MP".
According to him, the law only talks about religious organisations with a centre in the aggressor country.
"If there are such ties, they are established by a special religious expertise," Yelensky said. According to him, the State Ethnopolitics Service sends such denominations a prescription to remove the ties, and "if such ties are not broken, the State Ethnopolitics Service files a lawsuit."
"This means there is no talk of a ban here. But, of course, there is a strong demand from both society and the Church itself that there should be no ties with the Moscow Patriarchate, which is directly involved in the war of the Russian Federation in Ukraine," stressed Elensky.
As earlier reported, according to Yelensky, the state already has a plan to fight the UOC but he will not reveal it.
Read also
Italian media: Ukrainian authorities persecute the country’s largest confession
The Italian outlet L’Identità reported on mass searches, the arrests of clergy, and the ban on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which it describes as the largest Church in Ukraine.
Festival marking Orthodox Youth Day held in UOC's Volyn Eparchy
In Lutsk, the UOC’s annual youth forum brought together parish groups, clergy, and participants in a creative program for Orthodox Youth Day.
London mayor switches on festive Ramadan lights
In London, the Muslim mayor inaugurated Ramadan illuminations: a central street was decorated with a “Happy Ramadan” sign and Islamic-style ornaments.
DESS: Ramadan is a time of special closeness to the Almighty
DESS congratulated Ukraine’s Muslims on the beginning of Ramadan.
Jehovah’s witness pastor sentenced in Lviv region for refusing TRC service
A court in Lviv region sentenced a Jehovah’s Witness pastor to five years in prison for unauthorized absence from his unit and for refusing to serve as a TRC cook.
Orthodox Church in America raises $700,000 for Ukrainians in Poland
An OCA representative met with Metropolitan Sava and discussed humanitarian support for Ukrainian refugees in Poland.