DESS wants to control visits to Ukraine by other Churches reps

Illustrative photo: armaxgroup

The State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience of Ukraine proposed adding provisions to bill №8371 to restrict visits to the country by representatives of Orthodox Local Churches. They would be allowed to enter only with official approval from the state body that registered the charter. This was reported by Glavcom.

DESS submitted a proposal concerning the conditions for admitting foreign preachers and clergymen to Ukraine.

"According to the DESS's proposal, they could 'engage in preaching religious doctrines, performing religious rites, or other canonical activities only in those religious organizations that invited them and with official approval from the state body that registered the charter (regulations) of the respective religious organization,'" the article states.

The fact that this provision would affect the UOC is indicated by the example given by officials of the visit to Ukraine on June 1, 2024, by Archbishop Tikhon of Washington, Metropolitan of All America and Canada.

According to them, the Primate of the Orthodox Church in America arrived in Ukraine "at the invitation of the branch of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine, which caused public outcry."

"How is it possible that during a full-scale war, someone who might be a Russian agent, even with an American passport, freely comes to Ukraine? The amendments proposed by the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience would prevent such visits or at least complicate them as much as possible," the publication states.

However, the parliamentary committee decided not to include such an amendment, believing that it would only confirm the opinion that freedom of conscience is restricted in Ukraine.

"If currently the claims by Americans or Europeans about our draft law are unfounded, then after implementing such a provision, they would be justified. The state should not overregulate the activities of priests or believers, because that would not mean freedom of conscience," the Committee's comment on the DESS's proposals reads.

As the UOJ reported, Poturaev was surprised by the absence of some signatures supporting law 8371.

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