MP Kniazhytsky: UOC has no right to declare autocephaly

Mykola Kniazhytsky. Photo: Gazeta.ua

Ukrainian Member of Parliament from the European Solidarity party, Mykola Kniazhytsky, stated that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) has no right to declare autocephaly, since an autocephalous church – the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) – already exists in the country. In his opinion, the UOC can join the OCU, as its leader, Epifaniy Dumenko, has invited them to unite.

"If the UOC truly ceases to be connected to the Moscow Patriarchate and severs all relations with Kirill, no one will prevent them from serving. They can join the OCU or remain an independent church. There must be a legitimate basis for the church's existence. The UOC has no tomos and no decision that it exists independently," Kniazhytsky said in an interview with Gazeta.ua.

He also stated that after the Russian Church severed all ties with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, the UOC also lost its connection with him.

Additionally, Kniazhytsky said that after breaking ties with the Russian Orthodox Church, the UOC could remain a non-canonical structure, as was previously the case with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP). "A religious public organization that does not violate state laws has the right to exist. This is freedom of faith. We have only banned the affiliation with Moscow. This is the fundamental difference between the current law and the proposals from two years ago," he emphasized.

As the UOJ reported, Viktor Yelensky, Head of the State Service of Ukraine on Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience, stated that the state can restrict freedom of conscience or religion, even if national security is not at stake.

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