Religious scholar: UOC monasteries like parishes can be transferred to OCU

Photo: Holy Tikhvin Convent in Dnipro city. Photo: UOC

The adoption of the new law No. 3894 simplifies the process of transferring religious organizations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), including monasteries. This was explained by Andriy Smirnov, an OCU lobbyist and an external expert for the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience, in an interview with Texty.

“There are no barriers to the transition because there is an appropriate legal framework, and the new law even simplifies these procedures. Moreover, if previously monasteries did not have the ability to change their canonical subordination, now they can transition to the OCU by making a decision at their general assembly. However, there are some unfavorable factors that affect the transition.”

Smirnov identifies the issue of so-called membership as a key obstacle to the transition of religious organizations to the OCU. “The state cannot determine who is a member of a particular parish; the community itself must have this registry,” he emphasized. However, not all UOC parishes maintain such registries, which creates difficulties in determining who is eligible to vote in assemblies.

“Some argue that the entire village community should vote because the territorial criterion matters. Others believe that only regular parishioners recognized by the priest should have voting rights,” Smirnov explained. The issue of determining membership is especially challenging in cities, where more people attend churches irregularly. Smirnov lamented that the UOC often uses this gap to challenge transitions in court, although courts generally support the community’s decision.

“It would be beneficial if parishes had approved lists of parishioners, as this would simplify the transition. But there is a risk: a priest could compile a list consisting of his close circle – relatives, elders, choir members – and claim that only they are members of the community, while others who regularly attend services have no voting rights,” added the religious scholar.

As reported by the UOJ, the Norwegian organization Forum 18 criticized the Ukrainian law No. 3894.

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