Round table at Lavra: Anti-church law must be urgently repealed

A round table at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra on December 20, 2021. Photo: Facebook page of the UOC Information Centre

It is necessary to immediately repeal the so-called law on forced renaming, which contradicts the basic principles of freedom of conscience, the Constitution of Ukraine and international legal documents and also poses a threat to interfaith peace in the country. This is stated in a document adopted on December 20, 2021, at a round table at the Holy Dormition Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra on the topic: "Three years of an attempt to forcibly rename the Ukrainian Orthodox Church: consequences, assessments, prospects," reports the UOC Information Centre on its Facebook page.

Attempts to present the UOC and millions of its faithful – citizens of the country as "enemies of Ukraine", "the fifth column", someone's agents, were called provocative, manipulative and insidious, on the basis of which to deprive the Church of its name and impose another name on it. The roundtable participants stressed that such attempts at the legislative level are especially dangerous.

"The law provides for state interference in the sphere of freedom of religion, violates the principles of separation of religious organizations from the state, their equality before the law, equality of citizens regardless of their religious beliefs, the inadmissibility of establishing any advantages or restrictions of one religion, faith or religious organization in relation to others," the document says.

It is noted that the implementation of the anti-church law in three years has led to the impossibility of registering new religious organizations of the UOC and their leaders, making changes to the existing statutes and updating data in the state registers of Ukraine. It is highlighted that the continuing cases of unlawful re-registration of religious communities of the UOC into the OCU (almost 500 corresponding offences) are also largely related to the consequences of the adoption of this law.

The participants of the round table called on the authorities to immediately repeal the anti-church law and expressed their hope for wisdom and truly state rather than populist and adventurous thinking of the people's deputies of Ukraine of the current convocation.

“Possible ways of solving this problem could be the decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine on the unconstitutionality of the law or the recognition by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the current convocation of an error made by the previous convocation of the Verkhovna Rada, the unlawful nature of this law and correcting this error by repealing this law,” says the message of the round table participants.

At the same time, it is noted that the authorities have not yet responded to the appeal concerning the persecution of the UOC, which was signed by over 1 million believers and submitted to the President’s Office in April. Therefore, the participants of the round table consider it expedient to announce a new collection of signatures of citizens under an appeal on the need to repeal the anti-church law.

“We are convinced that such an appeal will be supported not only by the faithful of the UOC but also by everyone who is not indifferent to the observance of the fundamental rights of citizens in our country and the Constitution of Ukraine, ensuring interfaith peace, social harmony, and, consequently, a worthy future of our country. Everyone who is not in word but in deed a patriot of Ukraine, who appreciates and respects the citizens of Ukraine, regardless of what church they go to, what language they speak or what national community they belong to,” the authors of the document resumed.

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