Media publish DESS criteria for affiliation of communities with ROC

Viktor Yelensky. Photo: Security Service of Ukraine (SBU)

The Ukrainian news outlet Glavcom, following an interview with the head of the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS), Victor Yelensky, published a list of criteria by which the agency intends to determine whether a religious community of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) is “affiliated” with the ROC.

The publication recalls that Law No. 3894 (commonly referred to as the “law banning the UOC” – Ed.) “provides for a complete ban on the activities in Ukraine of religious organizations affiliated with Russia.”

Before prohibiting any religious community, DESS must establish that it meets at least one of the following seven indicators of affiliation with Moscow. Glavcom has published the list, which was evidently provided by Yelensky:

1. The religious organization, either directly or as part of another entity, belongs to the structure of a foreign religious organization whose activities are banned in Ukraine (meaning the ROC);
2. The organization's documents or decisions contain indications of being part of a religious structure banned in Ukraine;
3. Documents or decisions of a religious organization banned in Ukraine indicate that a religious organization operating in Ukraine is part of its structure;
4. Representatives of a religious organization active in Ukraine participate in its governing bodies (e.g., the ROC Synod includes members from Ukraine) as confirmed by documents or decisions of the banned religious organization;
5. A religious organization active in Ukraine is subordinate in canonical and organizational matters to the decisions of a banned foreign religious organization;
6. The banned religious organization appoints, elects, approves, or blesses the head of the religious organization in Ukraine;
7. The banned religious organization adopts, approves, blesses, or otherwise endorses the charter (statute) of the religious organization operating in Ukraine.

According to Yelensky, if DESS confirms a connection to the ROC based on at least one of these criteria, the religious community in question (UOC) will receive a directive to eliminate the violation within 30 days. It will then need to amend its charter accordingly. If the community fails to remove the affiliation, DESS will file a lawsuit seeking to ban it.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that DESS officials were unable to say how many communities in Ukraine are considered “affiliated with the ROC.”

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