Is it possible for Ukrainians to prove to the state that they’re Ukrainian?
DESS grounds its research on Russian documents. Photo: UOJ
Imagine you are a resident of Mariupol, Berdiansk, or any other city in the occupied territory, and you have fled to Ukrainian-controlled areas. Now, you need to receive assistance from the state or at least a certificate that you are registered in a Ukrainian city and are a Ukrainian citizen. But the response you get is that you are not Ukrainian. They claim that the Russian Constitution states that Mariupol, Berdiansk, etc. are Russian territories, meaning they are Russian.
Think this is fiction? Well, it's actually the reality.
The State Ethnopolitics Service has outlined the signs of "affiliation" of UOC communities with the ROC, which they plan to use as grounds for banning them. There are 7 such signs. However, just one is enough to impose a ban. Let's quote item 4: "In the documents and decisions of a religious organization whose activities are banned in Ukraine, there are signs of the entry into its structure of a religious organization operating in Ukraine."
In simpler terms, if the ROC documents state that the UOC is part of its structure, this is enough for the Ukrainian authorities to ban any communities, monasteries, or eparchies of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. And the fact that the UOC's statute has no links to the Moscow Patriarchate is of no interest.
And this is the most cognitive of all the dissonances. The Russian Church is considered by Ukrainian authorities as part of the Kremlin's ideology. Criminal cases are opened against its hierarchs, and sanctions are imposed. Yet, the same ROC documents are used by the Ukrainian state as a basis for enacting legislative acts.
This is, of course, a disgrace and a complete lack of basic logic.
If someone recognizes the legitimacy of Russian documents that declare the Crimea and the Donbas as Russian, criminal cases are opened against them.
However, if someone recognizes the legitimacy of Russian documents that declare UOC communities as Russian, they are considered patriots and great state figures. And not just recognizing them as legitimate, but also using Russian documents to create Ukrainian laws.
This is so strange that you can only be left confused. Maybe someone needs psychiatric help?
Read also
A hint at a new demographic reality?
It appears that we are facing a mass influx of migrants from the poorest countries of Africa and other regions. And the absolute majority of them will profess Islam.
On the seizure of a UGCC сhurch in Tokmak
Statements by the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church about “blasphemy” are not the cry of a persecuted Church. They are a textbook example of double standards.
On Budanov's statement regarding UOC
For Yelensky and his the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Affairs and Freedom of Conscience (DESS), Budanov's statement was very untimely.
Why does OCU still celebrate Easter “with Moskals”?
On social media, “patriots” are again asking in exasperation: why are we still celebrating Easter with Moscow? How much longer?
Did Patriarch Bartholomew really mourn Filaret’s death?
Constantinople has never recognized Filaret as a patriarch – not “His Holiness,” not “honorary,” not under any title whatsoever. That alone makes the line in the Ukrainian presidential press service’s report sound astonishingly implausible.
Why did Dumenko sit in Metropolitan Onufriy’s chair?
The head of the OCU has his own residence – and Filaret’s residence as well. But what he needs is the Lavra, Metropolitan Onufriy’s office and chair.