Drabinko: In temples that joined OCU, UOC community has not gone anywhere

A construction built by believers in Maliatyntsi after the seizure of their church. Photo: UOJ

"Metropolitan of Pereyaslav and Vishneve of the OCU", Oleksandr Drabinko, stated in a comment to the Viche YouTube channel that the communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) continue to operate even after the transfer of churches to the OCU.

"We see today in the parishes that decided at general meetings to join the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in any of the regions, – yes, the OCU community has entered the church premises, but, as practice shows, the parish and the priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate have not gone anywhere," noted the metropolitan.

According to Drabinko, depriving the UOC of registration or church premises will not solve the problem, as the believers of this Church will find other ways to continue their activities: "They either rent a house where they hold their services, or build a new church building that will be privately owned, and again, this religious organization will not disappear anywhere."

The metropolitan emphasized that even if UOC parishes are deprived of registration in accordance with Law No. 3894 on the protection of the constitutional order in the sphrere of religious organizations' ctivities, this could lead to the Church going "underground," as was the case with the Greek Catholics at one time.

"The Moscow Patriarchate will not go anywhere from Ukraine; it will simply go underground. And we cannot change people's minds," said Drabinko, adding that instead of escalating the confrontation, it is necessary to establish a constructive dialogue between religious organizations.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that, according to Drabinko, the implementation of the law banning the UOC will cause division in society.

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