In lecture at KDA, DESS official urges UOC to "clearly" separate from ROC

Participants of the round table at the KDA. Photo: DESS Facebook

On May 20, 2025, the representative of the Ministry of Culture Vyacheslav Horshkov demanded that the UOC clearly state its separation from the ROC.

During a round table held at the Kyiv Theological Academy (KDA) on the topic “Conciliarity in the Life of the Orthodox Church: From the Councils of Antiquity to the Council of the UOC in Feofania,” the official of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) Vyacheslav Horshkov addressed the clergy of the UOC with a number of political demands.

In his report “State-Church Relations in the Context of Russian Aggression,” Horshkov directly demanded from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church a “transparent position” regarding the war and the Russian Orthodox Church.

“Society expects a morally clear response from the UOC – whether it stands with the Ukrainian people or still maintains a spiritual and ideological connection with the aggressor,” the official emphasized.

He also pointed out the insufficient clarity of the decisions of the UOC Council from May 27, 2022, noting that within the Church “there are various interpretations” of these decisions, and therefore, in the DESS opinion, clearer official statements are needed to eliminate ambiguity.

Horshkov supported bill No. 3894, which prohibits “the activities of ROC structures in Ukraine” and referred to the support of this initiative in society: according to him, “Ukrainians view this step as necessary for the protection of national sovereignty and the moral hygiene of the religious space”.

In conclusion of his speech, Horshkov announced the start of an official investigation into the possible affiliation of the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC with the ROC, which began on May 20, 2025. The investigation will address canonical, legal, administrative, and financial aspects.

“We want to clearly understand whether the UOC has truly severed all ties with the Moscow Patriarchate, or has only formally declared it,” the official noted.

Earlier, teh UOJ reported that His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry published an address on the anniversary of the Council in Feofania.

Read also