DESS orders Kyiv Metropolia to eliminate “volations” by August 18

On July 17, 2025, the official website of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience published a directive to the Kyiv Metropolia of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) demanding the elimination of “violations of the law on freedom of conscience and religious organizations.”

The order follows an internal “study” into what the agency claims are “indications of affiliation between the Kyiv Metropolia of the UOC and a foreign religious organization whose activities are banned in Ukraine.”

According to Ukrainian legislation, the Kyiv Metropolia of the UOC is required to rectify the identified “violations” no later than August 18, 2025.

The first requirement from DESS is to “submit a decision from the authorized highest bodies of ecclesiastical authority and administration of the UOC” regarding the “withdrawal of the UOC from the structure of the ROC.” This decision must be communicated to the faithful of the UOC and submitted to the government as confirmation.

Next, the Primate – whom DESS refers to as the “Locum Tenens” – is required to “submit a decision from the highest governing bodies of the UOC regarding the annulment of all provisions of the ROC’s Statute as applied to the UOC.”

In addition, DESS demands documentation confirming the “recall of UOC clergy, monks, and nuns from the Holy Synod of the ROC, as well as from the ROC’s Bishops’ and Local Councils, the Inter-Council Presence, synodal departments, and other governing and canonical bodies of the ROC.”

The agency further demands documents confirming the “invalidation of decisions made by the ROC’s statutory governing bodies regarding canonical and organizational matters of the UOC’s activity – including the annexation of UOC dioceses and the appointment by the ROC of heads of UOC diocesan administrations.”

The Primate is also required to “publicly declare, in oral or written form, his disagreement with appointments to the ROC’s governing bodies, and to prepare an official statement for the termination of authority and severance of ties with the ROC.”

The full order is available at the link provided.

As previously reported by the UOJ, the head of the Religious Affairs Department of DESS, Vyacheslav Horshkov, admitted that the “study” of the UOC’s connections with the ROC was not conducted by religious scholars, but solely by DESS staff.

Read also