Yelensky: UOC does not need to appeal to Moscow for breaking with it
Yelensky. Photo: State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience
The head of DESS, Viktor Yelensky, assured in an interview with "Ukrainian Radio" that for the required break with Moscow, the Kyiv Metropolis does not need to appeal to the Moscow Patriarchate. According to him, this is a myth.
"Another myth is that the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience requires the Kyiv Metropolis to enter into relations with the Moscow Patriarchate and humbly ask the Moscow patriarch to release them. This is not true," said Yelensky.
According to him, to comply with the DESS directive, the Metropolis needs to "exit" the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) and "provide evidence" of the withdrawal.
He did not explain what such evidence should be and why he does not consider official letters from the Primate of the UOC to the State Ethnopolitics Service as sufficient.
As reported, earlier Yelensky stated that in order for the authorities not to consider a particular structure of the UOC as part of the ROC, it must send a letter to Moscow about exiting the ROC.
Read also
New altar consecrated at St. Nicholas Church of vlg. Bratslav
Metropolitan Serhiy led the consecration of the altar and the liturgy at the church of the Tulchyn Eparchy of the UOC.
Monastic tonsure performed at St. Nicholas Convent of Mukachevo
Metropolitan Theodore performed the tonsure of two nuns of the convent.
Menorah toppled in Chernihiv, antisemitic graffiti left behind
Chernihiv police are searching for those responsible for toppling a menorah.
Albanian authorities turn an Orthodox church into a museum
The country's leadership is staging provocations near the Orthodox church to convert it into a museum.
Ukrainian govt lobbyist in U.S. claims UOC churches were destroyed by AFU
In a leaked phone call, Yulian Haida warned colleagues to be cautious with photos of destroyed UOC churches, claiming that some were allegedly destroyed by soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Shevchuk criticizes Trump’s “so-called peace plan”
The UGCC head said he wants the “powers that be” to be moved by the pain and suffering of ordinary Ukrainians.