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.

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