Bondarenko: The authorities may resort to artificially splitting the UOC

Kostiantyn Bondarenko. Photo: Bondarenko’s YouTube channel

Political analyst Kostiantyn Bondarenko, speaking on his YouTube channel, warned about the possibility of an artificially engineered division of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church by state authorities.

“There is a serious problem today – His Beatitude Onuphry has been stripped of Ukrainian citizenship. There isn’t much time left before the expiration of the 90-day period, after which a person without citizenship can be expelled from Ukraine. In this case, the authorities may move to provoke artificial schisms within the UOC,” said Bondarenko.

He emphasized that in any organization, even within the Church, there are people whose inner conformism begins to outweigh their faith.

“The authorities will look for such people. Persecutions against others will continue, but with consideration of Washington’s position,” the political analyst added.

According to him, the U.S. leadership has explicitly told both Patriarch Bartholomew and the Ukrainian authorities that further persecution of the UOC is unacceptable. However, Bondarenko noted that Kyiv’s current authorities do not always heed Washington’s words.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that UN experts had called on Ukraine to revise the law banning the UOC.

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