State TV channel publishes fake guidance for “transfers” to OCU

A fence-side meeting to “transfer” the main UOC churches in Chernivtsi. Photo: molbuk

The website of the state television channel Suspilne Chernivtsi published fake guidance on “transfers” to the OCU. It claimed that residents of the territorial community supposedly have the right to vote at meetings on such a transfer.

“To transfer from the UOC to the OCU, you need to hold a general meeting of the community. Members of that community can convene it. After the vote, the community’s residents must register a new charter,” wrote the author of the publication, Alina Khryshchuk.

She also stated that in 2025, more UOC communities in the Chernivtsi region “voluntarily transferred” to the OCU than in all previous years combined – 38.

Let us recall that Article 8 of Ukraine’s Law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations” says that only members of a religious community may take part in a meeting to change that community’s confessional affiliation – not residents of the territorial community.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that a similar statement was made by DESS expert Liudmyla Fylypovych. According to her, everyone can decide the fate of UOC churches, not only parishioners.

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