Poltava mayor: We have no moral right to associate Church with politics

On October 19, 2022, the Poltava mayor, Oleksandr Mamay, explained that he intentionally removed from the agenda of the City Council session the draft resolution "On appeal of deputies of the Poltava City Council to the President of Ukraine and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine about the prohibition of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine". According to the mayor, he does not consider it correct to associate the Church with politics, reports poltava.to.

"I believe that we do not have the moral right to associate the Church with politics and to tell the President what to do. As far as I know, he has his own position – not to involve the Church in the conflict," said Oleksandr Mamay.

The Poltava mayor also noted that "there is no such organization as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate a priori. "If MPs even passed this decision, it would legally be ‘a letter to my grandfather's village’. It is unpleasant that some deputies, who pedal this issue, are not only splitting the country and our city, but they are also unaware of some legal issues," the head of the Poltava City Council stressed.

On October 6, 2022, the Poltava City Council failed to vote for an appeal to the Rada to ban the UOC.

As reported, the UN said that the UOC had been oppressed by state agencies.

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