Shevchuk to WCC: Law threatening UOC ban is not directed against UOC

Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk. Photo: UGCC

The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, defended Ukraine’s law on protecting religious organizations from the influence of an aggressor state during a meeting with a delegation of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

Shevchuk argued that the legislation, which in practice is widely seen as targeting the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), is allegedly “universal” in nature and applies equally to all religious communities without exception. According to him, the law is aimed solely at preventing the “instrumentalization of the Church and the transformation of religion into a weapon.”

He assured the international delegation that Ukraine remains a country where freedom of conscience is protected and that recent legislative initiatives are motivated exclusively by national security concerns.

“Be assured that the state law on protecting Churches and religious organizations from encroachments by the aggressor state is not directed against any one particular Church. In accordance with the principle of universality that underlies all civil legislation, it applies to all of us without exception,” the head of the UGCC said.

According to Shevchuk, relations between Churches and the state in Ukraine are based on the principles of equality of all religious organizations before the law and the government’s right to safeguard national security. He also maintained that Churches cooperate with the state for the common good while the state does not interfere in the internal affairs of religious organizations.

As the UOJ previously reported, the World Council of Churches has expressed concern over legislation that could lead to the banning of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Read also