Dumenko: Even Jews say Ukraine has religious freedom

Zelensky and rabbis at the Presidential Office. Photo: Presidential Office

Serhiy Dumenko, head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), claimed in an interview with Radio Liberty that there is no religious persecution in Ukraine, citing the views of “Jews” to support his assertion.

Dumenko noted that he is chairing the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations through the end of the year. “And we, as the Council of Churches, which represents the overwhelming majority of religious communities in Ukraine, can attest that even Jews say that Ukraine currently has greater freedom of religion, despite the war, than perhaps Europe does,” he said. The OCU head did not specify which representatives of the Jewish community had made such statements.

Dumenko consistently refers to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as the “Russian Church” and insists that no one is infringing on the rights of its believers. Yet he immediately set a condition: according to him, UOC believers “must clearly state” that they are “not the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, but the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.”

In other words, the freedom described by the OCU head presupposes that the country’s largest religious denomination voluntarily renounce its own name and religious identity.

As the UOJ previously reported, Kyiv’s chief rabbi explained why he had lobbied in the United States for legislation banning the UOC.

Read also