In Ukraine’s far-western Zakarpattia region, sentiments are rapidly spreading about the need to ban the operations of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine (UOC-MP).
This was reported by the Spiritual Front of Ukraine’s own sources.
There are more than 650 registered religious communities in the region, united in two dioceses: Mukachevo-Uzhhorod (headed by Metropolitan Feodor Mamasuev) and Khust-Vynohradiv (headed by Metropolitan Mark Petrovtsiy).
From the onset of the Russian unjustified and unprovoked full-scale invasion of the territory of Ukraine, the inhabitants of Zakarpattia began to distance themselves from the Moscow Patriarchate.
In particular, deputies of Yasinia village community and Rakhiv City Council approved the appeals to the President of Ukraine, Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, and Prime Minister of Ukraine to immediately ban any activities in Ukraine and cancel the state registration of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.
Such decisions were due, among other things, to the reluctance of the appointed bishops to sever prayer ties with the ROC and to stop commemorating Patriarch Cyril (Gundyaev) during worship. At the same time, their position could not be influenced even by the prevailing opinion among the clergy of both dioceses about the need to take appropriate measures.
Such devotion of the bishops to the ideology of the “Russian world” prompted further decisive action on the part of the authorities.
As it became known, on April 8, 2022, deputies of the Uzhhorod City Council adopted and filed with the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Ruslan Stefanchuk, a decision calling for a ban on the activities of the Moscow Patriarchate throughout Ukraine.
The appeal states that in order to protect the national interests, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Ukraine, “we, deputies of the Uzhhorod City Council of the VIII convocation, call for a ban on the religious organization ‘the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate’ throughout Ukraine. We ask you to support Bill No.7204 of Mar 22, 2022.”
The city council hopes that their decision will serve as an example to other territorial communities, and that similar appeals will be sent to the parliament of Ukraine from most regions of the country.
