The Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan Epifaniy, noted that the Parliament should draft a special law on the activities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (in unity with the Moscow Patriarchate). This issue is not about religion, but national security, and it is important not to violate the rights and freedoms of citizens, Epifaniy said in an interview with LB.ua.
“The church is not a legal entity, as we know, and it is impossible to ban the activity all at once – each religious community has its own separate legal status,” explained Epifaniy. “Everything follows from the previous question about the implementation of the law on the renaming.”
“If you want to remain part of the Russian Orthodox Church, you must change your title. If the community makes such a decision, accordingly, it implements it. But I think that the majority of communities will not wish to receive the name of the Russian Orthodox Church, especially during the war, and will accordingly decide to join the unified Ukrainian Orthodox Church,” Epifaniy said.
The head of the OCU emphasized that during the war, the issue of the country’s national security is a priority. At the same time, in the draft law, which is currently being developed, it is necessary to demonstrate that Ukraine is a democratic country in which it is not forbidden to practice the religion chosen by citizens.
“If there is a real threat, and we see that there is a real threat, because the raids showed that even after several months there are still many things that testify that they (some clergymen of the UOC (MP) – ed.) worked and are working on the aggressor, the question arises: what had been happening previously? A lot of evidence was destroyed, I’m sure. And what they are finding now shows that they are an inseparable part of the Russian Orthodox Church and in the future, and during the past decades openly preached this pernicious ideology of the ‘Russian world’ that led to this terrible war, so the responsibility, of course, lies with them,” Epifaniy noted.
