The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (in unity with the Moscow Patriarchate) has not condemned a single case of collaborationism involving its clergy.
That’s according to Vita Tytarenko, a religious scholar, PhD, Professor, research associate at the H. Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences, who spoke on FREEDOM TV.
She emphasized that not everyone in the UOC MP is an enemy accomplice but 52 criminal cases are now being investigated targeting their clergy.
“We know that 19 persons have been charged, and there are already, I six verdicts, I believe. This is quite indicative. Moreover, none of the collaborationism cases were condemned at the level of the UOC MP. Unfortunately, they deny everything. Well, they don’t think they should,” Tytarenko said.
She added that criminal liability must come regardless of whether a perpetrator belongs to a religious organization or not.
“Everyone must be equal before the law. Let’s also remember that Ukraine has one of the most liberal laws regarding freedom of conscience. And in view of the extensive communication with representatives of religious organizations, which religious scholars of Ukraine engaged in as part of academic activity – both through questionnaires, interviews, and various kinds of conferences, that is, communication on different platforms – representatives of various religious organizations confirm how well this freedom of conscience works here on the territory of Ukraine. They compare it with Soviet times, and so on. And only the Ukrainian Orthodox Church talks about oppression. That is, there is a clear shift of concepts here, where indications of such destructive activity of the church as an institution are confused with alleged oppression for believing in God. These are completely different things,” said religious scholar.
She emphasized that in the case of collaborationism there is a question of accountability for specific actions, which the UOC MP does not wish to recognize.
