The law on renaming the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate to the “Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine” was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada in late 2018. This legislation, however, has been challenged in the Constitutional Court.
Olena Bohdan, head of the State Service for Ethnic Politics and Freedom of Conscience, spoke about this in the RBC-Ukraine’s article “The Road of Faith. How the Ukrainian church has changed in 30 years and where it is moving.”
Bohdan noted that the deadline for renaming the UOC-MP expired in 2019, although the authorities never proceeded with enforcing the law.
The fact is that the law will soon be appealed in the Constitutional Court, while the District Administrative Court of Kyiv, at the request of the Moscow Patriarchate, banned any alterations to the Unified State Register pending the consideration of the claim in court. In fact though, the issue was frozen indefinitely, as it is in the Constitutional Court.
Bohdan notes that, if the court recognizes the renaming regulation as constitutional, there will probably be a lawsuit file with the European Court of Human Rights.
“This norm is polemical from the international law perspective. It would be easier to protect it if similar norms were introduced for businesses and other legal entities, not only religious organizations,” Bohdan said.
