The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Thursday, July 27, will adopt a law banning the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC). This was reported in the Union of Orthodox Journalists of Ukraine (SPJ).
"Within a week, the Verkhovna Rada will adopt in the first reading bill No. 8371, which provides for a ban on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, a source in the Rada told the SPJ. According to him, the vote may take place as early as Thursday, July 27," the message on the union's website says.
The organization did not rule out that the authorities may not find the necessary 226 votes of deputies to approve the document, so it may be withdrawn at the last moment.
The draft law "On Amendments to Some laws of Ukraine on the activities of religious organizations in Ukraine" was registered in the Rada on January 19, 2023. Its initiator is the Prime Minister of the country Denis Shmygal.
The legal department of the UOC then stated that the bill contradicts the Constitution of Ukraine, national legislation and international law. On May 4, the Parliamentary Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy, responding to the appeal of the deputies of the Lutsk City Council to ban the UOC, indicated that if a religious organization violates Ukrainian legislation, its activities may be terminated by a court decision.
In Ukraine, the task has been set to completely ban the UOC. The authorities encourage raider seizures of churches of the UOC by supporters of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (PCU), which was created in 2018 from two schismatic church structures, and also do everything to re-register religious communities of the UOC and bring them under the jurisdiction of the PCU. As lawyer Nikita Chekman, acting in the interests of the UOC, reported on June 9, more than 100 communities of the canonical church were illegally transferred to the jurisdiction of schismatics. The authorities have broken the lease agreement with the UOC of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and require the monks to leave the monastery.