Written by Michael Thervil
Photo by Alexander Avilov / Moskva News Agency
On Tuesday August 20th, the Ukrainian Parliament passed a law, 265 lawmakers to 29 for the elimination of the Ukrainian orthodox church (UOC) also known as the “Moscow Patriarchate”. This passing of this law will give 100 days for the orthodox churches operating in Ukraine to close down/cut ties with the Russian Patriate or face force closures by the Ukrainian government. The reason for this is because the Security Services of Ukraine (SBU) has accused 100 of the clergymen of the UOC of aiding and abetting the Russian government. Of the 100 clergymen that have been accused, a little over 50 of them have been formally charged and roughly 26 of them have been sentenced to prison.
It was reported this April by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), that:
“83% of Ukrainians believed that the state should intervene in the activities of the UOC to one degree or another. In particular, 63% believe that [the] Ukrainian Orthodox Church should be completely banned in Ukraine.”
Even more than that, according to the leader of Ukraine’s Kyiv-based church Metropolitan Epiphanius:
“Everyone can see that in Russia, religious centers, not only the Moscow Patriarchate, but also the centers of Muslims, Protestants, and Buddhists, are under the full control of the Kremlin. They spread the ideology of the Russian world, justify the war against Ukraine, and say that it is a so-called holy war. That the destruction of Ukraine is a morally justified goal and even a duty of Russian troops,”
The question is why has the Ukrainian Parliament embarked on such measures to ban the religious freedom of its Russian born citizens? could it be that the Ukrainian Parliament understands that a religious ideology is something that can’t be destroyed? This is a phenomenon that the American’s have learned in West Asia. Or can it be said that the Ukrainian Parliament understands that a collective religious ideology acts like a “glue” that not only keeps a society intact, but it repairs, mends, and strengthens the social fabric of a broken society?
Although no one outside of the Ukrainian Parliament knows for sure, the one thing that many people outside the confines of the Ukrainian Parliament think is that there should be a separation between church and state. Bluntly put, many people around the world believe that there should be no room for politics when it comes to religious freedom. In contrast, there is a strong minority of people that do not subscribe to that, because for them religion lies in the heart of politics. For them the concepts of morality and values which are determined by their religious practices and beliefs come into play.
Currently, the vast majority of Ukrainians subscribe to Orthodox Christianity, this choice that has to be made by all Orthodox Christians living in Ukraine is will they subscribe to the Russian orthodox church and face persecution or will they subscribe to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and face resentment, that’s if they’re not already apart of the UOC prior to the passing of the law.
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