The issue of the ecclesiastical structure of churches is not a matter for the state, and the UOC should decide on its own how to build internal and external relations.
This was stated in an interview with Ukrinform by the head of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience, Viktor Yelensky.
When asked about the possible further subordination of the UOC if it refuses to break ties with the Moscow Patriarchate, the official replied: “It seems to me that this church will decide for itself with whom it will communicate, with whom it will not, how to build its internal and external relations. I would only note that the UOC has serious problems in its relations with Ukrainian society. Even its clergy recognize this.”
Yelensky emphasized that the issue of the ecclesiastical structure of a church is not a matter for the state. At the same time, he cited historical examples of churches splitting.
“The same church of the Moscow Kingdom was in a break with the Mother Church for 141 years – and, as we are assured, nothing evil happened, people were saved in it. The same UOC easily broke off Eucharistic communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Churches of Alexandria, Cyprus, and Greece. The final decision on grace or gracelessness, salvation or non-salvation belongs not to Patriarch Kirill or any other patriarch, but to God Himself,” said the head of the DESS.
As reported, on May 20, the State Expert Committee on the State of Religious Freedom launched a study on the presence of signs of affiliation of the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC with a foreign religious organization whose activities are prohibited in Ukraine.
Source: UOC to decide how to build its internal and external relations - Yelensky
