In 2018, according to the new regulation of the government of Ukraine, UOC-MP was asked to change the name so that it would be completely isolated. However, in 2019, the Supreme Court of Ukraine granted relief to the UOC-MP, staying the decision of the Government of Ukraine.
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Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has been fighting the Kremlin and the Russian Army for the last ten months, has now opened a new front in his own country. Zelensky has banned a branch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church that considers the Russian-based church to be the center of its spiritual tradition. It is commonly known as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP). The Zelensky government has also filed 23 cases against 33 priests associated with the UOC-MP on charges of treason.
Prior to the imposition of the ban, the UOC-MP-affiliated religious places were continuously being raided by the Secret Agency of Ukraine from 22 November. It was alleged that weapons are kept on a large scale in these shrines and such outsiders have been given shelter, who, with the help of Russian agencies, are involved in anti-national activities in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and other cities. After the agencies of Ukraine did not find anything in the raid, it was argued that people who follow the Russian tradition of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church pray for the victory of Russia and religious documents related to this have been recovered.
Many adherents of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine believe that the new independent branch of the Ukrainian Church and the Moscow Orthodox UOC-MP have similar prayers and procedures. Reacting to this decision of the President of Ukraine, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has called it a war against the Church and Lord Jesus.
Centuries-old relationship between the Church of Russia and Ukraine
In the 10th century, Prince Vladimir united warring Slavic and Finnish tribes and founded the Russian Empire, and was baptized as Saint Vladimir. At that time Kyiv was the capital of the Russian Empire. Moscow has been the spiritual center for the Russian Orthodox Church for centuries. This is clearly expressed by the 20th-century Orthodox Saint Laurentius of Chernigov (Proskura), ‘as it is impossible to separate the Most Holy Trinity, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. This is a god. That’s why it is impossible to divide Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Together it is Holy Russia. In 1654, Bogdan Khmelnitsky, in his speech at the Pereyaslav Rada, accused the Catholics of trying to destroy the Church of God, so that the name of Russia would not be remembered in our land.
Historically, Kyiv was the Metropolia under the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which also included the lands of Northeast Russia (including Moscow). With the formation of Russian autocephaly in Moscow in 1448, the Kyiv Metropolia was divided into two parts – Lithuanian and Polish. Moscow (independent) and Kyiv Metropolia in the lands of the Commonwealth of Lithuania, both of which were subordinate to Constantinople. In 1686 the Patriarchate of Constantinople transferred the Kyiv Metropolia (on the lands of modern Ukraine and Belarus) to the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church, meaning that since 1686 the single independent Russian Church has been the main Orthodox Church within modern Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Spiritual center.
Dominating Political Pressures on Religion 1991-2022
Ukraine became an independent country after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. In local politics, the demand for the independent existence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church began to gain momentum. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church split into two. Various pressures were put on the UOC-MP, which kept its tradition linked with Moscow. In 2018, according to the new regulation of the government of Ukraine, UOC-MP was asked to change the name so that it would be completely isolated. However, in 2019, the Supreme Court of Ukraine granted relief to the UOC-MP, staying the decision of the Government of Ukraine. With the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in February this year, the UOC-MP was once again targeted. An attempt was made to put this organization in the dock in Ukraine for celebrating Easter in April. While the UOC-MP said that no message was given to them by the government not to celebrate Easter because of the war, so they continued to follow their tradition. However, the UOC-MP distanced itself from Moscow after Patriarch Kiril, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, openly supported President Putin’s decision.
Ukraine’s guard over religious freedom
Everyone has religious freedom in the constitution of Ukraine. In the current situation, through the sanctions imposed on the UOC-MP, where the Ukrainian constitution has been ignored. At the same time, the danger of political violence on the people, priests and organizations who celebrate this ideology has also increased a lot. According to the experts, the political leadership of Ukraine may not once again create the kind of atmosphere in which the nationalists of Ukraine carried out the Babi Yar massacre in collaboration with Nazi Germany. On 29-30 September 1941, under the leadership of the nationalists, more than 33000 Jews were killed in just two days. Even in front of western countries which are supporting Ukraine in every way, it will be like a big question as to how they are supporting Ukraine in this matter of contempt of religious freedom.
Source: www.tv9hindi.com”