The Ukrainian Parliament has taken the first step to ban the Orthodox Church in the country. On Thursday, the legislative chamber gave its initial approval to a law that will veto the minority Ukrainian Orthodox Church (IOU), after Kyiv accused it of collaborating with Russia after last year’s invasion.
The IOU has historical ties to Moscow, but says it is no longer aligned with its Russian counterpart. It denies Kyiv’s accusations, while its representatives assure that the bill that may result from this parliamentary procedure will be unconstitutional.
Most Ukrainian Christians are members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, formed from two independent Moscow churches in 2018.
According to a survey by the International Institute of Sociology in Kyiv, the population loyal to the IOU in Ukraine has been reduced to 4% of the country’s inhabitants, when before the Russian invasion in February 2022 it represented 18%.
Yaroslav Zheleznyak, a member of Parliament, said on the Telegram messaging app that deputies voted in favor of the bill in its first reading. Now, it has to be endorsed in second reading and approved by the president; Only then can the future standard come into force.
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, called on the Orthodox and other churches to do everything possible to stop Ukraine’s action before the bill finally becomes law, as, Among other things, he sees an attack on religious freedom.
