Ukrainian Parliament Votes to Ban Russian Orthodox Church

After six months of heated debates, the Ukrainian Parliament, in its first reading, has passed a bill to restrict the activities of religious organizations linked to Russia. This effectively initiates limitations on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (known as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate), which is under the canonical jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church. A total of 267 MPs voted in favor, surpassing the required 226, as reported by Euronews.

Discussions regarding a special law to curtail the activities of churches under Russian control have been ongoing since the full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, as the Russian Orthodox Church and its leader, Patriarch Kirill, consistently supported the actions of Russian forces.

The Security Service of Ukraine has reported that the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church has been involved in establishing private military companies within Russian territory. These private military companies, at the direction of the Moscow Patriarchate, engage in recruiting and training mercenaries for the war against Ukraine. According to the Security Service of Ukraine, it has been documented that one such private military company, known as the "Andreevsky Cross," (Saint Andrew's Cross) operates within the Kronstadt Naval Cathedral in St. Petersburg.

Russians train mercenaries exclusively within the confines of these cathedrals and on specialized training grounds to conceal their military preparations. Representatives of Russian financial-industrial groups provide funding for the creation of private military companies, with funds being channeled to the Russian Orthodox Church in the form of charitable donations and contributions for the "construction" of churches.

In December of the previous year, President Volodymyr Zelensky joined the battle for "spiritual independence" and, in collaboration with the Security Service of Ukraine, initiated the process of persecuting representatives of the "Russian world" within the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.

However, the leaders of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church's declaration of independence from Moscow in May of the previous year seemed rather peculiar. For instance, the Russian Orthodox Church did not offer any comments on this matter, and they did not excommunicate the leaders of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, as one might have expected following such a step, as had been done regarding Patriarch Filaret after he declared the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate in June 1992.

The "independence" of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from Russia is met with skepticism by the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which received autocephaly from the Patriarchate of Constantinople in December 2018.