The Russian Orthodox Church on Tuesday condemned a vote by lawmakers in Kyiv to ban the Moscow-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
“This is an unlawful act that is the grossest violation of the basic principles of freedom of conscience and human rights,” Russian Orthodox Church spokesman Vladimir Legoida wrote on Telegram.
MPs voted to approve a bill outlawing religious organisations linked with Russia, including the Russia-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), which is linked to the Russian Orthodox Church, also known as the Moscow Patriarchate.
The Russian Orthodox Church supported the military offensive in Ukraine.
Legoida said the bill, which still needs to be signed into force by President Volodymyr Zelensky, creates “a legal basis for total liquidation of the parishes of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church — the religious community uniting the majority of Ukrainians”.
The spokesman warned that implementing this would “lead to acts of mass violence against millions of believers”.
Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, visiting Solovki monastery in northern Russia, referred to a “very difficult time when many have turned against us… not because we are bad but only because we are different”.
