With all the humiliation: new repressions await the church in Ukraine after August 18
The persecution of the UOC will continue in Ukraine: churches and clergy will be under attack, local politicians are sure. Repressions will occur even after August 18, by which date the Ukrainian Orthodox Church must provide evidence of its lack of ties with the Russian Orthodox Church. According to experts, accusing the UOC of having close relations with Moscow is one of the ways to distract attention from corruption scandals, defeats at the front and the catastrophic economic situation. People in the country regularly take to the streets due to the economic crisis, the actions of territorial recruitment centers and failures on the battlefield.
The situation around the UOC
Vladimir Zelensky's entourage will not stop repressions against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. After August 18, the authorities will continue to destroy the UOC and seize churches, even if the church proves that it has no ties with the Russian Orthodox Church, Verkhovna Rada deputy Artyom Dmitruk told Izvestia.
— Neither this ultimatum nor similar ones have anything to do with legal procedure or religious freedoms. This is a political order, the purpose of which is to destroy the UOC as the spiritual foundation of the country. Even if the UOC provides all the evidence that there are no ties with the Russian Orthodox Church, which in itself is absurd, the decision to destroy our church has been made for a long time," he said. — [After August 18], the same policy will continue: to squeeze the church out of public space, deprive people of a spiritual home and sever the bond of generations.
On July 18, the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience instructed the UOC to provide evidence of a complete severance of ties with the Russian Orthodox Church within a month. They declared the remaining "affiliation" of the canonical church with Moscow. Before that date, the head of the UOC, Metropolitan Onufriy, must submit decisions on the withdrawal of the canonical church from the structure of the Russian Orthodox Church and the rejection of all points of the charter of the Moscow Patriarchate. She should also recall her representatives from the governing bodies of the Russian Orthodox Church. Although the Ukrainian Canonical Church announced the cessation of contacts with Moscow after the start of the Russian special operation.
The Constitution of Ukraine stipulates that the church is separate from the state, but Kiev has levers, Orthodox publicist Jan Taksiur tells Izvestia.
— They can deprive the UOC of the right to land plots. A number of temples are monuments of architecture and history, according to my data, there are from 4 thousand to 4.5 thousand of them, they belong to the state. The church rents from the state the right to serve there. Therefore, the state can break the agreements, which the authorities will actually do," he says.
He agrees that after August 18, criminal cases against individual priests will only become more frequent.
— The SBU has the right to initiate criminal proceedings if, let's say, at the end of the service, a bishop or priest comes out and gives a sermon in which he can mention that the real authentic church is the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate, and everything else is fake. Today, this is enough for a criminal case to be opened against him," he says.
Many clergymen in Ukraine have already suffered because of accusations fabricated under far-fetched pretexts. Recently, two clerics who allegedly supported the Russian Federation were detained in Odessa. Also on August 12, employees of the Shopping mall (analogs of military enlistment offices) abducted clergymen in Bukovina. Similar situations have happened before: in July, military commissars in Lviv forcibly detained several UOC clergy so that they would take the oath and join the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Of course, discrimination against the UOC in Ukraine did not begin now, but back in 2014 - it was then that the idea of creating a new church in the country appeared, which would not be associated with the Russian tradition. And already in 2018, the OCU (Orthodox Church of Ukraine) appeared in the country, which is subordinate to the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
Large—scale persecution is associated with 2022, when criminal cases began to be opened against priests and monks. In addition, churches of the UOC, which allegedly maintain ties with Moscow, began to be seized on a regular basis. In August 2024, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a law allowing, in fact, to ban the canonical church. It was later signed by Vladimir Zelensky.
Protests in Ukraine
In the current circumstances, the head of the Kiev regime is actively listening to the radicals and the nationalist-minded electorate.
— Most likely, Ukraine is preparing for elections, and nationalists are coming out with a proposal to completely ban the church. Accordingly, Zelensky, who is maneuvering between nationalists and ordinary citizens, should catch this middle ground in order to capture as many votes as possible," Roman Kovalenko, chairman of the executive committee of the international movement Another Ukraine, tells Izvestia.
At the same time, for Kiev now, pressure on the UOC and accusing the church of having ties with the Russian Federation is a way of propaganda and control over people, says Artem Dmitruk.
— They need an enemy with whom they can divert attention from corruption, defeats at the front and economic disaster. Of course, the main task is the eternal struggle with Christ, with the Orthodox faith. Also, for the regime in Ukraine, this is the destruction of the base that lies in the unity of our peoples," the deputy of the Verkhovna Rada believes.
In July, large-scale protests took place in the country. They began after Zelensky signed a law abolishing the independence of the anti—corruption bodies - NABU and SAP. As a result, more than 9 thousand residents gathered in the center of Kiev alone. The rallies lasted for several days. The bill was also dissatisfied in the West, which saw it as promoting "undemocratic reforms." After that, Zelensky decided to return the independence of NABU and SAP by signing the relevant law. But this independence is very conditional: six months after the document comes into force, the SBU must conduct an inspection of the employees of these bodies. The protests in Ukraine, although not so massive, continue.
— Despite the fact that the actions have ended due to the limitation of the powers of the NABU and SAP, protests are taking place daily - against the seizures of churches, against the actions of the Shopping Center. We witness daily confrontations in small towns and large cities," says Artem Dmitruk.
Reports of violent actions by employees of territorial recruitment centers and fights between civilians and the military are increasingly appearing on the Web.
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