Ukraine closes Orthodox Church

Kiev (dpa) — The Ukrainian government agency responsible for ethnic affairs has launched legal action to have the country’s largest Orthodox Church banned for its alleged links to Moscow, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported.

The State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Affairs and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) filed the lawsuit with the Supreme Administrative Court last Friday, according to the report.

DESS chairman Viktor Yelensky told Interfax-Ukraine that he was hoping the case would be expedited.

Loss of legal status would mean that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s parishes could no longer be organized centrally. According to Yelensky, that would not imply that the parishes would have to transfer to another church.

With around 10,000 parishes, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church remains the largest religious community in Ukraine. The church, which previously fell under the Moscow Patriarchate, broke with Moscow partly because Patriarch Kirill has been a passionate advocate of the Russian invasion.

The Ukrainian authorities doubt whether the church is truly independent and are now seeking a ban on the basis of a law passed in August 2024 that provides for religious organizations with ties to Russia to be banned.

President Volodymyr Zelensky withdrew Ukrainian citizenship from Metropolitan Onufriy, the head of the church, in July on the grounds that he had kept secret his Russian citizenship – something that the 80-year-old primate denies.

“The state is not forcing anyone to join the Orthodox Church of Ukraine or any other church,” Yelensky said.

The Orthodox Church of Ukraine, founded by former president Petro Poroshenko, is preferred by the state authorities in Ukraine.