More and more regions of Ukraine are rejecting the UOC MP. Local authorities prohibit the activities of the churches of the Moscow Patriarchate and deprive them of the right to use land plots. The situation is developing most actively in the western regions.
Where the UOC MP has already been banned.
Chernivtsi
22 parishes of the UOC MP in Chernivtsi lost the right to use land. The relevant decision was adopted by the city council at the session on April 27. The mayor of Chernivtsi, Roman Klichuk, said that this step should become an incentive for the transition to Ukrainian churches.
The Cathedral, St. Nicholas Church, churches on Nezalezhnosti Avenue, Gorecha Men's Monastery and the Women's Monastery on Bukovynska Street were banned.
The day before, the townspeople created an electronic petition with the demand to terminate land lease agreements with all churches of the UOC MP. She got twice as many votes as needed.
Sumy
In Sumy, the introduction of the UOC-MP ban on land use was initiated by deputies of the "European Solidarity", "Servant of the People", "Batkivshchyna", and "Strength and Honor" factions.
On April 26, 2023, this decision was approved at the city council session.
Zhytomyr
The Zhytomyr Regional Council banned the activities of religious communities that have church-canonical ties to the Russian Orthodox Church throughout the region.
On April 27, the deputies also voted to revoke the decision on the transfer of the plot of land to the Convent of the Athos Icon of the Mother of God, issued by the UOC MP in 2017.
Rivne
On April 10, deputies of the city council in Rivne passed a decision to ban pro-Russian religious communities from using land plots. They also appealed to the Parliament, the Cabinet of Ministers and the SBU in the Rivne region regarding the ban on the activities of the UOC-MP in Ukraine.
Volyn
The regional council of Volyn has completely banned the activities of the dioceses of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate in the territory of the region. On April 11, the corresponding decision was unanimously supported by all deputies.
It should be noted that 523 religious communities of the UOC MP were registered on the territory of the Volyn region. From the beginning of February 24, 2022, 49 parishes transferred to the OCU.
Ternopil
In Ternopil Oblast, the activity of the UOC MP was banned as early as last year. At the regional council meeting on August 26, 2022, deputies unanimously supported this issue.
On April 17, 2023, the Ternopil city council made a decision to seize a plot of land from the Ternopil Diocese of the Moscow Church on Yevhen Konovalts Street - the Cathedral of Faith, Hope, Love and Mother Sophia of the UOC MP.
Khmelnytskyi
The UOC-MP is under a ban on the territory of the Khmelnytskyi region from April 4. The Oblrada recommended the local self-government bodies of the region to conduct an inventory of land plots used by pro-Russian church dioceses, with subsequent termination of the right to use them.
It is worth noting that on the eve of the ban on the activities of the Moscow Patriarchate in Khmelnytskyi, a UOC MP priest beat a serviceman. After that, the community of the Holy Intercession Cathedral, where the incident happened, voted to transfer to the OCU. A criminal case was initiated against the priest.
Also, residents of Khmelnytskyi voted for the transfer of the Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God of the UOC MP to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
Lviv
The Lviv Regional Council decided to ban the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate on the territory of the region as early as November 29, 2022.
On April 5, 2023, the St. George Cathedral of the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate in Lviv was transferred to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. After that he received the name of St. George the Victorious.
Kyiv region
On April 27, the Brovary City Council deprived the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate of the right to use 4 plots of land on which 5 churches are located.
According to Oleksiy Doroshenko, the head of the Brovarsk RDA, at the beginning of the full-scale war, only four churches belonged to the OCU in the Brovarsk community, and 11 to the UOC MP. However, the situation changed within a year. Currently, the OCU owns 10 churches on the territory of the community.
The draft law on banning the UOC-MP in Ukraine is under consideration by the Council
On January 19, 2023, the Cabinet of Ministers submitted to the parliament draft law No. 8371 on banning the activities of the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine.
The document provides for the introduction of a ban on the activity of religious organizations in Ukraine, the management center of which is located outside of Ukraine in a state that carries out armed aggression. At the moment, the bill is pending consideration.
At the same time, the UOC-MP has repeatedly stated that it has no connection with the Russian Church.
Thus, in the register of religious organizations and official documents, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church does not have the prefix "Moscow Patriarchate". In the spring of last year, the religious organization amended its Charter to separate the UOC from the Russian Orthodox Church.
However, the religious examination of the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience showed that the UOC is a structural division of the Russian Orthodox Church and provided evidence of the existence of a church-canonical connection between these churches.
We will remind, on March 29, the National Reserve "Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra" terminated the lease agreement with the UOC MP.
In addition, the Council wants to urge the Cabinet of Ministers to terminate the lease of the Pochaiv Lavra from the UOC MP, and the Ministry of Culture has already created a commission to check the use of the facilities of the Pochaiv Lavra.
