Filaret calls on Verkhovna Rada to adopt anti-church bill No. 4128

"Honorary spiritual mentor of the OCU" Filaret

Filaret appealed to the Verkhovna Rada with a request to adopt a bill that would define the mechanism for choosing a religious centre, reports UNN on January 12.

“Because now there is a law that each parish can choose its centre, but there isn’t any (law – Ed.) how to choose. Therefore, we ask the Verkhovna Rada to adopt such a law,” said the “honorary patriarch”.

 He also explained what mechanism for determining the religious centre was developed in the newly created OCU.

“We propose that the whole community assemble under the leadership of either the rector or the village council, hold a parish meeting and vote on which Church they want to affiliate with: Ukrainian or Russian. We propose that if 2/3 vote for the Ukrainian Church, the church belongs to the Ukrainian Church if the Russian Church means the church will belong to the Russian Church. But those who are in this 1/3 have the right to open their parish, register for the Russian or Ukrainian Church. We do not want any violence,” Filaret said.

As the UOJ reported, the Verkhovna Rada will consider on January 17 anti-church bill No. 4128 “On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine ‘On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations’ (regarding changes to subordination by religious communities)”.

Bill No. 4128 makes changes to the provisions that regulate a person’s affiliation with a religious community – the term “self-identification” is introduced, and the procedure for changing the subordination of a community is also specified. According to experts, this initiative aims to legitimize church raiding.

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