MP threatens: Ministry of Culture will change the name of UOC on its own

People's deputy Viktor Yelensky

Viktor Yelensky, the chairman of the Subcommittee on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Culture and Spirituality, stated that the Ministry of Culture can independently change the name of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the official State Register, as this department is a registering body, reports UNIAN.

"This state body determined who falls under the rule of the law on renaming the Church (bill No. 5309 – Ed.), following the expert examination. Then it informed these people, and then it will act according to the law," said Yelensky.

We recall, according to the provisions of the law, within nine months, communities that are affected by the document must change their name and submit the relevant documents to the state authorities.

As the UOJ reported, Protopriest Alexander Bakhov, head of the Legal Department of the UOC, explained that any attempts by the state to force the Church to change its name are illegal and regarded from the point of view of international law as interference in the internal affairs of a religious group. In this regard, the UOC intends to protect its rights by all legal means.

In January 2019, 49 deputies from Opposition Blok challenged in the Constitutional Court the Law of Ukraine “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations” No. 2662-VIII dated December 20, 2018 (Bill No. 5309 – Ed.), which obliges a religious organization to indicate in its name the administrative centre outside Ukraine.

In turn, the Minister of Justice of Ukraine Pavel Petrenko stated that the appeal to the Constitutional Court against law No. 2662 on changing the names of religious organizations is not a reason for non-compliance with the law.

The Verkhovna Rada adopted anti-Church bill No. 5309 on December 20, 2018, with 240 deputies supporting it. On December 22, President Petro Poroshenko signed it. On December 27, the law came into force.

On January 30, 2019, the OCU was officially entered into the State Register under the dual name – the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (the Orthodox Church of Ukraine).

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