Spokesman for UOC: The state should be equidistant from all denominations

The meeting of newly elected President Vladimir Zelensky with the Primate of the UOC His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine

On May 7, 2019, Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich, Deputy Chairman of the Department for UOC External Church Relations, explained in the commentary to "RBC-Ukraine" what the UOC is expecting from the newly elected President Vladimir Zelensky.

Fr. Nikolai noted that the UOC has “cautiously optimistic” expectations from the new government: “We just want the state to leave our Church alone and give an opportunity to calmly develop. It would be better if the state were equidistant from all denominations of the country.”

“It seems to me that over the past year there has been too much attention to the church topic in the public life of Ukraine. There is a feeling that secular society is tired of the exploitation of the outgoing authority of the church theme. I think that the new government is better to focus on other topics that belong to the direct competence of the state,” added Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich.

According to him, the UOC is also seeking the final abolition of laws on the procedure for the transfer of religious communities to another denomination and the renaming of religious organizations.

As the UOJ reported, earlier Vladimir Zelensky responded to the accusations that he had gone to Turkey at Easter with the words: “Do not look for me in the church. Look for God!” ATO member Vladimir Skakun criticized the newly elected President on the Web and said that instead of Turkey, he should have attended the Easter service.

We recall that on April 30, Zelensky met with the Primate of the UOC, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine, held a conversation with the head of the OCU Epiphany Dumenko, and the “Honorary Patriarch” Filaret Denisenko. On May 2, a meeting was held with the muftis and Muslim religious leaders of Ukraine, and on May 6 – with representatives of the Council of Rabbis of Ukraine and the head of the UGCC Sviatoslav Shevchuk.

On April 22, the Kiev District Administrative Court took the side of the Kiev Metropolis and suspended the forced renaming of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Prior to this, the Constitutional Court opened proceedings on the compliance of the Constitution with the Law ‘On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations’” of December 20, 2018 No. 2662-VIII.

The law obliges the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to change its name and indicate its affiliation with the Russian Orthodox Church. Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich said that the renaming of the UOC is raiding. Political analyst Pavel Rudiakov believes that in this way the authorities want to take away church property, including Lavras.

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