UOC bishop: Authorities fear law examination by Venice Commission like fire

Metropolitan Clement. Photo: news.church.ua

The head of the Synodal Information and Enlightenment Department of the UOC, Metropolitan Clement of Nizhyn and Pryluky, stated that anti-church bill No. 8371 is aimed at confiscating all the property of the UOC, which has been restored and renovated by the Church over the years, he said in a comment to Strana.ua.

"This will result in large-scale discrimination against believers of the UOC - citizens of our country. After all, they will unjustifiably be deprived of the right to use their temples, worship sites, and will be forced to perform their religious rites secretly somewhere only because they refuse to give up on their religious beliefs. Lenin, Stalin, and Khrushchev did the same," said the hierarch of the UOC.

Metropolitan Clement also stated that MPs, in particular M. Poturaev and V. Viatrovych, who claim that this anti-church law poses no threat to freedom of conscience, are lying. "Otherwise, they would not fear its examination by the Venice Commission (the European Commission for Democracy through Law – Ed.) as if it were hellfire," concluded Bishop Clement.

As reported by the UOJ, earlier Davyd Arakhamia, the head of the Servant of the People faction in the Verkhovna Rada, stated that the examination of the bill banning the UOC by the Venice Commission is necessary for Ukraine's accession to the EU.

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