Metropolitan Clement explains why UOC did not participate in DESS expertise

Metropolitan Clement. Photo: Screenshot from Suspilne video

Metropolitan Clement (Vecheria) of Nizhyn and Pryluky, head of the Information and Education Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), appeared on the Suspilne TV program, where he debated with religious scholar Liudmyla Fylypovych regarding the adoption of law 3894. The Metropolitan explained why the examination by the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) in 2022, when the Church’s charter was reviewed, proceeded without the participation of the UOC.

Metropolitan Clement noted that the UOC initially expressed disagreement with the composition of the commission, as some of its members had openly shown hostility toward the UOC. "We submitted an official letter in which we stated our objections regarding the composition of the commission that was supposed to review our charter," he explained.

The UOC hierarch also emphasized that the Church sent this letter to the DESS within the legally required time frame: "The letter was registered, but we did not receive a response within the 30-day period, as required by Ukrainian law. The legitimacy of that commission's work remains in question, as we never received a reply to our request," stressed the UOC hierarch.

It should be noted that in January 2022, the UOC's Legal Department sent a letter to the DESS, drawing attention to the bias of certain members of the expert group. The commission included experts such as Ihor Kozlovsky, Oleksandr Sahan, Liudmyla Fylypovych, and Yuriy Chornomorets, who had repeatedly criticized the UOC in the media and on social networks.

The UOC's Legal Department insisted that the involvement of these experts created a conflict of interest.

Metropolitan Clement expressed doubt about the objectivity and legality of the commission's work, emphasizing that the UOC's opinion was not adequately considered.

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