Culture Ministry lists UOC as an organization obliged to change its statute

The Ministry of Culture of Ukraine

The Ministry of Culture has added the UOC to the list of the religious organizations obliged to change the statute under the law on the renaming of the Church (former bill No. 5309). The Ministry of Culture published information on the list of religious organizations on the website of the “Uriadovy Courier” (“State Courier”).

According to the report, religious organizations that operate in the territory of Ukraine and “are part of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (in unity with the Russian Orthodox Church (UOC)” fall under sections 12 and 8 of Article 12 of the Law of Ukraine “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations”. In addition to the UOC, the list includes the Russian True Orthodox Church (RTOC), the Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church (ROORC), the Russian Old-Orthodox Church (ROOC Novozybkov Hierarchy) and a number of other associations.

According to the notification, the UOC is obliged to amend its statute within three months in accordance with Law No. 2662-VIII "On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine ‘On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations’ regarding the name of religious organizations that are part of the structure (are part of) a religious organization whose governing centre is located outside Ukraine ...”.

Amendments must be submitted for registration in the prescribed manner.

The published list also notes that “the religious association UOC is part of the ROC”. The document has a total of 819 pages, which, among other things, list the administrations of eparchies, monasteries, religious educational institutions, as well as parishes under the jurisdiction of the UOC.

We recall that Law No. 2662 adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on December 20, 2018, is about renaming religious organizations and/or associations that are part of a religious organization whose control center is located outside Ukraine in the territory of the aggressor state.

Earlier, 49 deputies demanded that the Constitutional Court challenge the anti-church law No. 2662 on renaming religious organizations from the point of view of the Constitution. Later, Justice Minister Pavel Petrenko stated that this appeal is not a reason for non-compliance with the law.

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