Ukrainian delegation to Phanar head: There are no closed temples in Ukraine

Sealed UOC church in Boryslav, Lviv Region. Photo: 24tv.ua

On August 13, 2024, a delegation of Ukrainian officials and representatives of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) informed Patriarch Bartholomew that there are no closed churches in Ukraine and that there are no major or minor religions, according to the website of the President's Office.

During the meeting with Patriarch Bartholomew, Deputy Head of the President's Office Olena Kovalska and Head of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience Viktor Yelensky "discussed in detail the state of religious freedom in Ukraine, which, despite the war, is being deepened by Ukrainian society."

"The Ukrainian side is proud that there are no closed churches or major and minor religions in our country, and the voice of the few religious communities in the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations sounds as loud as the voice of the churches to which the majority of Ukrainians belong," the President's Office website stated.

Previously, the UOJ reported that on August 13, 2024, the "Life-Giving Spring" Church in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra was sealed by the reserve authorities.

On May 16, 2024, the Church of the Tithes in Kyiv was demolished.

On April 6, 2023, authorities in Lviv used an excavator to demolish the UOC Church of St. Volodymyr Equal-to-the-Apostles.

The UOJ also released a video titled "Hollow Church of Ukraine", which details what is happening to the seized UOC shrines.

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