Erzbischof Silvestr (Stojtschev)
A Blog of the Orthodox Christian Studies Center of Fordham University
On August 20, 2024, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the law “On protecting the constitutional order in the field of the activities of religious organisations” (No. 3894), and as early as August 24, it was signed by the President of Ukraine. This law is usually called a “law on the ban of the UOC” in the Ukrainian mass media.
Who is banned by the new law?
Law No. 3894 is not a “law banning the UOC.” The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) is not mentioned even once in the text of the law. The law clearly speaks about the prohibition of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) in Ukraine, which is understood to be a foreign religious organization operating on the territory of the Russian Federation and headed by the Moscow Patriarch. The law prohibits ROC activities on Ukrainian territory because of the ROC’s support and ideological justification for the Russian military aggression against Ukraine. The direct participation of the leadership and a significant number of bishops and clergy of the ROC in the aggression against Ukraine is beyond any doubt.
However, in addition to banning the ROC (as a foreign religious organization), the law also provides for the banning of those religious organizations that operate in Ukraine but are affiliated with the ROC in one way or another and are subordinate to its leadership or are directly part of the ROC. Here the positions of the state authorities, on the one hand, and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, on the other, significantly diverge.
In 2023, the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) conducted an examination and concluded that the UOC remains subordinate to the Moscow Patriarch and is therefore an integral part of the ROC. However, the UOC itself strongly disagrees with this conclusion. On May 27, 2022, the Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church made fundamental changes to the Statute on the governance of our Church. Since that time, the UOC has had no ties with Moscow and functions as a fully independent and autonomous Church (however, this status will eventually need to be addressed in dialogue with the other local Orthodox Churches, particularly the Ecumenical Patriarchate). Therefore, from the point of view of the UOC, Law No. 3894 has nothing to do with the UOC.