Ukraine: State Migration Service revokes citizenship of five bishops of the UOC-MP

23. Februar 2023
The State Migration Service of Ukraine has revoked the Ukrainian citizenship of five more representatives of the UOC-MP, and one has closed its immigration permit. LB.ua learned this from its own sources. According to reports, the decision was made in early January, when the presidential decree suspended the citizenship of 13 representatives of the UOC-MP, and in accordance with Article 21 of the law of Ukraine, “On Citizenship”. It concerns two archbishops, a bishop and two Metropolitans.

In particular, the document includes:

1. Archbishop Panteleimon of Bucha (Viktor Romanovich Baschuk).
Panteleimon studied at the Moscow Theological Seminary. In the 90s, he served in St. Daniel's monastery in Moscow, was the Vicar of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, was part of the Russian theological mission in Jerusalem, after which he was assigned to the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra. Since 2005, he has managed the dioceses of Vinnytsia, Severodonetsk, Alexandria and Uman at various periods of time. In 2019, he got into a media scandal due to the fact that he bought an apartment in Kyiv for more than 4 million hryvnias.

2. Bishop Gedeon (Kharon Yuri Samuilovich) of Makariv is the rector of the infamous "kiosk church" near the Tithe Church, which the court recently ordered to be demolished.
In 2019, border guards detained Gedeon at Boryspil Airport due to his citizenship of several countries (Ukraine, Russia and the United States) and did not allow him to enter Ukraine. He was also accused of anti-Ukrainian propaganda and was considered an adept of the “Russian World”. Gedeon returned to the United States, appealed the decision to the OASC, which ordered the State Migration Service to return Gideon Ukrainian citizenship.

3. Bishop Spyridon of Vyshnevets (Romanov Andriy Volodymyrovych) is the head of the Vasylkiv Vicariate of the Kyiv Diocese of the UOC-MP.

4. Archbishop Victor (Bykov Vladyslav Olehovych) of Artsyz is considered one of the youngest bishops of the UOC-MP. The media reported that in 2017, the bishop tried to depart from the Odesa airport with ten thousand euros and a thousand dollars in cash. But this was discovered by border guards. The court imposed an administrative penalty on him. In September 2022, the Archbishop participated in the enthronement of the first hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, Metropolitan of East America and New York.

5. Metropolitan Mark of Khust (Petrovtsiy Mykolai Ivanovych) is considered one of the most influential bishops of the UOC-MP and perhaps the largest lobbyist of the Russian World in the west of Ukraine. He is a permanent member of the Holy Synod of the UOC-MP. According to open sources, he has a Russian passport and opposes the idea of convening a council of the UOC-MP to make a decision on breaking administrative unity with the Russian Orthodox Church.

Another representative of the UOC MP, Metropolitan Platon of Feodosia (Udovenko Vladimir Petrovich): the Migration Service has banned immigration (i.e. entry of Ukrainians or stay in Ukraine of foreigners and stateless persons for permanent residence).

All the listed representatives of the UOC-MP, according to sources, have Russian passports.

In early January, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky suspended the citizenship of 13 representatives of the UOC-MP, particularly Metropolitan Ionafan of Tulchyn and Bratslav and Metropolitan Meletiy of Chernivtsi and Bukovyna. (Quelle: www.risu.ua, 16. Februar 2023)