The Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations, which represents the varied Christian, Jewish, and Muslim bodies of Ukraine, categorically CONDEMNS the terrorist attacks of the Russian Federation carried out, once again, on December 29, 2023, against Ukrainian cities, civil infrastructure, and civilians.  The Ukrainian Council of Churches CALLS UPON all states of the world that declare respect for the value of human life and international law to condemn the actions of the...

The Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (UCCRO), comprising various Christian Churches, Jewish and Muslim communities of Ukraine, strongly condemns the terrorist attack carried out by the Russian Federation on July 8, 2024, targeting Ukrainian cities, civilian infrastructure, children's hospitals, a maternity hospital, and civilians.   The deliberate missile strikes of racist Russia on the Okhmatdyt children's hospital, maternity hospital, and other hospitals ...

The pretentious ideas of protecting Orthodox values disguise the spiritual and moral bankruptcy of the Russian government and the Church, which serves as a tool for this new form of Satanism. This is exactly how the psychology of the rapist manifests itself – to expose the victim as guilty and then kill her in order to cover her tracks and get rid of the reminder of the crime. This is emphasized in the Appeal of the All-Ukrainian Council held on November 3 to the public in response to the agg...

In Sewastopol, dem Heimathafen der russischen Schwarzmeerflotte, wurde an der mutmaßlichen Stelle des Martyriums des Heiligen Papstes Klemens I. ein Denkmal errichtet. Die Aufstellung erfolgte Samstag, 4. Januar, dem Tag an dem die orthodoxe Kirche das Fest des Heiligen Klemens feiert. Das Denkmal steht auf einem Podest im Wasser, an der Stelle, wo der auf die Krim verbannte Papst von den Schergen Kaiser Trajans mit einer Kette und einem Anker um den Hals ins Meer gestoßen wurde. Als Bischof ...

Während der orthodoxen Osterfeiern hat die Polizei in der Ukraine 19 Verstöße gegen die Maßnahmen zur Eindämmung der Coronavirus-Epidemie registriert. Beispielsweise befanden sich mehr als zehn Gläubige in einer Kirche, manche zusätzlich ohne persönliche Schutzausrüstung. In fünf Fällen hat die Polizei Strafverfahren eingeleitet, vier davon betreffen die Region Donezk, einer die Region Ternopil. Alle Fälle betreffen Kirchen der Ukrainischen Orthodoxen Kirche (UOK), die dem Moskauer Patriarcha...

The Supreme Court has ruled that the UOC-KP was liquidated legally and further attempts to prove the opposite in the courts have no prospects. The text of the Court judgement in case No. 761/25084/20 of May 19, 2021, was published by Religiyna Pravda on June 7. In particular, the decision states that the resolution of the local council of the UOC-KP, which took place on December 15, 2018, just before the Unification Council, is valid. This decree, which was signed personally by Bishop Filaret...

The Supreme Court has determined when a person's religious beliefs exclude criminal liability for evading conscription into military service during mobilization under Article 336 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The Court found the citizen guilty of evading conscription into military service during a general mobilization declared by the Decree of the President of Ukraine of February 24, 2022, No. 69/2022, due to the introduction of martial law throughout the territory of Ukraine caused by arm...

The Supreme Court of Ukraine has rejected the Ministry of Culture’s appeal to force the canonical Ukrainian Church to rename itself as the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine, thus allowing it to retain the name it has been registered under for 30 years. Two previous courts had already satisfied the application of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine to ban the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Culture, state registrars, and public and private notaries from carrying ou...

There are three conditions for the visit of Pope Francis to Ukraine, said the Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Patriarch Svyatoslav (Shevchuk) said in an interview with Radio Liberty. "When Vatican Secretary of state Parolin came to our working session, we asked him directly: what is necessary for the Pope to come? He said there were several conditions. The first is the invitation of the Catholic Churches. The second is an invitation from the Ukrainian government. We have a new Pr...

On Saturday, March 12, several buildings of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s Holy Dormition-Svyatogorsk Lavra were damaged during shelling in Svyatogorsk. The monastery is one of several churches and monasteries that have been damaged. The Lavra has been home to hundreds of refugees fleeing war in the Donetsk and Lugansk Provinces since 2014, and is now home to refugees from all over Ukraine, mostly Kharkov and Izium. During the shelling on Saturday, the Lavra hotel where 520 refugees, includi...

Die Mitglieder des Hl. Synods der Orthodoxen Kirche der Ukraine (OKU) haben sich angesichts der Querelen um Filaret (Denisenko) hinter ihr Oberhaupt, Metropolit Epifanij (Dumenko) gestellt. Der Hl. Synod rief dazu auf, die innere Einheit der OKU zu bewahren, und forderte die Bischöfe, Geistlichen und Gläubigen auf, alle Fragen im Geist brüderlicher Liebe zu diskutieren und Feindseligkeit, Konfrontationen und Spaltungen zu vermeiden.

The Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is planning to adopt the new Charter of the Synod. This was stated by Archbishop and Metropolitan Yevgeny (Popovich of Przemysl and Warsaw, Head of the Canonical Department of the UGCC in an interview with the Department of Information of the UGCC. The head of the Canonical Department said that of the past year the Synod set the task to his department to supplement the legislative framework with new legal acts. “I hope that this yea...

On 14 March 2018, at the Kiev Lavra of the Caves, the Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church held its first session in 2018 under the chairmanship of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine. The members of the Synod expressed their concern over the statement made by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Zaporozhye region about the opening of criminal proceedings against several representatives of the Zaporozhye diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church on the grounds tha...

Technical Committee of Pope for Ukraine Initiative finishes its work, which started in June 2016, on August 31, 2017, having completed the tasks it was entrusted with. Over this period it has conducted monitoring of the needs of most vulnerable categories of people who have suffered from military actions in the East of Ukraine. Criteria for selection of partner organizations for implementation of Pope Francis’s humanitarian initiative in Ukraine have been set. The Committee has approved ...

Künftig wird ein größerer Teil des Kyjiwer Höhlenklosters vom dort ansässigen Nationalpark genutzt werden, so hat es der Kyjiwer Stadtrat am 8. Februar entschieden. Der Nationalpark verwaltet das ganze Areal und betreibt einen Museumskomplex in der sog. oberen Lavra. Der Stadtrat hat ihm nun Grundstücke zur dauerhaften Nutzung zugewiesen, um Einrichtungen an der Lavrska Straße 9 zu unterhalten. Das Kyjiwer Höhlenkloster ist eine der ältesten Klosteranlagen in der Ukraine und gehört zum Weltk...

His Eminence Andriy (Sapelyak), bishop emeritus of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, died on November 6 at the age of 98. According to the UGCC Department of Information, the funeral service will be further announced. Bishop Andriy Sapelyak was born on January 13, 1919 in the village of Ryshkova Volya, Yaroslavl district. He was the first child in the Ukrainian peasant family of Mikhaylo Sapelyak and Agafia Yarosh. After graduating from the Przemysl high school Andriy joined the congregat...

Metropolitan Epifaniy (Dumenko) believes that in some time the Pochayiv Lavra will definitely pass to the OCU. Just as it happened with the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. He stated this in an interview with Suspilne. "This is a gradual and long process, similar to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. We want this process to take place calmly and peacefully. That is, without any confrontations. Therefore, we need time. Over two years, more than two thousand religious communities have joined us. This gradualness als...

On November 9th in Brussels, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, the Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), addressed the General Assembly of the Commission of the Episcopal Conferences of the EU (COMECE). During his address, the Head of the UGCC focused on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine and the pastoral challenges involved in the "healing of the wounds of war. This was reported by the Information Department of the UGCC. Addressing representatives of the EU episcopates, His Beatitu...

The Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church met at the Monastery of the Protecting Veil in Kharkov 27 May 2017. It was chaired by His Beatitude Onufriy, Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine, and was timed to the 25th anniversary of the Council of Kharkov. The meeting took place at the historic building in which the Council of Kharkov was held, as part of the church celebrations devoted to the jubilee. The Synod adopted a Message to the Episcopate, Clergy, Monastics and Laity on the Occasion of...

KIIS conducted a survey from 24 to 30 June 2020 regarding the attitude of Ukrainians to the main Churches in Ukraine. Among all respondents, 42.4% have a positive attitude to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, 10.3% have a negative attitude, and 37.2% have a neutral attitude (the balance of positive and negative ratings is +32.1%). The next in this category is the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church – 35.3% positive against 6% who are negative (with 46.1% of those who have a neutral attitude) (balan...