In April, more than 80 communities affiliated with the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) came under the control of the schismatic Ukrainian Orthodox Church (OCU). Viktor Yelensky, head of the State Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience Service of the Government of Ukraine, told Ukrinform about this.
According to him, more than 80 congregations moved from the Moscow Patriarchate to the OCU last month. Yelensky emphasized that at least there are many reports of meetings where believers decided to change their mandate.
Earlier, Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Mikhail Galuzin expressed the opinion that the current government of Ukraine contributes to an even deeper division in society with its persecution of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC). The diplomat believes that President Volodymyr Zelensky and his associates do not care about the interests of millions of Ukrainians whose religious freedom rights continue to be violated.
The diplomat noted that the decision to switch to the New Julian calendar at the meeting of the Bishops’ Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (OCU) on May 24 was “the peak of madness, cynicism and bacchanalia”.