Statement of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church in connection with the adoption by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of a bill aimed at the liquidation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church

On August 22, 2024, members of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church remotely approved the text of the statement published below (Journal No. 102).

On August 20, 2024, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted in the second reading the bill "On the protection of the constitutional order in the sphere of activities of religious organizations", which allows for the prohibition by court order of the activities of any religious communities on the territory of Ukraine if they are "affiliated" with any religious organizations in Russia. For the corresponding court decision, the conclusion of a "religious studies examination" will be sufficient, which in the context of a "witch hunt" can and will be falsified.

The initiators and supporters of the bill in Ukraine — high-level government officials, members of the Verkhovna Rada, radical right-wing politicians and public figures, representatives of schismatic organizations and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church — do not hide the fact that the bill is aimed directly against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church; that the purpose of this law is to liquidate it and all its communities or to forcibly transfer them to other religious organizations. Hundreds of monasteries, thousands of communities, millions of Orthodox believers in Ukraine will find themselves outside the legal field, will lose their property and place of prayer.

During 2014-2023, the Holy Synod of the Russian Church repeatedly noted the pressure on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has undoubted features of state anti-religious policy. Today's adoption of the law is evidence of the impotence of the regime, which throughout its political existence has consistently, step by step, sought to weaken, split and destroy the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church has repeatedly addressed the UN, OSCE and Council of Europe organizations, leaders of world religious communities, testifying to the persecution of believers in Ukraine. Despite the fact that many experts and human rights organizations in the West have recognized violations of the rights of believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, this has not become an obstacle to the adoption of a bill that destroys the very idea of freedom of conscience and basic human rights.

The constant background of the policy of persecution of the Church is the long-term slanderous anti-church campaign of the Ukrainian media, aimed at defamation of canonical Orthodoxy, provoking and justifying mass seizures of churches, called "voluntary transitions." These seizures are organized by supporters of the schism and radical nationalists with the support of local authorities, special services and law enforcement agencies. As a rule, they are accompanied by violence, mass beatings of the clergy and believers. Seizures and attempts to seize the largest monasteries of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church are being undertaken, and their inhabitants are being forcibly evicted.

Direct pressure on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, its episcopate and clergy continues from the Ukrainian special services. In addition to threats and blackmail, this pressure has resulted in dozens of fabricated criminal cases and unjust sentences on political grounds. A number of archpastors and pastors of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church are under arrest, detained or have received unfair sentences.

In a number of regions and localities of Ukraine, local authorities have directly "banned" the activities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, forcibly closing its churches, preventing services, illegally confiscating land plots under its monasteries, churches and shrines.

Having failed to weaken the canonical Church in Ukraine, having failed to shake its unity, the local authorities have taken a step towards its direct ban.

In its scale and centralized nature, this measure may surpass all previous historical repressions against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, including the persecution during the Brest Greek Catholic Union, and is comparable to such sad historical precedents as the persecution in the Roman Empire during the time of Nero and Diocletian, the so-called de-Christianization of France during the French Revolution of the 18th century, atheistic repressions in the Soviet Union and the destruction of the Albanian Orthodox Church in the 1960s by the regime of Enver Hoxha.

The adopted bill is incompatible with the notions of the rule of law, is a political declaration aimed at legalizing the destruction of the majority religious community. The law identifies criteria that allow for the identification of a group of persons linked by the sign of belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and for the purposeful implementation of political repression against them.

It is with particular bitterness that we must note the negative role of Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople and his like-minded hierarchs. With their unilateral, hasty and contrary to the spirit of the sacred canons actions, they only aggravated the church schism in Ukraine without healing it. The leadership of the schismatics recognized by the Phanar with particular fury demanded the adoption of a law on the actual ban of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. And Patriarch Bartholomew, who had previously publicly approved the criminal prosecution and arrests of its hierarchs and clergy, now, like the high priests Anna and Caiaphas, openly supported the actions of the state authorities, the goal of which is the crucifixion and destruction of the canonical Church in Ukraine. The Patriarch of Constantinople thus bears personal responsibility for organizing the persecution of believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Expressing our firm conviction that the gates of Hades will not overcome against the Church of Christ (Matt. 16:18), just as the most severe persecutions did not prevail against it before; that the Orthodox Christians of Ukraine will meet the new trials prepared for them with courage and firmness and will overcome them by the power of Jesus Who loved us (Rom. 8:37) — we call upon the fullness of all world Orthodoxy to strengthen their prayers for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which is in sorrow for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ (Rev. 1:9).

We appeal to international human rights organizations to immediately and objectively respond to the flagrant persecution of believers in Ukraine.