Kyiv Ukrainian Orthodox Church metropolis recognized as affiliated with Russian Orthodox Church

It is noted that the State Service for Export Control and Security decided to recognize the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC as affiliated with a foreign religious organization whose activities are prohibited in Ukraine under Article 3 of the Law of Ukraine on the Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Sphere of Religious Organizations.

This decision was preceded by research into the presence of signs of affiliation between the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC and a foreign religious organization banned in Ukraine.

The study revealed signs of affiliation between the UOC’s Kyiv Metropolis and the ROC, which constitutes a violation of the Law of Ukraine on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations. Accordingly, the UOC’s Kyiv Metropolis was issued a directive to eliminate this violation.

In his letter, UOC Primate Metropolitan Onufriy declared his refusal to comply with the directive.

Thus, due to the lack of grounds to conclude that the violations had been eliminated or that the directive was mistakenly issued, as provided for in Part 15 of Article 16 of the law, or to revoke the directive under Part 17 of Article 16 of the law, the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience recognized the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC as affiliated with a foreign religious organization banned in Ukraine.

In general, the procedure is as follows:

• The State Service for Ethnopolitics first checks a religious organization for links with foreign churches whose activities are restricted in Ukraine,

• If violations are found, the body issues a directive to eliminate them,

• If the organization refuses to comply, the State Service officially recognizes it as affiliated with a foreign church,

• The final decision to ban its activities is made by the court.

At the beginning of July, it became known that the Kyiv Metropolis of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, despite public declarations of independence, continues to maintain ties with the Russian Orthodox Church.

The State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience ordered the UOC to eliminate the violations of the law related to its detected affiliation with the ROC by August 18.

Back in August 2024, the Parliament adopted a law allowing the banning of religious organizations connected to Russia. If the State Service for Ethnopolitics detects signs of affiliation, the organization has nine months to eliminate them.

Metropolitan Onufriy stripped of citizenship

Earlier, based on collected information, the Security Service of Ukraine deprived UOC-MP Primate Metropolitan Onufriy of Ukrainian citizenship.

It was revealed that the Metropolitan holds a Russian passport. RBC-Ukraine has already obtained a photo of the document.

According to law enforcement, Metropolitan Onufriy received his Russian passport back in 2002.