Zelenskyy strips pro-Russian church leader of citizenship over Moscow ties
Photo: Orest Berezovsky (Onufriy) (facebook.com Metropolitan.Onufriy)
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has terminated the Ukrainian citizenship of Orest Berezovsky, primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, Onufriy, according to the Security Service of Ukraine.
According to the SBU, Berezovsky (Onufriy) voluntarily received Russian citizenship in 2002. He did not notify the authorized authorities of Ukraine. He continued to be a citizen of Ukraine.
Onufriy still maintains ties with the Moscow Patriarchate and deliberately opposed the canonical independence of the Ukrainian church from the Moscow Patriarchate, whose representatives openly support Russian aggression against Ukraine.
"Despite the full-scale invasion, Berezovsky (Onufriy) continues to support the policy of the Russian Orthodox Church and its leadership, in particular Patriarch Kirill (Gundyayev)," the statement said.
The SBU recalled that Gundyayev blessed the armed aggression of Russian troops and pursues a propaganda policy of justifying and inciting the genocide of the Ukrainian people.
Inspections of the UOC-MP
Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, inspections of the dioceses of the UOC-Moscow Patriarchate have begun. Criminal cases have been opened against dozens of ministers for justifying the war, collaboration, and treason.
One of the most famous was the case of the former abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, Metropolitan Pavlo, who is suspected of several articles.
Against the backdrop of these events, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a law banning the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church and related organizations in Ukraine.
