The All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (AUCCRO) has supported a legislative initiative to ban the activities of religious organizations affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church.
This is stated in a statement by the AUCCRO on August 17.
“We support the legislative initiative of the President of Ukraine to make it impossible for such organizations to operate in our country, which also has broad political and public support,” the AUCCRO said.
In addition, representatives of Ukrainian religious organizations condemned the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), which has become “an accomplice in the bloody crimes of the Russian invaders against humanity.”
The Council of Ukrainian Churches emphasized that “the main threat to religious freedom in Ukraine is the Russian aggression, in which the occupiers killed dozens of clergy and destroyed hundreds of churches and houses of worship.”
The AUCCRO members emphasized that “the Moscow Patriarchate justifies pogroms and restrictions on religious freedom, torture and murder of priests and pastors.”
The Statement by members of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations
On August 16, 2024, we, the members of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (AUCCRO), met with the President of Ukraine V. Zelensky. We discussed the protection of religious freedom and spiritual independence of Ukraine, the protection of constitutional order and public security, human rights and fundamental freedoms in the context of abuse by the aggressor country. As a result of the meeting, we would like to emphasize the points we have repeatedly stressed previously.
We unequivocally condemn the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church, which has become an accomplice to the bloody crimes of the Russian invaders against humanity, which sanctifies weapons of mass destruction and openly declares the need to destroy Ukrainian statehood, culture, identity, and, more recently, Ukrainians themselves.
We reaffirm our statement of April 11, 2023, that partnerships and freedom of religion and their protection by the state are the basis of church-state relations in Ukraine, and no organization - whether religious or secular - that has its center in a country that has committed military aggression against our people and is governed by the aggressor state can operate in Ukraine. We support the legislative initiative of the President of Ukraine to make it impossible for such organizations to operate in our country, which also has broad political and public support.
We affirm that religious rights and freedoms are respected in Ukraine, even in the face of a brutal war, and that our believers, despite certain challenges related to the war, have opportunities for a decent expression of their religious feelings and beliefs. The main threat to religious freedom in Ukraine is the Russian aggression, in which dozens of clergymen were killed by the occupiers, and hundreds of churches and houses of worship were destroyed. The Moscow Patriarchate justifies pogroms and restrictions on religious freedom, torture and murder of priests and pastors, and cynically tramples on God's institutions and basic norms of universal morality.
We are convinced that the course of protecting religious freedom and spiritual independence, by which we mean not isolation but openness to the high standards of our religious traditions while rejecting manipulation of faith and the use of religion to cover crimes, will help consolidate our society for the sake of our victory and the establishment of a long-awaited just peace.