DESS: since 2018, 1.5 thousand religious communities left the UOC to join the OCU
According to the response of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) to a request from Interfax-Ukraine, since 2018, when the Orthodox Church of Ukraine was established, the subordination in canonical and organizational matters to the religious centers (administrations) of the OCU has changed in 2018 - two religious communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate); in 2019 - 319 communities; in 2020 - 30; in 2021 - 25; in 2022 - 496; in 2023 - 471; since the beginning of 2024 - 159 communities.
At the same time, the department noted that it does not have information on the number of liquidated religious organizations of the UOC-MP.
According to the report of the DESS on the network of religious organizations, as of January 1, 2024 (according to the data of regional state (military) administrations), there were 10,919 religious organizations of the UOC (MP) in Ukraine, including 51 religious centers/administrations, which include 10,586 communities (6,037 of them legal entities) and 214 monasteries (104 women's and 110 men's); 34 fraternities; 17 religious educational institutions (11 secondary and six higher).
As for the OCU, as of January 1, 2024, there were 8,295 religious organizations in Ukraine, including 56 religious centers/administration offices, which include 8,075 communities (3,400 of them are legal entities) and 87 monasteries; 16 fraternities; 26 religious educational institutions (13 secondary and 13 higher).
As reported previously, on August 21, the head of the State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience, Viktor Yelensky, stated that if the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), Metropolitan Onufriy, approaches him with a desire to join the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, he will offer a fair model.
On August 20, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a bill prohibiting the activities of religious organizations affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine (No. 8371 “On the Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Field of Religious Organizations”).
