There are no legal grounds for MP to join the Ukrainian army, - OCU speaker

The archbishop wrote about this on his page on Facebook, while reacting to the Law "On Military Chaplaincy" adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on November 30.

"Information resources related to the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine have already begun to spread the opinion that the adopted law On Military Chaplaincy (MC) will allegedly allow this religious association to send its chaplains to the Armed Forces and other military formations of Ukraine.

Indeed, there is no direct provision in the adopted law that would prohibit religious organizations belonging to an association with the governing center in Russia (in particular, those belonging to the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine) from sending their chaplains to the Ukrainian army.

But this issue is regulated by another Law – Law No. 2662, which states: "Article 5. It is not allowed to grant advantages or impose restrictions in the activities of a religious organization (association), which is part of a religious organization (Association), the leadership center (management) of which is located outside of Ukraine in a state that is recognized by law as having carried out military aggression against Ukraine and/or temporarily occupied part of the territory of Ukraine, except for restricting the access of clergy, religious preachers, mentors of such a religious organization in a unit, a unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations of Ukraine in their places of deployment or other restrictions provided for by law."

The law On Military Chaplaincy states that the legal basis for its activities is, in particular, the laws of Ukraine – hence the same for Law No. 2662. The Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine stubbornly ignores this law, but this does not stop it from being law.

Obviously, we should expect attempts by the MP in preparation for the entry into force of the law on secs (from July 1, 2022) to ignore the provisions of Law No. 2662 and enter the Ukrainian army. However, the MP has no legal grounds to do so. I am sure that with each such attempt, the military, veterans and the public will remind them of this," the OCU spokesman said.