In an appeal issued Monday, 90 deputies of the Verkhovna Rada have demanded that the country’s supreme leadership “stop meddling” in the affairs of the Orthodox Church.
“We condemn the encroachment on the statutory rights of the believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate, the multiple instances of violent and deceitful seizure of this denomination’s cathedrals by the Moscow Patriarchate with the connivance and unofficial assistance by the authorities,” states the letter to Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and Prime Minister Mykola Azarov.
“We are protesting against the authorities’ interference in religious matters, which manifests itself, in particular, in the resumption of KGB-style pressure by law enforcement on the clergy to induce them to cooperate, as the leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Lubomyr Husar has recently stated. Also, there have been multiple reports that the authorities are urging Orthodox priests from the Kyivan Patriarchate to become subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate,” says the opposition.
The authorities are publicly demonstrating their loyalty to one religious denomination – the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, including through budget earmarks, state the deputies.