Home page News
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill sends letters to hea…

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill sends letters to heads of Normandy Four states, Primates of Local Orthodox Churches, Pope Francis, UN Secretary-General and WCC General Secretary concerning anti-church bills due to be adopted by Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine

On 18 May 2017, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is to vote on the bills Nos. 4128 and 4511.

The bill No. 4128 ‘On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations” (concerning the change of subordination of religious organizations) proposes to introduce into the religious legislation a vague notion of ‘a person’s belonging to a religious community’ on the basis of some ‘self-identification.’ Those who ‘belong to a religious community,’ whoever may claim this title, are to be granted a right to change the statute of a community by simple majority vote. The new bill in fact proposes to legalize the practice of fictitious ‘referendums’ with participation of all the inhabitants of a settlement (and possibly that of visitors as well) who claim to belong to this religious community.

The bill No. 4511 ‘On the Special Status of Religious Organizations Whose Governing Centers Are Located in the State Recognized by the Verkhovna Rada as Aggressor-State,’ proposes to impose on all the communities whose centers of canonical subordination are located in Russia (that is, primarily, the communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church) a certain ‘special status’ involving the essential deprivation of rights. In addition to the coercive re-registration of all the communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which will inevitably provoke new seizure of churches and clashes between the faithful of different confessions, the bill will give to the government of a secular state the greatest possible powers for controlling the internal life of religious communities, such as approving the appointment of leaders of communities, allowing or disallowing visits by religious leaders from other countries, as well as forcibly liquidating religious communities on a wide range of grounds.

The bills contradict the Ukrainian Constitution and the legislative norms in force. Among those who have come out against their adoption are the Verkhovna Rada Chief Directorate of Scientists and Experts, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Corruption Prevention and Counteraction, and the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Valeriya Lutkovska. Finally, the acute criticism of the bills has been levelled by several Ukrainian confessions including the Roman Catholics, Lutherans and Jews.

In view of the expected adoption of these bills, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia sent letters to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and other Normandy Four participants – Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, as well as to the Primates of the Local Orthodox Churches, Pope Francis, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, and General Secretary of the World Council of Churches Olav Fykse Tveit.

As the messages state, these bills, if adopted, will legalize a discriminatory legal practice unheard of in today’s Europe with regard to the majority of the Orthodox population in Ukraine. So restrictive a religious legislation did not function in Ukraine even under the communist regime, while in the rest of Europe something similar existed only during the Nazi rule in Germany.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is the largest confession in Ukraine, present in all the regions of the country and having a colossal peacemaking potential, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill notes. The attempts to draw it into political confrontation are inadmissible and may lead to irreversible consequences. The messages emphasize that the adoption of the bills Nos. 4128 and 4511 ‘will threaten the constitutional rights of millions of Ukrainian believers, generate a wave of violence and new capture of churches and aggravate the civic conflict in Ukraine by moving it to the religious domain.’ As a result, it will make the Minsk Agreement ever more difficult to implement, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill believes.

‘For the last two years, the far-right radical elements in Ukraine have forcibly seized over 40 churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church,’ His Holiness continues, ‘The pretext for such captures was furnished by the so-called ‘referendum’ of the people of a settlement who make the decision to ‘move’ the community. The opinion of the actual founders and members of a community as a legal entity is not considered in such cases.’

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill sent letters to the heads of the Normandy Four states, as well as to the Primates of the Local Orthodox Churches, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, the UN Secretary-General and the WCC General Secretary, calling upon them to exert every effort to prevent the adoption of the discriminatory bills Nos. 4128 and 4511, which ‘threatens to become a glaring example of the violation of human right to religious freedom.’

DECR Communication Service

Share:
Telephone conversation held between His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and the Primate of the Malankara Church of India

01.11.2024

Address by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill at the VIII World Congress of Compatriots Living Abroad

30.10.2024

Order of Right-Believing Prince Daniel of Moscow presented to Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk by Patriarch Kirill

24.10.2024

Primate of the Russian Church celebrates Divine Liturgy in the Holy Trinity and St. Sergius Lavra on the commemoration day of St. Sergius of Radonezh

09.10.2024

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill celebrates Little Vespers and Akathistos hymn to St. Sergius in the Lavra of the Holy Trinity and St. Sergius

07.10.2024

Message from the Primate of the Russian Church to His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia in connection with blasphemous act on the ruins of ancient Ulpiana

14.09.2024

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill celebrates on the feast of the 300th anniversary of the transfer of relics of St.Alexander Nevsky to St. Petersburg

12.09.2024

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill celebrates All-night Vigil at the Christ the Savior Cathedral on the eve of Transfiguration

18.08.2024

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' met with the Ambassador of India to Russia

30.07.2024

Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Awa III: Ukrainian government’s support for schism and persecution of the major canonical Church is a religious pogrom against the faithful Orthodox Christians of that country

24.07.2024

Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church consecrates the Holy Transfiguration Cathedral in the city of Tver.

21.07.2024

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill celebrates Liturgy at the Lavra of the Holy Trinity and St. Sergius on the commemoration day of the saint

18.07.2024

The Primate of the Russian Church celebrates All-night Vigil at the Lavra of the Holy Trinity and St. Sergius

17.07.2024

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill celebrates Little Vespers at the Lavra of the Holy Trinity and St. Sergius and reads akathist to the saint

17.07.2024

Patriarchal condolences on the death of Boris A. Nelyubov

14.07.2024

Telephone conversation held between His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and the Primate of the Malankara Church of India

01.11.2024

DECR Chairman has begun his visit to India

31.10.2024

Work of the Commission for Dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is declared successful

24.10.2024

Synod acknowledges importance of bilateral projects carried out in collaboration with Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church

24.10.2024

Order of Right-Believing Prince Daniel of Moscow presented to Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk by Patriarch Kirill

24.10.2024

DECR Chairman heads celebrations for the fifteenth anniversary of the consecration of the Dormition Church at the Russian embassy in Beijing.

19.10.2024

Saint Petersburg Theological Academy hosts conference on the occasion of the 95th anniversary of metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov) entitled ‘The Person of Metropolitan Nikodim in the History of the Church’.

16.10.2024

DECR Chairman meets with President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference

15.10.2024

Participants of the Divine Service at the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist in Presnya congratulated the DECR Chairman on his 40th birthday.

12.10.2024

Russian diplomat given Patriarchal award.

10.10.2024

DECR Chairman delivered a lecture to students of the Russian Orthodox University

09.10.2024

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill celebrates Little Vespers and Akathistos hymn to St. Sergius in the Lavra of the Holy Trinity and St. Sergius

07.10.2024

DECR Chairman takes part in festivities for the beginning of the academic year at the Saints Cyril and Methodius Postgraduate Institute.

03.10.2024

DECR chairman attends reception given by Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Russian Federation

22.09.2024

Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk meets with delegation of Orthodox Church in America

16.09.2024

Metropolitan Hilarion: Many things in a person's life depend on faith

29.08.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: The Holy Spirit is the main treasure of the Christian soul

01.08.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: Holiness is a constant striving to imitate the Lord Jesus Christ

27.06.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: God does not want to condemn, but to save us

07.03.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: The Lord always grants to us the opportunity to display our talents

24.01.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: The Lord has imbued the waters of Jordan with his divine presence to wash away human sins

19.01.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: to repent means to change your way of life

17.01.2021

On commemoration day of St. Catherine, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk officiated at the Church of St. Catherine the Great Martyr In-the-Fields  the representation of the Orthodox Church in America

07.12.2020

Metropolitan Hilarion: We can always show compassion for people

29.11.2020

Metropolitan Hilarion celebrates on commemoration day of St. Varlaam of Khutyn at the church of ‘Joy to All the Afflicted’ icon of the Mother of God

19.11.2020

Metropolitan Hilarion: We should remember that the life of each human being is in the hands of God

06.11.2020

Metropolitan Hilarion: For God there is nothing impossible

25.10.2020

Metropoplitan Hilarion: The cross which was an instrument of dishonourable execution becomes the symbol of salvation for millions of people

27.09.2020

Metropolitan Hilarion: Eucharist is the wedding feast, to which Lord Jesus Christ invites each of us

13.09.2020

Metropolitan Hilarion: Faith alone is not enough for salvation

30.08.2020

Page is available in the following languages
Feedback

Fields marked by * are mandatory required

Send a message
Рус Укр Eng Deu Ελλ Fra Ita Бълг ქარ Срп Rom عرب