The bills, discriminating against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, will provoke an even greater religious schism, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill believes

On 16 October 2017, in his address to the 137^th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, held in St. Petersburg, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia reminded the participants in the meeting about the ongoing legislative attempts to discriminate against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

“While regretting the absence of the Ukrainian parliament members at this meeting, I cannot but mention the continued legislative attempts in Ukraine to discriminate against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church only because of its canonical relations with the Moscow Patriarchate,” His Holiness said, “The proposed laws lobbied by radical circles will create legal conditions for bureaucratic interference in the internal affairs of parishes and dioceses and provoke an even greater religious schism in the Ukrainian society.

As Patriarch Kirill noted, the grandiose procession with the cross for peace in Ukraine showed that the Orthodox Church in the country stands exclusively for internal national peace, while the legislative initiatives of this kind are aimed at making the faithful a tool of internal political struggle. “It is absolutely inadmissible. Please, pay the most serious attention to this situation,” His Holiness added.

Synodal Department for Church-Society and Media Relations/

DECR Communication Service