Department for External Church Relations
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Vladimir Legoyda: Decision to revoke Metropolitan Onuphry’s citizenship is a political act aimed at putting pressure on entire millions-strong flock of the Ukrainian Church
DECR Communication Service, 03/07/2025
Mr Vladimir Legoyda, chairman of the Synodal Department for Church’s Relations with Society and Mass Media, issued a statement following news reports of 2nd July 2025 saying that His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kyiv and All Ukraine had been stripped of the Ukrainian citizenship, Patriarchia.ru reports.
“The Ukrainian authorities continue to put pressure on the flock, the clergy and the episcopate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – the only canonical Orthodox Church in the country. Church seizures, prosecutions against clergymen and laypeople, expulsions from the country, arrests and criminal proceedings against bishops – added to this list now is revocation of the citizenship of the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kyiv and All Ukraine,” Mr Legoyda wrote.
According to the chairman of the Synodal Department for Church’s Relations with Society and Mass Media, a legal assessment of the said decision of the Ukrainian authorities is yet to come, “but what can be confidently stated even now is that the revocation of Metropolitan Onuphry’s citizenship is not just a legal measure against a citizen of Ukraine,” but a harsh political act aimed at putting pressure on the entire millions-strong flock of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
“This is yet another manifestation of persecutions against the Church and the faithful constituting the majority of the Ukrainian citizens,” Vladimir Legoyda added.
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