XPost: alt.politics.religion, alt.religion.christian.east-orthodox, alt.christian.religion
XPost: alt.religion.christianity, alt.christnet.religion

Ukrainian Deputies voted 240-31 today to force the canonical Ukrainian
Orthodox Church to legally change its name, reports Interfax.

The bill was placed on today’s agenda by Rada Speaker Andrei Paruby at
the specific request of the schismatic leader Philaret Denisenko, as OrthoChristian previously reported. The debate over the government’s interference in Church life led to a massive fight in the
parliamentary hall.

Bill no. 5309, “On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine ‘On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations’ as Regards the Names of
Religious Organizations (Associations) Which are a Part of the
Structure of a Religious Organization (Association), Whose
Administrative Center is outside Ukraine—in the State Which, as
Recognized by the Law, Committed Military Aggression against Ukraine
and/or Temporarily Occupied a Part of the Territory of Ukraine,” was
passed with shouts of “Glory to Ukraine!” reports the Kiev-based Union
of Orthodox Journalists.

The bill provides that a religious organization that is part of a
structure centered in another state that has committed military
aggression against Ukraine must display this in its name. The name
must fully include the name of the structure to which the organization
belongs, with the permissible addition of “in Ukraine.” Ukraine
officially considers Russia an “aggressor state,” and thus the
Ukrainian Church is to be renamed the “Russian Orthodox Church in
Ukraine.”

The bill comes into effect from the moment of its publication,
allowing 4 months for any such structure to provide the necessary
information for re-registration. Though the law is written generally,
it is known that the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church is the only
religious group in the nation that falls under the conditions of the
bill.

The transitional laws of the law also say that priests and religious
teachers from organizations covered by the law will have restricted
access to military units, thus prohibiting them from carrying out
chaplaincy ministries.

As has been recognized by both the Ukrainian Church and some within
the Rada, the forced name change is merely a pretext to the seizing of
churches and property from the canonical Ukrainian Church.

“The Rada adopted an absolutely raiding law on the seizure of
churches,” Yuri Boiko, a deputy from the Opposition Bloc, explained to Ukrainian station NEWSONE. “And that became the catalyst for
aggression in the hall,” he explained.

A massive fight broke out between deputies on opposite sides of the
vote after the draft law was officially adopted, reports the Union of
Orthodox Journalists.

More than 1,000 representatives of the clergy and faithful of the
canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church gathered to pray this morning
outside the Verkhovna Rada building.

Source: http://orthochristian.com/118072.html


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