After the publication of our material about the destruction of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) by the current government and its publication in various, including the world media, the International Center for Assistance to Ukrainians began to receive such a large amount of facts from our fellow citizens and organizations that the legal team of the Center I was forced to process information for its systematization and legal analysis almost around the clock.

On the basis of the data obtained and the legal analysis carried out, we got an unflattering picture, confirmed by a huge number of facts and obvious gross violations of Ukrainian and international law, which develops into a whole chronicle of the repressive struggle of the authorities against the UOC.

Today we publish an extensive updated material on this topic.

1. Planning and preparation for the attack on the UOC

Discrimination of the rights of citizens of Ukraine on religious grounds in the form of the struggle of the state with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) and its clergy has become one of the striking features of the current regime. This struggle includes coordinated synchronous actions both at the local level to ban the activities of the UOC in certain regions and seize its churches, and a targeted state policy to completely ban the activities of the UOC in Ukraine and seize all of its property, using a whole range of repressive measures against priests.

Thus, on May 30, 2022, the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Humanitarian and Information Policy published Recommendations in connection with “threats to national security associated with the activities of religious organizations that have leadership centers on the territory of the aggressor state.”

In accordance with them, despite the streamlined and ambiguous wording, the Committee demanded to force the UOC to conduct its rites exclusively in Ukrainian (whereas they have been held in Church Slavonic for a thousand years); legalize the simplified transfer of religious communities to other confessions (in fact, their capture); strengthen supervision over the financial and economic activities of the UOC, in fact, create a state church instead of it, which grossly violates Art. 35 of the Constitution and Art. 5 of the Law «On Freedom of Conscience». (“All religions, denominations and religious organizations are equal before the law. Establishing any advantages or limitations of one religion, denomination or religious organization in relation to others is not allowed”).

On March 22 and 26, 2022, two bills directed against the UOC were successively registered in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (VRU): No. 7204 “On the prohibition of the Moscow Patriarchate on the territory of Ukraine” and No. 7213 “On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious organizations” in terms of the prohibition of the activities of religious organizations (associations) that are part of the structure (are part) of a religious organization (association), the leading center (management) of which is located outside Ukraine in a state that is legally recognized as having carried out military aggression against Ukraine and / or temporarily occupied part of the territory of Ukraine.

According to the bill 7204 «On the prohibition of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine» «All church property of the highest bodies of church authority and administration of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine and religious organizations that are part of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine, including the Kiev Metropolis of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, synodal institutions, diocesan administration, within 48 hours from the date of entry into force of this law is inventoryed and nationalized in the manner prescribed by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

Draft Law 7213 provides that: “For the protection of public safety and order, the activities of religious organizations (associations) that are directly or as components of another religious organization (association) are included in the structures (which are parts) of a religious organization (association), the leading center (management ) who are outside Ukraine in a state that is recognized by law as having committed military aggression against Ukraine and/or has temporarily occupied part of the territory of Ukraine.”

Obviously, both bills implied the canonical UOC as the object of their reprisal, despite the fact that neither legally, nor financially, nor organizationally since Ukraine gained independence, it had nothing to do, including subordination, to the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). The independence of the UOC was finally formalized by the decision of the Synod of May 27, 2022 (which, among other things, is evidenced by the religious expertise of the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (State Ethnopolitics), published on its website on January 31, 2023).

On January 19, 2023, the Cabinet of Ministers submitted draft law 8371 “On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine on the Activities of Religious Organizations in Ukraine” to the Parliament of Ukraine. The essence of this bill is to create a veiled mechanism for banning the UOC. This time it is proposed to introduce into Art. 5 of the Law “On Freedom of Conscience” the following provision: “The activity of religious organizations affiliated with the centers of influence of a religious organization (association), the leading center (management) of which is located outside Ukraine in a state carrying out armed aggression against Ukraine, is not allowed”.

At the same time, most of the terms that this norm contains are not defined in Ukrainian legislation and the bill does not provide them either (“religious organization affiliated with centers of influence”, “center of influence of a religious organization (association)”, “leading center”) . The law, which is proposed to be amended, does not contain definitions of terms. This violates the requirements for the observance of the principle of legal certainty, and the authorities give an unlimited opportunity to arbitrarily accuse any objectionable.

On January 31, 2023, on the website of the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (State Ethnopolitics), the conclusion of the religious studies examination of the Charter on the management of the UOC regarding the existence of ties with the Moscow Patriarchate was made public, made in pursuance of the presidential decree of December 1, 2022. The conclusion is absurd: despite the statement of the complete exclusion from the Charter of the UOC of any mention of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Moscow Patriarchate and the severance of all ties with it, it is stated that the new version of the Charter on the management of the UOC (dated May 27, 2022) and the decision of the Council of the UOC did not lead to a break in the church- canonical connection of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church with the Russian Orthodox Church.

Thus, from the beginning of 2022, the authorities began to prepare a legislative framework for repressive measures against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

In the fall of 2022, a coordinated attack on the UOC began by all branches of state power with the aim of banning it. The attack was led directly by the president, evidence of which we cited in a previous study.

The plan for this action is set out in the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine dated December 1, 2022 “On Certain Aspects of the Activities of Religious Organizations in Ukraine and the Application of Personal Special Economic and Other Restrictive Measures (Sanctions)”:

preparation by the government of a bill to ban the activities of “religious organizations affiliated with centers of influence in the Russian Federation”;

conducting a «religious examination of the Charter on the management of the UOC for the presence of a church-canonical connection with the Moscow Patriarchate, if necessary, take the measures provided for by law»;

verification of “the existence of legal grounds and compliance with the conditions for the use by religious organizations of property located on the territory of the National Kiev-Pechersk Historical and Cultural Reserve”;

SBU, police and other law enforcement agencies «to step up measures to identify and counter the explosive activities of Russian special services in the religious environment of Ukraine»;

introduction of personal sanctions against the clergy of the UOC.

2. Searches in churches and priests of the UOC

In pursuance of the prepared plan to discredit and ban the UOC, mass security measures began in the form of searches in the temples of the UOC and the priests.

On October 11, 2022, the SBU conducted searches at the residence of Metropolitan of Tulchinsky and Bratslav UOC Jonathan (Yeletsky), on October 26, 2022 – at the residence of Metropolitan of Kirovograd and Novomirgorod UOC Joasaph (Guben). During November 2022 — January 2023, the SBU, the police, the National Guard carried out mass searches in churches, temples, laurels, monasteries and other premises of the UOC.

On November 22, 2022, a search was carried out in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra of the UOC, called “counterintelligence (for security purposes) measures” as part of the fight against Russian special services. On the same day, the SBU carried out similar searches in two more monasteries on the territory of the Sarny diocese of the UOC in the Rivne region.

In just two months, the SBU and the police searched 350 church buildings and 850 people. More than 50 people underwent «in-depth counterintelligence interviews», including using a polygraph. For a number of them, «an in-depth review is being carried out.»

On November 25, 2022, the SBU conducted searches in Chernivtsi in the diocesan administration and the temple of the UOC. During the search, the priests were undressed, photographed, and then these pictures got into the media.

On November 27, 2022, the SBU conducted searches at the rector of the Pochaev Seminary and in the Ivano-Frankivsk diocese, on November 30, 2022, the SBU conducted searches in the St. Cyril and Methodius Monastery of the Mukachevo diocese of the UOC.

On December 2, 2022, SBU officers conducted searches in the Zhytomyr, Rivne and Khust dioceses of the UOC. Moreover, in the Assumption Church in the village of Glinsk, Rivne region, as the UOC claims, provocative leaflets were planted during the search.

On December 5, 2022, the SBU carried out so-called “counterintelligence activities” in the Poltava and Kremenchug dioceses.

On December 7, 2022, searches were carried out at the facilities of the UOC in the Kherson, Cherkasy, Zhytomyr and Volyn regions: the Exaltation of the Cross Czartoryi Monastery of the Volyn Diocese of the UOC, the Mykolaiv Miletsky Monastery of the Vladimir-Volyn Diocese of the UOC, the Assumption Cathedral (Kherson), the Administration of the Cherkasy Diocese of the UOC, St. Michael’s Cathedral (Cherkasy), Sunday school and library of the Cherkasy diocese of the UOC (Cherkasy), Office of the Uman-Zvenigorod diocese (Uman), Georgievsky convent (Umansky district), St. Andrew the First-Called (Cherkassy), Holy Trinity Motroninsky convent (Cherkassky district), Krasnogorsk Holy Intercession convent (Zolotonoshsky district), the religious community «The Parish of St. Sophrony, Bishop of Irkutsk» (Cherkassy), the Kanevsky Assumption Cathedral (Kanev, Cherkasy region).

On December 9, 2022, the security forces carried out «counter-sabotage measures» at the facilities of the UOC in the Odessa region: the Holy Protection of the Baltic-Feodosia Monastery, the Office of the Baltic Diocese of the UOC and the residence of Metropolitan of Balta and Ananyevsky Alexy (Grokh). Among the materials considered doubtful by the security services was the «Orthodox liturgical collection», published in 1976.

On December 10, 2022, SBU officers conducted searches in 14 churches and monasteries of the UOC in the Kharkiv and Izyum eparchies.

On December 14, 2022, “counterintelligence measures” were carried out in 18 churches and monasteries of the UOC in the Transcarpathian, Chernivtsi, Rivne, Volyn, Nikolaev, Sumy, Lvov, Zhytomyr and Kherson regions.

On December 21, 2022, SBU officers carried out “counterintelligence activities” in the Sofroniyevo-Molchensky Monastery of the Nativity of the Mother of God of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the Sumy region.

On January 28, 2023, the SBU staged a “raid” on representatives of the UOC in the Khmelnitsky region: the SBU checked dozens of people, both priests and parishioners, on a polygraph.

As a result of all these actions of the SBU, criminal proceedings were initiated against the priests of the UOC, including under the article “high treason”.

At the same time, as the UOC noted: “As a result of these checks, no weapons, sabotage and reconnaissance groups, or other things were found that would indicate that the believers of our Church pose some kind of threat to Ukrainian statehood.”

The priests themselves stated that a number of “found evidence” was planted on them by the special services: for example, Metropolitan of Chernivtsi and Bukovina Meletiy said that he was not familiar with the application for a Russian passport dated 2007, allegedly found on him.

On December 20, 2022, the Synod of the UOC published a statement about the planted “evidence”: “Searchs are being carried out in the diocesan administrations, churches and monasteries of our Church, as well as the bishops and clergymen, as a result of which some leaflets appear that never existed, or symbols which can discredit the UOC”.

It should be noted that in almost all cases it was searches that were carried out, and not inspections, counterintelligence measures, and so on. They were carried out without appropriate court decisions under far-fetched pretexts as part of «counterintelligence activities.» In violation of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine and the law «On the Security Service of Ukraine», personal searches of people were carried out, safes, cabinets, premises were opened, personal belongings were confiscated. All these actions were carried out with a gross violation of the human right to defense, without the provision of legal assistance.

It is very important that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in its decisions notes that searches in places of worship and in the homes of religious figures should be interpreted as a form of state coercion, calculated to intimidate them, as well as their fellow believers, in order to for them to give up their faith.

The ECHR also notes that the imposition of criminal sanctions for the manifestation of religious belief is tantamount to an interference with the exercise of the right to freedom of religion.

The State has a narrow margin of appreciation in the area of ​​religious freedom and must offer strong and compelling reasons for interfering with the choices people can make in accordance with religious doctrines, provided that such choices remain consistent with the key principles underlying the International Convention on Rights human, and are the result of a free and independent decision.

3. Bringing unfounded accusations of the same type against the clergy

After the searches, the priests of the UOC were charged with standard suspicions under Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (violation of the equality of citizens depending on their religious beliefs):

in November 2022 — Metropolitan Jonathan of Tulchinsky and Bratslav;

December 2, 2022 — the former head of the Kirovohrad diocese of the UOC, Metropolitan Joasaph (Guben);

February 20, 2023 — Metropolitan of Cherkassy and Kanev Theodosius.

On January 17, 2023, a criminal case was initiated against the vicar of the main shrine of Ukrainian Orthodoxy — the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, Metropolitan Pavel.

Separately, it should be noted the persecution of the governor of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra: the reason was the statement to the Prosecutor General’s Office of People’s Deputy Yurchyshyn that the priest allegedly used «offensive names and characteristics during the service, which offended their feelings in connection with religious beliefs», in particular, naming the authorities — «a group of atheists and bandits who are at war with the Church.»

Meanwhile, the ECHR clearly notes in this regard that in a pluralistic and democratic society, those who exercise their right to freedom of religion, whether they are members of a religious majority or a minority, cannot reasonably expect to be protected from being exposed to ideas that might offend, shock or disturb. They must tolerate and accept the denial of other religious beliefs and even those propagated by other doctrines hostile to their faith.

The fact that a remark may be perceived as offensive to individuals or groups does not mean that it constitutes «hate speech».

4. Imposition of sanctions against priests by the President

In addition to making ridiculous and unfounded accusations under Art. 161 of the Criminal Code, the President of Ukraine imposed personal sanctions against the clergy of the UOC — citizens of Ukraine.

The use of sanctions against its own citizens instead of the judicial procedures provided for by law is a measure that the authorities of President Zelensky have tested on their political opponents since 2021. Now this absolutely non-legal mechanism of arbitrariness of power is also being used against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

The Law “On Sanctions” was adopted in 2014 and was supposed to become a mechanism for protecting Ukraine from the actions of foreign states, their individuals and legal entities, as well as persons carrying out terrorist activities, against whom, for obvious reasons, the usual mechanisms of the Ukrainian judicial system could not be applied and determining a person’s guilt.

In relation to citizens of Ukraine who do not hide from its justice and are under its jurisdiction, the normal and only legal and possible mechanism is the accusation of committing a crime, proving this fact in an adversarial trial and punishment by a court decision. Classifying Ukrainian citizens as “sanctioned” violates the presumption of innocence, the right to a fair trial, the principle of legal certainty and other components of the rule of law and Ukraine’s obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

On December 1, 2022, as part of presidential decree 820/2022, sanctions were imposed against Metropolitan Pavel (Lebed), the governor of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, and several other priests of the UOC.

On December 11, 2022, Zelensky’s Decree No. 863 on the implementation of the NSDC decision “On the application of personal special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions)” imposed sanctions against bishops and other representatives of the UOC: Metropolitan Anthony of Boryspil and Brovary, the Manager of the UOC; Metropolitan of Chernivtsi and Bukovina Meletiy; Metropolitan Luka of Zaporozhye and Melitopol; Metropolitan of Luhansk and Alchevsk Panteleimon; Archbishop of Constantine Paisios; Archimandrite John, rector of the Melitopol Savva Monastery; Archimandrite Alexy, rector of the Dormition Cathedral in Kherson.

Sanctions include: blocking assets, restricting trade operations, prohibiting the lease of state property, limiting, partial or complete cessation of the transit of resources, flights and transportation through the territory of Ukraine, preventing the withdrawal of capital from Ukraine, etc. Sanctions are imposed for a period of 5 years.

5. Depriving the bishops of the UOC of citizenship of Ukraine

Another mechanism used against the hierarchs of the UOC is the deprivation of their citizenship of Ukraine. So, in 2019, Bishop Gedeon of Makarovsky was deprived of citizenship, but at the same time he won a lawsuit in the District Court of Appeal in Kyiv and achieved the return of citizenship.

At the end of December 2022, by presidential decree No. 898/2022 of December 28, 2022, the citizenship of 13 primates of the UOC was terminated, including Metropolitan Jonathan of Tulchinsky and Bratslav, Metropolitan Meletiy of Chernivtsi and Bukovina, Metropolitan Joseph of Romny and Burinsky and Metropolitan of Dnepropetrovsk and Pavlograd.

In all these cases, the decisions of the President were obliged to be based on Art. 19 of the Law «On Citizenship», the grounds for deprivation of citizenship can only be:

• voluntary acquisition by a citizen of Ukraine of the citizenship of another state, if at the time of such acquisition he has reached the age of majority;

• acquisition by a person of citizenship of Ukraine on the basis of Article 9 of the Law as a result of deceit, deliberate submission of false information or false documents;

• voluntary entry into the military service of another state, which, in accordance with the legislation of that state, is not conscription or alternative (non-military) service.

However, not a single proven fact of committing the listed violations by priests has ever been cited.

6. Repression by regional authorities

The highest state officials, representatives of local authorities label and openly slander the UOC and its priests, which violates Art. 28 of the Constitution: «Everyone has the right to respect for his dignity.»

On December 3, 2022, the Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachenko said that the issue of banning the activities of the UOC causes certain difficulties at the moment, but Ukraine «will find a way out of the situation.» At the same time, the minister admitted that the Charter of the UOC confirms the absence of any kind of administrative subordination to the ROC, but «there is a spiritual connection that is not interrupted.»

On May 14, 2022, the political party of former President Petro Poroshenko demanded the imposition of sanctions against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the confiscation of funds and property of all its communities and divisions.

On November 29, 2022, the deputy chairman of the political party «Golos», people’s deputy Inna Sovsun, stated that «in addition to criminal proceedings, the activities of the Moscow Patriarchate should be legally banned.»

In July 2022, the governor of the Chernihiv region, Vyacheslav Chaus, during his video message, stated that he supported the process of “rejecting the UOC” to the maximum.

On June 17, 2022, the city council of Borshchev, Ternopil region, demanded that the UOC community and the rector of the church in honor of St. Nicholas move to another religious organization.

In the Ternopil region, the chairman of the regional council held a meeting with representatives of law enforcement agencies, the clergy and territorial communities, at which the main issue was the speedy transfer of the religious communities of the UOC to another religious organization. Information about this was posted on the official website of the Ternopil Regional Council on July 4, 2022. The head of the regional council, Mikhail Golovko, said that the ban on the UOC is “a strategic issue”, “as relevant as ever.”

On February 17, 2023, the working group of the Ternopil Regional Council held the first meeting on the legality of the use of the Pochaev Lavra by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The group included representatives of the regional council, employees of the prosecutor’s office, justice, the National Police, the state geocadastre department and local governments.

The deputies of the Ovruch city council of the Zhytomyr region, in decision No. 1255 of April 27, 2022, demanded that the priests of the UOC in the Ovruch region either move to another religious organization or vacate the temples. The appeal itself is sustained in an aggressively accusatory tone.

Fulfilling the task set by the central government, local authorities, violating the Constitution, out of court began to prohibit the activities of the UOC in their territorial communities.

For example, at the end of February 2022, this was done in Gorodok, Lviv region, in May 2022, the activities of the UOC were terminated in the cities of Brovary, Kaharlyk, Boryspil and Pereyaslavl, Kiev region, in Bogorodchany, Ivano-Frankivsk region, in Konotop, Sumy region (the police were ordered to seal and protect churches), Olevsk (Zhytomyr region), Drohobych (March 11, 2022), Boryslav, Stryi, Lviv region, and in June 2022 in Lviv, and the mayor of Lviv directly called it a “political decision”.

On November 29, 2022, deputies of the Lviv Regional Council banned the activities of the UOC in the region and appealed to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine with a proposal to ban the activities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.

On December 7, 2022, the deputies of the Uman City Council voted to ban the activities of the UOC on the territory of the Uman city territorial community and prepared an appeal to the Verkhovna Rada with a proposal to “ban the ROC and all its structural divisions on the territory of Ukraine.”

By the end of 2022, about 70 similar decisions of local governments were made to ban the activities of the UOC. Their goal is to create an informational background, visibility, as if society requires it. The uniformity, the extraordinary similarity of the wording of such decisions indicates a single, metropolitan center for their development.

On May 20, 2022, the chairman of the Rivne Regional Council, Serhiy Kondrachuk, said that the ban on the UOC was his life’s work.

On July 24, 2022, the mayor of Ivano-Frankivsk Ruslan Martsinkiv shared his plans to get rid of the last community of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the region this year and expressed the hope that after that the communities of the UOC will disappear throughout Ukraine.

In a number of cases, local authorities set a deadline for the UOC, during which the communities must make the transition to another religious organization. On March 6, 2022, the village council of Verkhovyna, Ivano-Frankivsk region, accused the UOC of betrayal, demanded that the parishioners renounce the UOC within 24 hours.

On April 7, 2022, the deputies of the Novograd-Volyn City Council decided to ban the activities of the UOC and demanded that the priests vacate the churches on the territory of the community within 24 hours.

On April 21, 2022, the head of the Sumy regional military administration, Dmitry Zhyvitsky, said: “I will do everything so that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church does not exist in the Sumy region.”

On May 6, 2022, the authorities of the city of Chervonograd, Lviv region, demanded that the UOC believers transfer to another religious organization within two weeks.

On May 13, 2022, at the session of the Dubno city council of the Rivne region, the deputies addressed the priests and believers of the UOC with a demand to transfer to another religious organization and gave them one month.

From a legal point of view, all these decisions of city/regional councils and mayors are unconstitutional and void. According to the Constitution, the law “On Local Self-Government” and the Law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations”, local authorities do not have such powers, and the state as such is separated from the church (Article 35 of the Constitution). In the presidential decrees on the introduction of martial law of February 24, 2022 and subsequent restrictions on the operation of Art. 35 of the Constitution (freedom of conscience and religion) during martial law is also not established. The activities of a religious organization may be terminated only by a court decision if the religious organization, which is a legal entity, violates the provisions of the legislative acts of Ukraine in clearly regulated cases.

Accordingly, in the actions of local authorities, the elements of criminal offenses provided for by the Criminal Code of Ukraine are obvious (Violation of the equality of citizens depending on their racial, national, regional affiliation, religious beliefs, disability and other grounds; obstruction of the performance of a religious rite; arbitrariness; abuse of power or official position).

On July 2, 2022, adviser to the mayor of Ivano-Frankivsk Myron Dmytryk announced a reward of 5,000 hryvnias for the list of parishioners of the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ who remained parishioners of the UOC. In addition to discrimination based on attitude to a religious organization, such statements can also be considered as a criminal offense — a threat to life.

Local authorities have initiated a number of different discriminatory actions against the believers of the UOC. For example, in September 2022, the head of the village of Verkhnyaya Yablonka, Eva Semkiv, wrote an appeal to the chairman of the Lviv Regional Military Administration with a request to dismiss school principals and teachers for attending the UOC churches. It cannot be considered otherwise than as discrimination against believers on the basis of religious affiliation.

On September 2, 2022, the head of the Zastavnovskaya territorial community of the Chernivtsi region, Vasily Radish, in a public speech called the believers of the UOC “garbage” and called for violence against them. This is not only the interference of local authorities in a religious sphere that is not within their competence, insulting millions of parishioners of the UOC and their discrimination, but also a direct call for criminal violence on religious grounds — «deliberate actions aimed at inciting national, racial or religious hatred» (Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

Local authorities, as part of the unleashed practice of discrimination, illegally prohibit meetings, rallies, processions, as well as other mass events of the UOC (May 2022 in Brovary and Shepetovka, September 2022 — Volochysk). On September 24, 2022, the police drew up a protocol against the rector of the Banchensky Monastery of the UOC, Metropolitan Longin, for organizing a prayer procession. At the same time, such a ban does not apply to other religious organizations, which is an obvious discrimination of believers on the basis of religion or belonging to a particular religious group.

In July 2022, the head of the city council of the city of Kosiv, Ivano-Frankivsk region, Yuriy Ploskonos, in a letter to the Bishop of Khotyn UOC Veniamin, stated that he was “ready to contribute in every possible way” to the deportation of believers of the UOC to Russia: “We are ready to assist them in every possible way … to move to live in the Russian Federation (Russian Federation) «.

Legally, such appeals contain signs of one of the international criminal offenses — crimes against humanity — deportation / forced displacement, which are considered as a crime in the Charter of the International Court of Justice: “means the forcible transfer of persons subjected to eviction or other forced actions from the area in which they lawfully reside, in the absence of grounds permitted by international law” (Article 7, paragraph 2e).

As stated in the decision of the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, violent measures resulting in the displacement of a civilian population need not be manifested in the form of direct physical force. A crime may be committed if the civilian population is displaced for fear of death or acts of a discriminatory nature.

7. Physical abuse of priests

Various threats against priests and believers of the UOC do not remain just words.

On February 25, 2022, a group of people in the village of Novozhivotov, Vinnytsia region, beat an Orthodox priest and destroyed the prayer room of the community of the Holy Intercession Church of the UOC.

On March 16, 2022, in the village of Ivanovka, Zhytomyr diocese, unidentified persons took Archimandrite Laurus (Berezovsky), rector of the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God «Life-Giving Spring» in an unknown direction.

On March 16, 2022, the cleric of the Kiev diocese, the deputy chairman of the Synodal Department of the UOC for Health and Medical and Scientific Work, Archpriest Gennady Batenko, was abducted by unknown armed men from his house in the village of Tomashovka and taken away in an unknown direction.

On April 25, 2022, two men poured green paint on the rector of the Exaltation of the Cross parish of the Uman diocese, Archpriest John Stets.

On April 29, 2022, in the village of Yasinya in Transcarpathia, the religious procession of the believers of the UOC was forcibly dispersed. At the same time, several parishioners of the church were beaten.

On May 22, 2022, in the Resurrection Church in Stryi, Lviv region, rector Volodymyr Mandzyuk was splashed with green paint in the face. The attack happened during the liturgy.

On December 7, 2022, the priest of the Tulchin diocese of the UOC, Archpriest Georgy Petrichenko, was beaten.

And this is only a small part of the facts about physical violence against priests and parishioners of the UOC, abductions, preventing them from performing rituals, desecration of UOC churches, of which hundreds have already been recorded in Ukraine.

8. Church takeovers

Forceful seizures of the temples of the UOC, which are organized by the authorities with the help of radicals, have become constant.

At the end of February-beginning of March 2022, several churches and monasteries of the UOC were seized in the Ivano-Frankivsk region: the church in honor of the icon of the Mother of God «Vsetsaritsa» in the village of Tsenyava, in the Kolomyisk region, was seized by armed means (February 28), March 7, 2022 in In the village of Verkhovyna, Ivano-Frankivsk region, armed local radicals expelled the parishioners of the Anno-Zachatievsky Church of the UOC from the premises and replaced the locks on the doors.

On March 9, 2022, armed representatives of the local territorial defense seized and sealed the Dukonsky Trinity Monastery in the Verkhovinsky district.

On the same day in Kalush, Ivano-Frankivsk region, the St. Nicholas Church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was seized.

On April 3, 2022, the UOC Church in honor of the Icon of the Mother of God «The Sign» in Kyiv was captured. The priest was forcibly expelled from the church, and only due to the fact that his wife and children were in his car, he was able to leave when machine gunners met him at the exit.

On April 5, 2022, near the Intercession Church of the UOC in the village of Chechelievka, Kirovohrad region, the radicals inflicted bodily injuries on parishioners and tried to cut the locks off the doors.

On April 7, 2022, the temple of the UOC in the village of Selichevka, Baryshevsky district, Kyiv region, was captured.

On April 10, 2022, armed persons seized the Holy Assumption Church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Mikhalcha, Storozhynets district, Chernivtsi region.

On May 12, 2022, the Intercession Church of the UOC in Mnishyn, Rivne region, was captured.

On May 21, 2022, with the support of the police, the UOC church in honor of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the village of Ivankov, Kyiv region, was seized.

On May 22, 2022, the militants of the Right Sector nationalist organization did not let more than 100 believers into the temple of the UOC of the Ascension of the Lord in the village of Sulimov, Lviv region, and additional locks were installed on the temple. Secretly from the believers of the UOC, the temple was re-registered to another religious organization.

On May 22, 2022, the radicals disrupted the service in the church in honor of the First Martyr Archdeacon Stefan in the village of Chernyatyn, Zhmerinsky district, Vinnytsia region.

On the same day, in the village of Fursy, Bilotserkovsky diocese, armed men broke into the church of St. John the Theologian and beat the parishioners, damaging church property.

On June 2, 2022, in Fastov, radicals who tried to seize the Church of the Intercession beat its rector, Father Anatoly.

On June 29, 2022, the Vvedensky Church of the UOC was captured in the village of Pochapintsy, Kamenetz-Podolsky district, Khmelnytsky region.

In June 2022, an attempt was made to seize the church in honor of St. Nicholas in the village of Kolodnoye, Ternopil region, during which the rector of the church, Archpriest Alexander, was beaten.

On September 17, 2022, the ancient Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Zazimye, Brovarsky district, Kyiv region, was captured.

On February 15, 2023, the radicals seized the church of St. Demetrius of Thessalonica in the village of Khreshchatyk, Chernivtsi region.

And this is not a complete list of such actions.

Of the most recent aggressive actions of the authorities against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, it is necessary to note the attempt to seize the main shrine of Ukrainian Orthodoxy — the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. For absolutely far-fetched reasons, for no reason, the authorities, out of court, unilaterally terminated the indefinite lease agreement for the territory of the Lavra Reserve with the UOC, immediately concluding it with another church, and demanded that the monks of the Lavra leave the monastery before March 29, 2023, allowing them to take them with them only personal wearables! As we indicated above, a criminal case was initiated against the rector of the Lavra, Metropolitan Pavel. He is placed under house arrest, he is forbidden to appear in the Lavra.

The studied chronology, consistency, synchronicity, the sequence of illegal decisions and actions of the authorities against the largest Ukrainian church, uniting millions of believers, lead to the only possible conclusion: the authorities unleashed and are conducting an unpublished aggressive campaign against the UOC, the purpose of which is to destroy it.

All the materials we have collected about the persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church will soon be transferred to international human rights organizations, as well as published in the world press.

International Help Center for Ukrainians