The Ukrainian president said in a speech on Saturday that the move would strengthen the independence of his country, which is seeking to shake off Russian spiritual hegemony.
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Ukraine wants a makeover. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed into law on Saturday, August 24, the law banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which is linked to Moscow, the official text of which was published on the Parliament’s website. The law, denounced by Russia, was signed into law on Ukraine’s Independence Day from the Soviet Union and two and a half years after the start of Russia’s invasion of the country.
The Ukrainian leader said in a speech that the move would strengthen his country’s independence. “Ukrainian Orthodox Christians are taking a step today to free themselves from the demons of Moscow,” he said. Ukraine has been seeking to shake off Russian spiritual hegemony since 2014, but those efforts accelerated significantly after the Russian invasion in 2022.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church officially split from the Moscow Patriarchate in 2022, but Ukrainian officials have repeatedly accused its clerics of remaining loyal to Russia. The invasion of Ukraine was sanctified by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, a staunch ally of President Vladimir Putin.
The Ukrainian parliament on Tuesday adopted the bill to ban the Russia-linked Church. According to a 2023 poll by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology, 66% of Ukrainians were in favor of such a ban. The Russia-linked Church still has some 9,000 parishes in Ukraine, according to media reports, compared to 8,000 to 9,000 parishes for its independent rival.
