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LINK Zelensky proposes banning religious groups ‘affiliated’ with Moscow.

KYIV, Ukraine — President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine called for the nation’s largest and oldest branch of Christian Orthodoxy to be outlawed as long as it continues to answer to church leaders in Moscow, proposing a new law that he said would ensure the nation will “never allow anyone to build an empire inside the Ukrainian soul.”

The law, if enacted, would further strain a centuries-old spiritual relationship between Russia and Ukraine, codifying the already deep rift in the Eastern Orthodox church.

Kyiv has long worried that Russia is using the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate to provide cover for a network of clandestine agents whose goal is to undermine Ukraine from within. Over the past month, Ukrainian security agencies have engaged in a series of raids of monasteries and religious institutions hunting for saboteurs among the clerics.

The Security Service of Ukraine, known as the SBU, has interrogated dozens of religious leaders, administering polygraph tests to some, and claimed to have found “literature that denies the existence of the Ukrainian people, its language, as well as the very right of Ukraine to statehood.” After raids last month, the church called the accusations of collaboration between its clergy and Russia “unproven and groundless.”

As of last month, 33 priests had been arrested for assisting Russia since the invasion began in February, according to the Ukrainian authorities. Most of them were charged with gathering intelligence for Moscow’s forces.

There are two rival Orthodox churches in Ukraine — the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which takes its orders from Kyiv, and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The recent raids and suspicion involve the latter, which is subordinate to the Russian Orthodox Church and Patriarch Kirill, who has strong ties to President Vladimir V. Putin and has been outspoken in his support of the invasion.

It had more than 10,000 parishes across the nation in January, before the war, according to a group that tracks the movement of parishes. The branch has declared its independence from Moscow but still formally takes orders from Russia. It has condemned the war, but that has not been enough to allay concerns among Ukrainian security services.

In a speech to the nation late Thursday, Mr. Zelensky proposed a law “making it impossible for religious organizations affiliated with centers of influence in the Russian Federation to operate in Ukraine.”

“We will ensure, in particular, spiritual independence,” Mr. Zelensky said, noting that the law was needed to ensure that Russia cannot “manipulate Ukrainians and weaken Ukraine from within.”

The Ukrainian Parliament has two months to consider the law and experts noted it could face challenges in court.

The religious history of Ukraine and Russia is deeply intertwined. Orthodox Christians in both Russia and Ukraine trace their faith back to the conversion in 988 of the Grand Prince of Kyiv — known as Vladimir by Russians and Volodymyr by Ukrainians.

After the pagan grand prince was baptized by missionaries from Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, Kyiv became the most important religious center for the people known as the Slavs. After Kyiv was sacked by the Mongols in the 13th century, it fell into decline. By 1686, Russia had conquered eastern Ukraine and Kyiv and the Orthodox church became subordinate to Moscow.

Efforts by Ukrainian Orthodox Christians to create their own church and break from Moscow were tied to independence movements in 1921, 1942 and 1992. Those efforts largely failed.

But after Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014 and fomented war in the east, the main spiritual guide for Eastern Orthodoxy, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, granted the Kyiv branch independence.

That move led Moscow to cut ties with Bartholomew. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate now includes more than 7,000 parishes.

snytiger6 9 Dec 2
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2

One less orthodox sect would surely be a good thing. I wish President Zelensky the best of luck.

2

I'm curious to how old this information you're exposing here is. I was covering this when the Russian sect of this religion became under attack shortly after the 2014 illegal coup. Along with the Russian language and people of the Donbass regions. The churches and their priest in the Donbass regions have been targeted and in some cases tortured since 2014. The churches have been as widely bombed out as all other public infrastructure.

There's a long history involved in the existence of them side by side and how they split in 1054 when Orthodox and Catholic churches split apart. George Eliason explains the correlation of fascism with the churches, especially in the US, and worldwide in the following article. He's an American journalist who has been living in the Donbass regions since 2014 covering the multiple crimes of Kiev. [mintpressnews.com]

{Even Petr Poroshenko thinks so. An independent Ukrainian church marks the biggest break with Russia since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. According to the Washington Post, the Church is the battlefield of the new nationalism that took over Ukraine in 2014. Poroshenko considers breaking the church part of his hybrid war against Russia.

Even though the Russian Orthodox Church gave the Ukrainian Orthodox Church autonomous rule in 1991. This meant that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) had the jurisdiction to do as it wished in Ukraine already.

The Atlantic Council is trying to destroy Russia and is paid by Ukrainian-American nationalist Diaspora groups. They see this move destroying Putin’s power. Russia sees this intrusion in religion as a US-backed provocation.

If the Ukrainian Orthodox community were left to decide, 2/3 of the entire community are ROC. If the recognized Orthodox churches in Ukraine were left to decide 100% of Ukrainian churchgoers are Russian Orthodox Church members.}

Basically you find the same scenario as in the US. Where the Evangelical church wants to dictate a high sense of nationalism in the US. Where the likes of those who fund and support this movement use false propaganda to manipulate the likes of Trump supporters. Which is why we've been facing a rise in hate groups since 2016, and Ukrainians coming to the US attempting to spread this movement. As Aliason points out in this article, the sect of Ukraine has had the right do do as it pleases since 1991. Zelensky is merely conducting another erasure of anyone who would be seen as a potential opposition to the Ukrainian fascist church sect and the fascist nationalism they've moved the country into. He has already banned any opposition parties that existed, this was inevitable to happen also.

3

Turning into a right Nazi is our Mr. Zelensky.
First they came for opposition parties, and I did nothing as I was not one of them
Then they came for media outlets, and I did nothing
Then they came for Russian speakers, and I did nothing
Then they came for specific religious groups........

Like to see him pull this one with people of Jewish faith.

puff Level 8 Dec 2, 2022

⅔ of Ukraine is Russian Orthodox Church ...

Turning? Wasn't he born that way?

Oh, certainly. It all started in 2014 and you can have Jewish Nazis. Putin finally figured that out in 2022.

@DenoPenno lol, Russian intelligence at work?

2

Keep them right wing nutters out!!! Just don’t send any more of the mfers here!!!?!!😇🙏🏼😇

2

Good luck with that.

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