Metropolitan Onufrii of Kyiv, the primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, has had his Ukrainian citizenship suspended by a presidential decree, the Safety Service of Ukraine (SBU) introduced on July 2.
The SBU mentioned it had established that Onufrii, additionally recognized by his secular identify, Orest Berezovskyi, voluntarily acquired Russian citizenship in 2002 and failed to tell Ukrainian authorities of the actual fact. The brand new Ukrainian legislation on a number of citizenship lists holding a Russian passport as grounds for the removing of Ukrainian citizenship.
The safety company additionally mentioned Onufrii has maintained ties with the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) and actively resisted Ukraine's efforts to safe ecclesiastical independence from Moscow and its chief, Patriarch Kirill.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) has confronted rising scrutiny and public criticism in Ukraine for the reason that begin of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, with many officers accusing it of sustaining loyalty to Moscow and undermining Ukraine's sovereignty.
The Moscow-linked church is separate from the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which was granted autocephaly (autonomy) by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople in 2019.
"Regardless of the full-scale invasion, Berezovsky (Onufrii) continues to assist the insurance policies of the Russian Orthodox Church and its management, notably Patriarch Kirill (Gundyaev)," the SBU mentioned in a press release.
Zelensky signed a legislation in 2024 banning the actions of non secular organizations affiliated with Russia. The legislation was broadly seen as focusing on the UOC-MP, which stays legally subordinate to the Moscow-based ROC regardless of its declare to have severed ties.
Because the begin of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, over 100 UOC-MP clergy members have come beneath prison investigation for alleged collaboration with Russian forces or spreading pro-Kremlin propaganda, in response to the SBU. Practically 50 have been charged, and courts have issued verdicts in 26 circumstances.
The UOC-MP continues to insist that it operates inside Ukrainian legislation and that its 2022 declaration of independence from Moscow was real, although many in Ukraine view it as purely symbolic and missing credibility.
The Kyiv IndependentDanylo Mokryk