Ministry of Justice: Only the “Local Council” or court can dissolve UOC KP
The decision to terminate the UOC KP activities was not filed with the state registration bodies. Consequently, the Kiev Patriarchate continues to exist.
The activity of the UOC KP can be suspended only by the decision of its “Local Council” or in court, reports the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, stressing that, as of May 15, 2019, there has been no such decision submitted to the state registration authorities, the “Gordon” edition reports.
"On the basis of the decisions of the Local Unification Council of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine dated December 15, 2018, orders of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine dated June 12, 2017, "On registration of the statute of the religious organization "Kiev Patriarchate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church" in the new version, and dated July 8, 2016, “On the new version of the statute on the management of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate” are revoked, the ministry replied to a request from journalists.
At the same time, the Ministry of Justice noted that on January 30, 2019, the state registration of the religious organization “Kiev Metropolis of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine” was carried out, but no decision on the termination of the activities of the UOC KP was made to state registration authorities as of May 15, 2019.
On May 14, 2019, the “Honorary Patriarch” of the OCU Filaret Denisenko published on the website of the Kiev Patriarchate an official address “to the entire Ukrainian Orthodox flock”, in which he stressed: the Kiev Patriarchate does not need to be restored, because it still exists. As evidence, the “patriarch” recalled: the UOC-KP is still registered with the state authorities of Ukraine.
