Kyiv Metropolis's ties with ROC will ban all parishes, DESS expert
In practice, a mass ban on UOC communities is possible solely based on the official position of the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) regarding the "connection" of the Kyiv Metropolis with the ROC.
If the state recognizes the Metropolis of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which is currently being examined by DESS, as affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church, this will automatically extend to all its parishes. This was stated by DESS expert Dmytro Vovk in an interview with Viche.
"If the state says that the Kyiv Metropolis and the UOC as a whole is affiliated with the ROC, this automatically means that every parish is affiliated with the ROC," explained the expert.
According to him, in such a situation, individual statements by parish leaders or local communities have no legal force. The only way to escape the alleged affiliation with the ROC, according to Ukrainian legislation, is to change the statute of the religious organization.
"And no matter what the head of that parish may declare, the statement has no legal effect," Vovk emphasized. "Only a change in the statute can serve as a basis for leaving the jurisdiction."
As reported, Dmytro Vovk also stated that no letters to the ROC from UOC clergy will help. In his opinion, UOC ban contradicts international law. "The state must prove that the UOC is precisely under administrative subordination, meaning it receives certain directives from the ROC and implements these directives," stated the DESS expert. He explains that if the state can only prove canonical ties, then from the perspective of international law, there are no grounds for banning such an organization.
