"This is the end of freedom of conscience in Ukraine": the world’s reaction to anti-church bills

Last week, Ukraine was shaken by the intentions of deputies to push through the so-called "anti-church laws", without discussion with the public, without an open and transparent dialogue with all Ukrainian denominations.

Many information media tried to convince the Ukrainians that only the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the Moscow Patriarchate were protesting against the bills. However, this is not the case. Bills № 4128 and № 4511 caused a negative reaction of a number of Ukrainian and foreign denominations, as well of many political and public figures throughout the world. This fact does not allow presenting the situation within the framework of the imposed scheme, in which supposedly only the UOC is dissatisfied with the legislative initiatives of the deputies from the "People’s Front" and the Petro Poroshenko Bloc.

Reaction of foreign religious structures

On May 21, Deputy Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the UOC, Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich, said that the Vatican was concerned about the possibility of adopting bills № 4128 and № 4511 and summoned the Ukrainian ambassador to the Holy See. The news spread widely in the media and, probably, made the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry nervous.

The ministry's spokesman, Marian Betz, hastened to refute the Vatican's criticism of anti-church bills. In a commentary to the Ukrayinska Pravda, she stated that the Vatican did not criticize "the so-called "religious bills (although "discussed" them and there was "an exchange of views ") and didn’t summon Ambassador Tatiana Izhevskaya".


We should note several oddities of such a statement. If the draft laws have been discussed, then how exactly? Representatives of the Vatican listened in silence to the ambassador and that was all? And if, nevertheless, this question was included in the agenda of the meeting, then the Vatican was concerned, because ambassadors are not bothered for nothing. The fact that the "ambassador was not summoned" is also doubtful, because the meeting was most likely initiated by the Vatican itself. It is difficult to assume that the Ambassador of Ukraine herself raised such a delicate topic as religious freedom in Ukraine.

The version of Danilevich looks much more believable.

Actually, it was confirmed when the Obozrevatel (Observer) contacted the Apostolic Nunciature in Ukraine – this is the name of the Vatican's embassy in this country.

"The Apostolic Nunciature in Ukraine reported that, in various situations, some high-ranking officials of the State Secretariat of the Holy See met the Ambassador of Ukraine to the Holy See to express certain concerns about bills on church issues that are widely talked about these days," reads the answer.

As you can see, the Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson (and with him the Ukrainian media), to put it mildly, hushed up some details, distorting the real state of affairs. Can’t "concern" also imply some criticism? Concern is expressed in cases where they believe that some events, factors, actions can bring certain problems. In the diplomatic language, "expressing concern" and "demanding an explanation" mean precisely criticism and disagreement with something. Naturally, the Vatican could not but react to bill № 4128, which also threatens Catholic structures in Ukraine.

In addition to the Vatican itself, "similar questions were raised by the Apostolic Nuncio to Ukraine (Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti – author) with some representatives of the Ukrainian government".

The nature of "concern" can be understood from the commentary of Bishop Stanislav Shirokradiuk on Yelensky’s bill, "It is clearly written here that everything is being done so that the Kiev Patriarchate can take over parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate. A corrupt scheme is being created, so that the parishes freely move to the Kiev Patriarchate."

According to the Catholic hierarch, the Church should have the status of a legal entity, "But they want to do here, as on the Maidan. We'll vote, that's all! On the maidan near the church, there is a revolution ... Do you understand what it is going to? It's not good, it's not fair! The principle of "might makes right" – it's un-Christian. The same raiding!"

In addition to Gugerotti and Shirokradiuk, Bishop Jan Sobylo of the Kharkov-Zaporozhye diocese of the RCC also expressed his opinion that bill № 4128 could lead to a religious war and an unfair redistribution of church property, "This is a provocative law. A return to the 30s of the last century. This is the end of freedom of conscience in Ukraine."

Thus, the position of the Catholic Church is absolutely unambiguous and similar to a nail hammered by a sharp hammer blow.

The Secretary-General of the World Council of Churches, Olaf Fükset Tweit, also demanded that the anti-church bills be withdrawn, "We ... are convinced that these two bills run counter to the efforts being made in Ukraine to promote democracy. We call for these draft laws, which are fraught with negative consequences, to be withdrawn."

Recall, the WCC is the largest international interfaith organization, founded in 1948 in Amsterdam, whose members are 348 Christian churches from more than 100 countries.

What other diplomatic signals are needed for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry to inform the deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of the indignation of world Christianity?

Reaction of world Orthodoxy

The Vatican's reaction was far from the only one. Unfortunately, the strict self-censorship of Ukrainian information media does not allow providing the Ukrainian public with a full picture. And government sources of information tend to present biased information.

Take the last meeting of Groysman with Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem. The headline of the news on the government website implies that Patriarch Theophilos fully supports the actions of the state authorities and stands for the notorious "single local church". Not so long ago Groysman even stated that the creation of a "single local church is inevitable".

However, having studied what the Patriarch of Jerusalem said, one can conclude that he said something completely different. Namely, he stressed that overcoming the schism in Ukraine is possible only by spiritual means, and not by political or military ones.

The message of the patriarch is transparent – politicians should not interfere in this process and still less resort to any violence.

What Theophilos III thinks exactly so is confirmed by his words said during a meeting with the Ukrainian deputies in 2015. They were voiced by the deputy Andrei Lozovoy. Thus, Patriarch Theophilos said then in the conversation with the Ukrainian MPs that he "considers Ukrainians and Russians to be one people". He also called the schismatics "stray brothers led by Filaret" and noted "cordial relations" with the Primate of the UOC, Metropolitan Onufriy.

A similar message is also present in the words of Patriarch Irinej of Serbia, "The only way to remedy schism and make schismatics come back to the Orthodox family is canonical, whereas voyages and visits of politicians to the Church hierarchs are futile." He said this during a recent meeting with Metropolitan Luke of Zaporozhye.

Consistent with him is Bishop Irenaeus of Backa, who had a meeting with the Primate of the UOC, "We have the same thing in Montenegro. The Church is turned into a political tool so that it would cater for governmental interests rather than its true goal."

Metropolitan Rostislav of the Czech Lands and Slovakia directly demanded to revoke the anti-church bills, "We believe that adopting these laws would undermine the foundations of religious freedom and equality of Churches and religious organizations in Ukraine and raise a new wave of tension and instability in Ukrainian society. We are confident and believe that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, headed by His Beatitude Onufriy, Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine, represents a patriotic position and like a loving mother tries to help the people keep the country away from civil conflict and achieve peace."

Joining his brother bishop, Patriarch John X of Antioch called the anti-church bills to be a source of tension and threat to cultural identity of Ukrainian society and strongly condemned "every move that affects the independence, reliability, integrity and freedom of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church." The Patriarch voiced his full support for the UOC, "recognized by all Orthodox Autocephalous Churches".

According to Patriarch Theodore II of Alexandria and All Africa, legislative initiatives of Ukrainian parliamentarians contradict the European Convention on Human Rights and violate most of its provisions, "This action of the Ukrainian government, when it tries to manipulate the Orthodox Church and subordinate it to state and political interests under the guise of legitimacy, rudely violates the legislatively fixed and long-established principle of religious freedom."

The Belarusian Orthodox Church also condemned the "anti-church bills", "Speaking in defense of peace, justice and common sense, in defense of our Ukrainian brethren by faith, [the Belarusian Orthodox Church – author] condemns the initiative on the adoption of draft laws № 4128 and № 4511 by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. If the afore-mentioned bills are adopted, this will plunge Ukraine into the chaos of an unprecedented civil war on grounds of religious persecution and repression against Ukrainian Orthodoxy."

Naturally, we cannot but mention the reaction of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, who called on "Normandy Four" leaders, religious and political figures of the world to prevent the adoption of discriminatory bills. It should be noted that the ROC always actively advocates for Orthodox faithful in Ukraine, where possible and when possible. However, the communication and diplomatic channels of the UOC itself also make it possible to actively safeguard its rights and appeal to the world and religious community.

On May 13, Deputy Head of the Department for External Church Relations of the UOC spoke in Washington at a summit in defense of persecuted Christians. It was attended by 600 delegates of various Christian faiths from over 135 countries. Within the framework of one of the sessions, Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich told the participants about violations of the rights of UOC believers in Ukraine; in particular, he mentioned discriminatory bills.

Reaction of the Ukrainian public and politicum

Among the enemies of the UOC, it was possible to come across caustic comments that the UOC allegedly could not mobilize a large number of believers.

However, the Church literally in a few days organized tens of thousands of its parishioners. In addition to the prayerful standing at the Verkhovna Rada, which was attended by up to 10 thousand believers, similar rallies were held in many cities of Ukraine. For two days more than 300 thousand signatures of believers were collected and handed over to the deputies. One can be sure that, if necessary, the UOC can take to the streets hundreds of thousands of its supporters.

A number of deputies from various factions, not only from the Opposition Bloc, came out with criticism or skeptical comments on the notorious bills. And. Even representatives of the BPP faction, which a number of authors of draft laws belong to, spoke with extreme caution about these laws.

As the experts noted, the majoritarian deputies, who dare to support scandalous bills, will lose a significant part of their rating. Sociological polls have long shown that Ukrainians consider intervention of the state into the affairs of the Church unacceptable.

Whether deputies will listen to the voice of common sense, statements of world religious leaders and to their instinct for self-preservation, time will tell.