State service says it will sue Orthodox diocese in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, if it does not break from Russian church

The meeting took place on November 13 between the head of a state department, identified in the report as Viktor Yelenski, and clergy of the Zaporizhzhia diocese. Ukrinform’s correspondent reported on the meeting.

According to the report, Ukrainian law on protecting the constitutional system of religious organizations provides that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, including its parishes, dioceses, schools and monasteries, must separate from the Russian Orthodox Church. Yelenski said the state’s requirement is limited to that separation. He said the state does not require the church to change its language, to change its calendar, or to join another church. He also said that some dioceses had not told their faithful and clergy the truth about what the state requires.

Yelenski said that since last year the department has filed a complaint in a case involving the Kyiv Metropolis. The report also says that a court suspended an open-ended hearing in a related case. The source text is incomplete on the details of that proceeding, so the status of the case beyond the suspension is not clear from the report.

Yelenski said the department had already issued an order concerning the management of the Zaporizhzhia diocese and other dioceses. He said that if the dioceses did not comply with the order, the department would file lawsuits against them. Speaking of the Zaporizhzhia diocese, he said no violation report had been produced as required, so the department would have to file a lawsuit against it. He added that the department would withdraw that lawsuit at any time if the diocese left the Russian Orthodox Church.

Ukrinform said it would publish a further interview from the meeting with the Zaporizhzhia clergy. The report links that interview to Russian shelling and the killing of priests, but the source does not provide details of those events.

Source: Read the original report (translated from Ukrainian)