Kiev, October 29, 2014
The official website of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC MP) has published the statement of the External Church Relations Department of UOC MP, made in connection with an attempt of the state authority in the Kirovohrad region to force the rector of the parish of Exaltation of Holy Cross to transfer to the uncanonical “Kyiv Patriarchate”.
The full text of the statement is as follows:
In connection with the attempted interference of the state authority bodies of the Golovanevsk (Holovanivsk) district of the Kirovohrad region in the activities of the local parishes of UOC MP with the purpose of the forced change of their confessional status, the UOC External Church Relations Department reports the following:
On October 20, 2014, Rector of the parish of Exaltation of Holy Cross in Peregonovka village of Golovanevsk district of the Kirovohrad region Archpriest Svyatoslav Levandovsky was summoned to the Peregonovka village council, where deputy head of the district administration Vladimir Vladimirovich Kozak compelled him to transfer his parish from UOC MP to the so-called “Kyiv Patriarchate”, unrecognized throughout the universal Orthodox world.
The government official exerted psychological pressure on Archpriest Svyatoslav Levandovsky and threatened him that in case of refusal to transfer to the “Kyiv Patriarchate” the clergyman would be forcibly driven away from the church and “left without his job and salary”.
The UOC MP External Church Relations Department is authorized to state that such actions are a crude violation of the international and national legislation about freedom of conscience (of worship). Furthermore, the above-mentioned actions of a government official is a sheer abuse of his power. The mentioned fact also reveal’s the neglect of the commission of the Ukrainian prime minister Arseny Yatsenyuk to the executive state authority bodies of October 13, on “prevention of aggravation of interreligious relations, including seizure of buildings for public worship.”
Once again we would like to stress that such gross interference by the civil authorities in UOC MP affairs is absolutely inadmissible. We state that information on this incident as well as other similar incidents will be reported to the competent Ukrainian bodies and international agencies that monitor cases of human rights violations, and the right to freedom of conscience and freedom of religion is an integral part of human rights.
