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DESS Orders Zaporizhzhia Diocese to Sever Alleged Ties With Russian Orthodox Church
The Ukrainian government has ordered the Zaporizhzhia Diocese to sever alleged ties with the ROC and withdraw from the UOC's Kyiv Metropolia after conducting a review of its structure.
ZAPORIZHZHIA, UKRAINE — The Administration of the Zaporizhzhia Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) says it has received official documents from Ukraine’s State Service for Ethnopolicy and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) concerning alleged “signs of affiliation” with the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC).
The diocese said the documents included a DESS notification dated August 26 approving an August 21 order concerning the alleged affiliation, an order dated August 26 requiring the diocese to eliminate alleged violations of legislation governing freedom of conscience and religious organizations, and the results of DESS’s study into the matter. The study was conducted between August 12 and 21 and concerned the administration of the Zaporizhzhia Eparchy.
Under the order, the diocese’s highest governing body, the Eparchial Assembly, must adopt a decision requiring the eparchial administration to withdraw from the structure of the UOC Kyiv Metropolia and submit confirmation to DESS that the decision was made. The head of the religious organization was also instructed to declare disagreement with his appointment to statutory governing bodies of the ROC and to prepare a statement terminating his powers and severing such ties.
As reported by UOJ-Ukraine, the diocese has been given 30 days from receipt of the order to remedy the violations identified by DESS and subsequently report its compliance with supporting documentation signed by an authorized representative. The order was signed by DESS head Viktor Yelensky. DESS had previously announced that it had found alleged signs of affiliation between the Zaporizhzhia Eparchy and the ROC.
The Zaporizhzhia Eparchy review was part of a broader series of DESS investigations into UOC structures following the adoption of Ukrainian legislation restricting religious organizations deemed affiliated with religious organizations whose activities are prohibited in Ukraine. Similar reviews have involved the Kyiv Metropolia, the Pochaiv Lavra and the Boryspil Eparchy. The Zaporizhzhia Diocese said it was informing its clergy, monasteries, and faithful about the documents it had received from the state authorities.
Previously, the UOJ reported that DESS ordered the Pochaiv Lavra to document its separation from Moscow.
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