Ukrainian Orthodox leader calls for legislation against rival Ukrainian Orthodox body (RISU)

Metropolitan Epiphanius I of Ukraine, the head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), has called for legislative action against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC —Moscow Patriarchate).

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, is in “slave-like submission” to Vladimir Putin’s regime, said Metropolitan Epiphanius, and the Russian Orthodox Church has been “systematically involved in the preparation and implementation of aggression against Ukraine.”

“On the surface, the religious organization calling itself the UOC distances itself from its patriarch and the Russian church, but in reality, it remains subject to them,” he added. “The only way to correct this situation is through legislative prohibition for any religious organizations in Ukraine to have subordination to Russian religious centers.”