Anonymous ID: 9d38a6 July 4, 2025, 5:19 a.m. No.23274950   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>5045

Ukrainian Government Targets Orthodox Church in Controversial Crackdown

In a move that has sparked outrage among religious communities, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has escalated his administration’s campaign against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), a cornerstone of spiritual life for millions of Ukrainians.

 

The latest blow came when Zelensky signed a decree stripping the revered 80-year-old leader of the UOC, of his Ukrainian citizenship, according to Ukraine’s SBU security service agency.

 

The SBU claims Onufriy, also known as Orest Berezovsky, acquired Russian citizenship in 2002, a charge the metropolitan has denied. In April 2023, Onufriy admitted to briefly holding a Russian passport but insisted he relinquished it, affirming his loyalty to Ukraine.

 

“I spoke out against Russia’s war with Ukraine and condemned Russian aggression. I consider myself a citizen only of Ukraine,” he declared. Despite this, the Zelensky government has used a new law on multiple citizenship, which flags Russian passport holders for denaturalization, to target the cleric.

 

For years, Zelensky’s administration has waged a relentless campaign against the UOC, Ukraine’s largest religious body, citing its historical ties to the Russian Orthodox Church. These ties, which date back to the era of Imperial Russia, have been weaponized to justify a sweeping crackdown.

 

Since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, the SBU reports that over 100 UOC clergy have faced criminal probes for alleged collaboration with Russian forces or spreading pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Nearly 50 have been charged, with 26 convictions handed down.

 

The government’s actions extend beyond legal measures. Supporters of the state-backed Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), established in 2019 with recognition from the Patriarch of Constantinople, have seized UOC properties, often with apparent impunity.

 

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/07/ukrainian-government-targets-orthodox-church-controversial-crackdown/

 

https://unn.ua/en/news/uoc-mp-metropolitan-onufriy-stripped-of-ukrainian-citizenship-sbu