There were 12% of people who believe that it is not necessary to interfere in the affairs of the UOC MP, but to investigate only individual cases of offenses.
Every second Ukrainian believes that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate should be completely banned in Ukraine. This is evidenced by the results of an all-Ukrainian survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS).
During the interview, the respondents were asked the question about the appropriateness of the government’s policy regarding the UOC (MP) and were offered three options to choose from: from a complete ban to complete non-interference (with the investigation of only certain possible offenses). A “compromise” middle position was also proposed, when the church is not banned completely, but supervision and control by the state is established over it.
According to the obtained results, 78% of Ukrainians believe that the state should intervene to one degree or another in the activities of the UOC (MP). In particular, among them, 54% believe that this church should be completely banned in Ukraine, and 24% are in favor of a somewhat “softer” approach, which does not involve a complete ban, but involves the establishment of state control and supervision.
Only 12% of respondents believe that nothing should be done and should not be interfered in the affairs of the UOC (MP), and only certain possible cases of offenses should be investigated. 9% of respondents did not answer the question.
The KMIS commentary on the results of the survey notes that they only continue to demonstrate that the steps taken by the UOC (MP) this year did not convince the majority of Ukrainians that it is truly a Ukrainian church, but rather the image of the “fifth column of the Kremlin” is preserved.
How the survey was conducted
The survey was conducted from December 4 to 27, 2022 by the method of telephone interviews based on a random sample of mobile phone numbers.
The opinion of 1,010 respondents who live in all regions of Ukraine (except the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and certain districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions not under the control of the government of Ukraine) was studied. Also, the survey was not conducted with citizens who went abroad after February 24, 2022. The statistical error is absorbed in 2.4%.
Large-scale searches in the churches of the UOC MP
Since November, the SBU has been conducting searches at the facilities of the UOC MP. During a series of searches, propaganda literature denying the existence of Ukraine, medals for the “liberation of Crimea”, Russian passports and symbols of the “LDNR” were discovered.
On December 1, President Volodymyr Zelensky instructed the National Security and Defense Council to submit to the Verkhovna Rada a bill on the ban on the activities of religious organizations in Ukraine affiliated with centers of influence in Russia, which includes the UOC MP.
On December 2, the National Security Council imposed sanctions against the vicar of the Lavra Pavlo (Lebed), ex-people’s deputy Vadym Novinsky and other priests of the UOC MP. About ten clerics of the Church of the Moscow Patriarchate came under the restrictions.
On December 1, the Holy Dormition Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra was officially registered as a monastery within the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. And on December 27, it became known that the Ministry of Culture will recommend not to extend the lease terms of the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Dormition and Tabernacle Churches in the National Kyiv-Pechersk Reserve. From January 1, 2023, representatives of the UOC MP will not have access to these churches.
On the same day, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine recognized as constitutional the law that requires the renaming of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (MP) indicating its affiliation to Russia. However, the UOC MP still refused to change its name.
