The corresponding decree has not been made public because it contains personal information.
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, terminated the citizenship of some priests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. According to the mass media, it is about 13 clergymen.
Thus, by Decree No. 898/2022 of December 28, 2022, the head of the Ukrainian state suspended the citizenship of a number of priests of the UOC MP. At the same time, the decree has not been officially published, because it contains personal information.
At the same time, the publication LB.ua reports that 13 representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Ukraine have been “sanctioned”, including:
- Metropolitan Yonafani of Tulchyn and Bratslav, who was charged with treason and also has a Russian passport;
- the vicar of the Tulchyna diocese, Bishop Serhiy Ladyzhinsky, who is a very close person to Yonatan.
It is reported that the State Migration Service has already been notified of the loss of citizenship by the specified persons. Currently, they can be deported.
The scandal surrounding the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra – what is known
The UOC MP leased the two largest churches on the territory of the Upper Lavra – the Assumption Cathedral and the Tabernacle Church. At the end of December, the lease term expired, in this connection the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy recommended not to extend it.
In turn, the vicar of the Assumption Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, Pavlo Lebid, demands from President Volodymyr Zelenskyi to intervene, but since January 1, representatives of the UOC MP no longer have access to churches.
On January 5, the head of the Ministry of Culture Oleksandr Tkachenko announced that the Assumption Cathedral and the Tabernacle Church of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra were returned to the state. At the same time, he noted that Metropolitan Pavlo, who was supposed to sign the documents, did not come to the commission meeting.
Also, the SBU conducted searches in churches belonging to the UOC MP, as a result of which priests with Russian passports, cash, Russian propaganda literature and much more were found.
