The Russian Orthodox Church believes that Ukraine has followed in the footsteps of Hitler
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' addressed the presidents of Russia and Ukraine, heads of state of the Normandy Four, heads of local Orthodox churches, Pope Francis, and the UN Secretary General in connection with the planned adoption by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine anti-church laws.
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This was reported by the Department for External Church Relations on the official website of the Moscow Patriarchate.
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church believes that one of the bills included on today’s agenda proposes to legalize the practice of fictitious “referendums” with the participation of all residents of a locality (and possibly visitors) who claim to belong to a given religious community.
The second bill proposes to impose a “special status” on the communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which, according to the Patriarch, will provoke new seizures of churches and clashes between believers of different faiths.
“Such restrictive religious legislation was not in effect in Ukraine even during the communist regime, and in the rest of Europe something similar existed only during the time of Nazi rule in Germany,” the report says.
Patriarch Kirill asks heads of state and international organizations to prevent the adoption of discriminatory bills, which “threatens to become a blatant example of violation of human rights to freedom of religious expression.”
According to available data, over 2014 churches were forcibly seized by right-wing radical elements in Ukraine between 2016 and 40.
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