Shevchuk: We had to convince world UOC ban does not violate religious freedom

Sviatoslav Shevchuk. Photo: UGCC

Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the UGCC, said in an interview with Livyi Bereh that the 2024 law banning the UOC does not infringe on freedom of religion and that openly talking about eliminating the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was a strategic mistake by the authorities.

“I think one of our weaknesses was that we started talking about eliminating a particular Church at all. That is not quite right. We should be talking about protecting the feelings of believers from being exploited by the aggressor state,” Shevchuk said.

According to him, the focus should have been on “protecting the individual rather than eliminating any particular structure, including in the legal sense of the word.”

“For example, I remember that after the law you mentioned was adopted, it was we, the religious leaders, who had to explain to the entire world that freedom of conscience was by no means being curtailed in Ukraine,” the UGCC head said, apparently referring to the so-called advocacy trips by members of the UCCRO to Western countries, where they assured Ukraine’s partners that UOC believers were not being persecuted.

The UOJ previously reported that, according to Shevchuk, the law banning the UOC “is not against the UOC.”

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