Lviv region became the first region without UOC MP communities

Lviv region became the first in Ukraine where there is no longer a single registered religious community of the UOC MP.

This was reeported by the head of the Lviv Regional Military Administration Maksym Kozytskyi.

Before the beginning of Russiaʼs aggression against Ukraine in 2014, there were 66 religious communities of the Moscow Patriarchate in the Lviv region. As of February 24, 2022, there were 54 of these communities.

During the full-scale invasion, 27 communities joined the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, and another 27 ceased their activities of their own accord.

Prohibition of the UOC MP in Ukraine

On September 23, 2024, the law banning the activity of churches connected with Russia entered into force in Ukraine.

The law stipulates that the activities of foreign religious organizations that simultaneously meet the following criteria are prohibited on the territory of Ukraine:

• are located (whose administrative center is located) in a state that is recognized as having carried out or is carrying out armed aggression against Ukraine and/or temporarily occupied part of the territory of Ukraine;
• directly or indirectly (in particular through public speeches of leaders or other management bodies) support armed aggression against Ukraine.

At the same time, a number of provisions of the law will enter into force later. In particular, the communities of the UOC MP still have six months to sever ties with the Russian Orthodox Church. After the expiration of this term, the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience will be able to apply to the court for the termination of the activities of religious organizations that will have such connections at that time.

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