Metropolitan Onufriy of UOC MP was deprived of Ukrainian citizenship

Metropolitan Onufry (Orest Berezovsky) of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) of the Moscow Patriarchate (MP) has been deprived of his Ukrainian citizenship. President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a corresponding decree.

This was reported by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).

SBU established that Berezovsky voluntarily obtained Russian citizenship in 2002 and did not inform the authorized Ukrainian authorities about this. However, after that, he continued to use the status of a citizen of Ukraine.

According to information available to SBU, Berezovsky (Onufry) maintains ties with the Moscow Patriarchate and deliberately opposed the gaining of canonical independence of the Ukrainian Church from the Moscow Patriarchate, whose representatives openly support Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Despite the full-scale invasion, Berezovsky actually continues to support the policies of the ROC (Russian Orthodox Church) and its leadership, in particular Patriarch Kirill (Gundyaev).

• On April 7, 2023, the publication Ukrainska Pravda published an investigation into the fact that Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate Onufry and more than 20 other clergymen of UOC have Russian passports. According to an extract from the "Rospasport" system, Orest Berezovsky received a Russian passport on March 20, 2002 in Moscow, and a year later — in 2003 — he received a Russian passport in the Russian capital. According to the same extract, Onufry received a Russian passport in 1998, therefore, the metropolitan had Russian citizenship much earlier.
• The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate has denied reports that its Metropolitan Onufry holds a Russian passport. Onufry himself has stated that he has renounced Russian citizenship.

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