WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th April, 2023) The United States is not aware of violent attacks on parishes belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said on Monday.
"I have not seen those reports, so I can't speak to them. We are happy to check in," Patel said during a press briefing.
In recent weeks, there has been an increase in the number of attacks on parishioners and attempts to seize churches belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church by the schismatic Orthodox Church of Ukraine across the country.
Tensions between Kiev and the canonical UOC escalated after Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine in February 2022.
Some local authorities in Ukraine have banned the activities of the UOC due to its alleged ties with Moscow, and a bill was submitted to the Ukrainian parliament to outright ban the Church in the country. In addition, sanctions have been imposed on some members of the UOC clergy.
On March 10, 2023, UOC monks were ordered to leave the monastery of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra � jurisdiction over which was divided between a Ukrainian cultural organization and the UOC � by March 29 for allegedly violating the terms of an agreement on the use of state property. Metropolitan Bishop Pavel, vicegerent of the Lavra, was put under round-the-clock house arrest.
Ukrainian Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko said the monks could stay in the Lavra if they joined the schismatic Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), a decision that may be "stimulated through the joint work of specialists and law enforcement officers."
The OCU was established on the basis of two schismatic organizations in late 2018. In 2019, the Patriarchate of Constantinople gave the OCU a "tomos of autocephaly" � an ecclesiastical document essentially granting recognition � which resulted in a serious conflict between Constantinople and Moscow.
