Ukrainian Opposition Party Says To Request Abolition Of Rada's Decisions On Church Matters

Ukrainian political party Opposition Platform For Life plans to request the country's Constitutional Court to cancel all the decisions that the Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, has recently made on church matters, Yuriy Boyko, the leader of the party, said on Monday.

KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th January, 2019) Ukrainian political party Opposition Platform For Life plans to request the country's Constitutional Court to cancel all the decisions that the Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, has recently made on church matters, Yuriy Boyko, the leader of the party, said on Monday.

The law obliging the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) to change its name came into force in Ukraine in December. Under the new legislation, the word "Russian" should be added to its name, since Kiev claims that the church is managed from Russia and its name should therefore reflect this. While the UOC-MP has been given four months to change its name, it has stressed that its governing center was located not in Russia but in Kiev and the church should consequently not fall under the law.

"We will appeal to the Constitutional Court as church is separated from state under constitution. The fact that politicians, the Verkhovna Rada in particular, have meddled [in church affairs] violates the constitution, and we're filing a petition to the Constitutional Court calling for non-recognition of Verkhovna Rada's decisions on church affairs," Boyko was broadcast as saying by Ukrainian tv channel 112 Ukraine.

Boyko emphasized that recent establishment of the autocephalous Orthodox church of Ukraine would contribute to further social division in the country.

"I think that an absolutely bad thing happened when the incumbent president used the church matters as an element of his election campaign," Boyko said.

On Sunday, Constantinople Patriarch Bartholomew handed over a decree granting autocephaly to the Orthodox church of Ukraine. Meanwhile, this decision has not been recognized by the UOC-MP and the Russian Orthodox Church.