Shevchuk: UOC must undergo decommunisation

Sviatoslav Shevchuk. Photo: "Ukrainska Pravda"

The head of the UGCC Sviatoslav Shevchuk said in an interview with "Espreso" that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is a "vestige of Soviet and Russian imperialism" that should undergo "decommunisation".

"The country is undergoing a process of decommunisation and derussification in different aspects of our life. I think the same process should be undergone by Ukraine's religious environment," Shevchuk said. According to him, "Today Ukrainian society demands derussification and decommunisation even from the Orthodox environment, which, unfortunately, carries this negative baggage".

According to Shevchuk, "It is important for the Ukrainian state to finally remember that both Kyiv-Pechersk and Pochaiv Lavras are state property, that they are monuments of state sanctity, which belong not to any particular denomination but to the entire Ukrainian people."

At the same time, Shevchuk did not explain how the need for "decommunisation" and his call to remember that the Lavras (taken away from the Church by the Communists) are state property are interrelated.

Commenting on the government's attempts to ban the UOC, Shevchuk said he "would approach this process from a positive side".

"Our Ukrainian authorities should help the Church to get rid of Russian imperial influence," said the head of the UGCC. “Unfortunately, there is a part of the religious environment that is a carrier of further influences from our northern neighbour. This part today must also undergo the process of derusification and decommunisation".

As reported, Shevchuk called Kuntsevich, who persecuted Orthodox Christians, "an apostle of unity".

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