On 11 April, the Volyn regional council voted to ban the activities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate in the region, Suspilne has reported.
The councillors also supported the text of an appeal to the UOC believers calling on them to break any ties with the Russian Orthodox Church.
The draft decision to ban the UOC-MP in Volyn was supported by 54 councillors. The decision was made unanimously.
According to the draft, the councillors decided to:
- to appeal to the president with a request to declare the draft law "On Ensuring the Strengthening of National Security in the Field of Freedom of Conscience and Activities of Religious Organisations" urgent and to consider it in parliament as a matter of priority;
- to ban the activities of the UOC-MP in Volyn Region;
- to recommend that the Volyn regional state administration terminate the lease agreement for the complex of buildings with the religious organisation Svyatohirsk Assumption Zymnensky Stauropegial Monastery of Volyn Region and the relevant agreements with other communities of the UOC-MP that use churches that are architectural monuments.
As noted by the deputy of the regional council Yuriy Polishchuk, it is recommended that districts and communities conduct an inventory and terminate the contracts for the use of architectural monuments by the UOC-MP.
"Since 1991, the regional authorities have transferred 18 such buildings to eight religious organisations. The vast majority of architectural monuments of local significance were transferred by district executive committees and district state administrations to the UOC-MP," he added.
According to Vasyl Hayduk, chief specialist on religions and nationalities of the regional state administration, there are currently 523 registered religious communities of the UOC-MP in Volyn. Since the beginning of the full-scale war, 49 parishes have moved to the OCU.
The day before, Rivne regional councillors voted at an extraordinary session to ban the UOC-MP in the region.