Canonical Ukrainian Church Says To Appeal To Constitutional Court Over Renaming Law

The canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) will appeal to Ukraine's Constitutional Court over recently enacted legislation that requires the church to change its name, the chairman of the UOC-MP's legal department, Archpriest Alexander Bakhov, said on Tuesday.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th December, 2018) The canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) will appeal to Ukraine's Constitutional Court over recently enacted legislation that requires the church to change its name, the chairman of the UOC-MP's legal department, Archpriest Alexander Bakhov, said on Tuesday.

On Thursday, Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada passed a bill obligating the UOC-MP to reflect its ties to the Russian Orthodox Church in its name by adding the word "Russian" to it. On Saturday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed it into a law. It will enter into force upon its publication. The UOC earlier appealed to Poroshenko to veto the bill.

"We intend to defend our rights by all legal means. We appealed to the Ukrainian president [asking him] to use his veto but, as we can see, he did not exercise this right. Since there is the violation of the constitutional norms and principles, we will initiate an appeal to the Constitutional Court," Bakhov said as quoted on the UOC-MP's website.

At the same time, Bakhov said that the legislation would not automatically deprive the UOC of its name.

"The decision to change the name of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is made by its governing body ... and not by the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada. Therefore, even if this law enters into force, it will not mean that the UOC and its institutions will automatically be deprived of their Names," Bakhov said as quoted by Ukraine's Union of Orthodox Journalists.

According to Bakhov, after new regulations enter into force there will be nine months to make relevant amendments to the statutes of parishes, and up to four months to the statutes of dioceses and monasteries.

"If they [religious institutions] do not make changes or apply for the registration of the statute, the religious organization does not lose its registration and does not cease to exist, but the part of the statute which sets the full name of the religious organization, loses force," he stressed.

On December 15, a "unification council" was held in Kiev, at which Epiphany Dumenko was elected head of the new Ukrainian Orthodox "autocephalous church." According to Ukrainian media, only two bishops of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate participated in the council. The Ukrainian authorities expect to get tomos of autocephaly from Constantinople in early January.

The Moscow Patriarchate described the situation as the "legalization of schism," stressing that it would have catastrophic consequences and affect millions of Christians in Ukraine and other countries.