Andriy Yurash on information educatiuonal activities of the UOC-MP: in a step from the “crucified boy”

Information manipulating campaigns conducted by representatives of the UOC-MP in the international arena are intended to discredit the Ukrainian state and to divert attention from the situation of religious freedom in Russia the territories under its occupation.

This was stated on November 21, at a press conference in Kyiv by Andriy Yurash, Director of the Department for Religious Affairs and Nationalities of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine.

“The image of the UOC as the persecuted Church, has been promoted recently. I traveled a lot across the regions and, communicating with the leaders of the dioceses, nowhere this issue was confirmed. These included Odessa and Mariupol, Vinnytsia, and Rivne ... Actually, the hierarchs of the UOC are surprised why the center simulates a situation that has no facts, logical confirmation in its basis,” he said.

According to him, the leadership of the UOC (MP) artificially create a parallel reality in their related media that has nothing to do with reality.

At various venues, the leadership of this Church make statements about the discrimination of their representatives, persecution, prejudice, but at the same time they do not miss the opportunity to offend their opponents.

“I will give an example. Here is a report on the speech of Metropolitan Luka (Kovalenko), Archbishop of Zaporizhzhya at a conference in Greece entitled “Modern Methods of Discriminating the UOC in Ukraine”. I quote some of the statement: “The schismatics led by Mikhail Denisenko and the Uniates led by Svyatoslav Shevchuk.” That is, we have a set of offensive definitions for other denominations. Their proper names are not used, thus disregard for the leaders of the Churches is being expressed. In this context, how the society and those religious organizations respond, if such a disreputable form of communication is used towards them?” the official asked.

Andriy Yurash also recalled the avalanche of publications on church official websites of the UOC-MP and their loyal media that Ukraine was allegedly criticized at the UN meeting in Geneva for violating the rights of the UOC-MP.

“On November 15, when the sessions have not yet been completed, two publications appeared on the official website of the UOC within 1.5 hour - “The UN recognizes the problem of observance of religious freedoms in Ukraine” and “At the UN meeting in Geneva, Ukraine was urged to secure the rights of the UOC.”

Reading these headlines, a man immediately imagines that Ukraine was criticized, and the official delegation was asked exclusively about the UOC and the oppression of religious freedoms. And the third piece of information appeared on Saturday after my commentary on RISU: “Human rights defenders refuted the statement of the Ministry of Culture official.”

The Director of the Department of Religious Affairs and Nationalities of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine described all these publications as untrue.

“In none of the speeches made by the states, and they were 70 and all of them are published online, in no speech the UOC was ever mentioned. Therefore, the thesis of support does not correspond to reality,” said Yurash.

“I am holding in my hands 190 official recommendations, which were jointly proposed by the representatives of different countries. There is not a single word in the official documents on this (Condemnation of Ukraine - RISU). The Greek recommendation is to maintain and respect the rights of religious communities for their institutional autonomy. We support this statement.

Russia's thesis - out of those 190 recommendations – is to take immediately all measures to stop discrimination and ethnic and religious persecution. That is all concerning the religious theme.

There are no mentions of the UOC, discussions about the UOC, the condemnation of the Ukrainian state,” says Andriy Yurash.

The official also noted that the church websites of the UOC (MP) did not report on the official decisions of the United Nations, these sites only published some personal thoughts of “human rights activists” who were not entitled to speak and debate at a meeting in Geneva.

“The state cannot but react to this provocative line of conduct. The state should give a proper definition in cases where such manipulation takes place. If this position is further pursued, then it is not far from the crucified boys,” he emphasized.

Andriy Yurash has also noted that he constantly communicates with representatives of embassies and international missions on observance of the rights of religious freedoms in our state. If such a situation in Ukraine, as the clergymen of the UOC (MP) say, had really emerged, then international organizations would have necessarily reacted.

“The official documents of the UN, the OSCE, the annual report of the United States Department of Human Rights and Religious Freedoms would contain completely different information,” said Yurash.