UOC: Lviv official incites inter-faith hostility

The head of the Law Department of the UOC, Protopriest Alexander Bakhov, said that a Lviv official interferes in internal church affairs. So Father Alexander commented on the statement of the deputy chairman of the Lviv regional council Vladimir Gorniak, who said he was preparing a brochure about changing the religious affiliation. This is reported by the Information Centre of the UOC.

"These statements are discriminatory, since, according to the deputy chairman of the regional council, one parish is bad, and the other is good, and everyone should go there," writes the head of the UOC Law Department. "Here the right to freedom of religion is violated. The person is specifically instructed where to pray and which Church to belong to. For this, methodical guidelines are provided."

Protopriest Alexander Bakhov is sure that Gorniak’s statements must be considered by the law enforcement agencies for inciting inter-faith hostility.

"There are a lot of religious organizations in Lviv, which, due to certain historical circumstances, have long tried to achieve interfaith peace," Father Alexander said. "For example, the UOC-KP and the UAOC, Uniates and Catholics. And now it turns out that the official himself is trying to create hostility on religious grounds. But for some reason, the official now insists on the transfer from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Why not from autocephalists or Greek Catholics? Why is it so one-sided?"

Also, the head of the Law Department pays special attention to the fact that the official who calls for transitions does not make believers aware of the fact that in this case they will be deprived of canonical church sacraments.