
04/07/2025
I'm bound to be misunderstood by the truth needed saying.
Metropolitan Onufry is the author of his many problems. His failure to shirk off the Russian yoke remains bewildering as he claims war to be an offense against God but he follows the Moscow Patriarch Kirill who declared a 'Holy War' on Ukraine. Metropolitan Onufriy has never resolved if he is part of the 'Holy Rus' or an Orthodox Christian bishop. His personal piety will not save him from God's judgment.
Still, it is his right to be wrong when it comes to religion. I know - the European Charter of Fundamental Freedoms guarantees it.
It was beneath the President of Ukraine to issue a Presidential Decree to deprive Metropolitan Onufry of his citizenship. A lower court could have achieved that goal with due process. The Presidential Decree makes it appear like political retribution and petty revenge.
The UN, EU, USA and World Council of Churches have already voiced their skepticism over the law banning the Moscow Patriarchate Church from operating in Ukraine. This won't help Ukraine's image at a critical junction where it needs all the support it can get.
The SBU should not have cited his opposition to the formation of the canonical Orthodox Church of Ukraine as a reason for depriving him of his citizenship. It is an offense against the European Charter of Fundamental Rights to deprive a person of their personal religious beliefs - no matter how bad, misguided or hypocritical they may be.
As holding the citizenship of an invader state is sufficient to deprive someone of Ukrainian citizenship the invocation of religious beliefs was unworthy and wrong. it is a binary issue - either he held a Russian passport in violation of Ukrainian law or he didn't. Religion shouldn't have been a factor.
Ukraine deserves to be part of the European Union. Violating the Charter of Fundamental Rights is no way of arguing for inclusion.
by Miceál O’Hurley KYIV – The decision of President Vladimir Zelenskii to terminate the Ukrainian citizenship of Metropolitan Onufry of