Donetsk, Dec 10 – DAN. Kiev consciously banned the metropolitan bishop of Donetsk and Mariupol from crossing the contact line to tense social climate in the country, said Maksim Parshin, head of the civil society and religious groups parliamentary committee.
"This is another step to tense social climate, to fuel religious hatred, to spur persecution of the Orthodox Church, made by the Ukrainian government," he said.
Parshin said the situation was absurd considering the recent "decommunization" efforts. Ukraine is enacting the Soviet-era policies of eliminating traditional church and establishing alternative Renovationist Church.
"No one seems to be embarrassed by the fact that a ban on movement violates principle freedoms. This is dreadful, as ignoring the Constitution becomes a routine and passes unnoticed compared to the general atmosphere of madness and lawlessness."
Ukrainian security service did not allow the metropolitan bishop of Donetsk and Mariupol to cross the contact line on December 9 without any legal grounds, the website of the Donetsk eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church said.*ot