Ukrainian Orthodox Church urges to return its property both expropriated and given to Schismatics
Kiev, February 15, Interfax – Head of press service of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Vasily Anisimov speaks for adopting the law that will allow returning church property.
“Filaret’s followers should return what they stole: the church cash and churches and property stolen by militants. It’s necessary to adopt democratic legislation, to return the Church expropriated property including those transferred to schismatics,” Anisimov said on Tuesday in his interview with Interfax-Religion.
Speaking about Denisenko, he noted that the latter had resources for lobbying his interests. According to him, when Leonid Kravchuk failed to win the elections in 1994, the schismatic leader for some time stayed without presidential support and police officers investigated commercial activities of his organization, “they were impressed that so many little companies were set up under his wing.”
“They were involved in oil trading abroad and importing cars to Ukraine “criminally hiding from tax liabilities” for milliards of that time rubles, in importing various goods as “humanitarian aid,” they even had structures involved in enlisting volunteers in hot spots of the CIS-countries, they existed under his wing,” the interviewee of the agency reminded.
According to him, it is “a serious pseudoreligious business structures, the octopus, binding commerce, officials, he won’t surrender without fight.”
On the question what Ukrainian authorities can do to overcome schisms, Anisimov answered that “it’s better they do nothing.”
“The Church is separated from the state, president is a guarantee of the Constitution, of fulfilling the laws. If all illegalities made by the previous authorizes in relation to UOC will be eliminated – and it should be done – then the separations will be overcome by church methods rather than administrative,” the church official said.
