A majority of Ukrainians are Orthodox Christians but the faith is split into one branch traditionally tied to the Russian Orthodox Church - Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) and an independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine, recognised by the world Orthodox hierarchy since 2019.
Ukrainian leaders have accused the Russian-linked UOC of abetting Russia's 30-month-old war on Ukraine by spreading pro-Russian "propaganda" and housing spies.
The UOC was a part of the Russian Orthodox Church but distanced itself after the 2022 invasion. (EPA PHOTO)
The bill passed by 265 MPs - out of 322 lawmakers present - bans the Russian Orthodox Church on Ukrainian territory and said that a government commission will assemble a list of "affiliated" organisations whose activities are not allowed.
The list is expected to target the UOC specifically.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy hailed the vote as a step to strengthen Ukraine's "spiritual independence".
MP Iryna Herashchenko said it was the issue of national security.
"This is a historic vote. Parliament approved a legislation which bans a branch of the aggressor country in Ukraine," she wrote on Telegram.
The UOC was historically a part of the Russian Orthodox Church but it started to distance itself from officials in Moscow after the February 2022 invasion.
Ukrainian officials dispute that claim and have launched dozens of criminal proceedings, including treason charges, against dozens of their clerics.
At least one has been sent to Russia as part of a prisoner swap.
UOC's metropolitan Klymentiy reiterated that the church had no links with "foreign centres" and criticised the bill as targeting the church's property and discrediting those wanting to implement it.
"The Ukrainian Orthodox Church will continue to live as a true church, recognised by the vast majority of practicing Ukrainian believers and churches of the world," he told Hromadske TV.
MPs said the process of banning the UOC would be long and complicated as each Orthodox parish was an individual entity and they would have nine months to decide whether they want to leave it.
After this period, cases could be brought to court to ban it.
"Today we have embarked on the inevitable path of cleansing from within the Kremlin's agent network, which has been hiding behind the mask of a religious organisation for decades," MP Roman Lozynskyi said on Facebook.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova sharply condemned the ban.
"The aim is to destroy the deeply canonical, true Orthodoxy," she said.
In Ukraine's fragmented religious landscape, about 10,000 parishes remain under the influence of the Russian-aligned Patriarchate.
with DPA
