Metropolitan Onufriy explained that he had only a passport of a citizen of Ukraine. It was emphasised by the Head of the Synodal Information and Education Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Clement, in his interview with BBC Ukraine despite articles on Ukrainian authorities stripping Metropolitan Onufriy of citizenship.
The announcement states that the decision was based on evidence gathered by the country’s intelligence services, the SBU, including the fact that Metropolitan Onufriy voluntarily acquired Russian Federation citizenship in 2002. This issue had been previously reported by orthodoxtimes.com, highlighting the existence of a Russian passport held by Metropolitan Onufriy.
In his commentary for the news agency BBC Ukraine, the Head of the Synodal Information and Education Department of the UOC, Metropolitan Clement, spoke about information concerning the citizenship of the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy of Kyiv and All Ukraine.
In particular, Metropolitan Clement noted the following: ‘His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy explained that he had only a passport of a citizen of Ukraine. He does not have any other passports, including of the Russian Federation, except for a Ukrainian one. He has already explained that he has never requested state authorities of other states to be granted another citizenship.’
In response to a question about further actions prompted by the news published, Metropolitan Clement answered: ‘All actions will be exclusively under the Ukrainian legislation.’
