UOC MP parish comes to protest near Verkhovna Rada (PHOTO)

About a thousand parishioners of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC MP) hold a prayer service near the Verkhovna Rada, - correspondent of OstroV reports.

The believers protest against bills No. 4128 (on changing the subordination of religious communities), 4511 (on the special status of religious organizations) and 5309 (on changing the name of religious organizations), which the Verkhovna Rada is going to consider today.

According to the action's participants, bill No. 5309 "is intended to deprive the UOC of its name and put on the public label of "Russian church", which may cause even more tension in the society".

The parliament building is being increasingly guarded by the law enforcement officers. Currently the situation is calm.

Earlier, Metropolitan Boryspilskyi and Brovarskyi of the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate Antoniy stated in an interview with RBC-Ukraine that if the UOC-MP is obliged to change its name at the legislative level, the church will challenge this decision using all available methods. In the extreme, church hierarchs may call their parish to peaceful civil disobedience.