The British publication The Tablet is running a story featuring letters from Amsterdam & Partners LLP on the situation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as well as mentions of the white paper. Please see the following excerpt below:
Legislation effectively to outlaw the UOC is expected to come before the Ukrainian parliament in mid-January.
“There is no conceivable way the prohibition of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is a necessary or proportionate act,” said Amsterdam’s letter. “Instead, it is an overly punitive attack that will cause serious harm to Orthodox Ukrainians.”
He said that a ban would compromise Ukraine’s candidacy for EU membership, and that its prosecutions of UOC clerics “call into question Ukraine’s commitment to the rule of law”.
A paper circulated with the letter claimed that “the alleged ‘crimes’ and farcical evidence [in these prosecutions] would not even reach a court of law in a country with an independent judiciary and a strong tradition [of] the rule of law”.
While it is uncertain which Church most Orthodox Ukrainians adhere to, an Amsterdam & Partners statement said that “many worshippers have chosen to stick with the ancient Julian calendar” maintained by the UOC, celebrating Christmas on 7 January while the OCU and the Ukrainian state celebrated according to the Gregorian calendar on 25 December.
Read the full article at The Tablet.