Yelensky allows UOC to appeal to Local Churches with a request for council
![Viktor Yelensky. Photo: interfax.com.ua](/img/article/817/35_main-v1724266136.jpg)
The head of the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience, Viktor Yelensky, shared his vision of the UOC's next steps after the ban.
Viktor Yelensky, head of the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience, stated that if the UOC breaks its ties and exits from the Russian Orthodox Church, it is then free to determine its own canonical future. He said this in a comment to Interfax Ukraine on August 21.
"The UOC might (then) appeal to all Orthodox Churches and say: let's convene an Orthodox council on this issue," Yelensky suggested.
As previously reported by the Union of Orthodox Journalists, relations between the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the OCU are on the brink of collapse: they are searching for a way out of the crisis.
![Ukrainian MP responds to Karas' threats to terrorize UOC believers](/img/article/820/20_tn-v1726075183.jpg)
![Another court hearing on the Upper Lavra case held in Kyiv](/img/article/820/19_tn-v1726067833.png)