Orthodox leader appeals to Lithuanian officials over proposed legal changes

The head of the Lithuanian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Inokentij, has appealed to the country’s leaders over proposed amendments that he says could violate the Constitution, LRT reported.

In a statement to President Gitanas Nausėda, Seimas Speaker Juozas Olekas and Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius, Inokentij expressed concern about two bills submitted by conservative MPs Audronius Ažubalis and Arvydas Anušauskas. The proposals could allow the state to take several historic churches and the Holy Spirit Monastery from the church, and remove it from the list of Lithuania’s traditional religious communities, the statement said.

The brotherhood of the Holy Spirit Monastery in Vilnius and worshippers at the city’s Church of St. Paraskeva had earlier petitioned Seimas leaders, committees and parliamentary groups against the possible seizure of churches and church property and restrictions on the church’s rights.

They said they did not intend to change their canonical affiliation or church jurisdiction, and opposed pressure on religious communities or attempts to take away their places of worship, monastery property or right to independent church life, according to the statement.

Worshippers at other churches named in the bills have also said they plan to approach Seimas. They include communities at the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Mother of God and St. Nicholas Church in Vilnius, and the Church of the Assumption of the Mother of God in Vievis.

The bills, registered last week, propose tighter rules for state recognition of religious communities and their representation. Debate over possible influence by the Moscow Patriarchate in Lithuania intensified after the Libertas Fidei Centre for Religious Freedom Studies presented an international study on the Russian Orthodox Church’s role in justifying the war against Ukraine, its activities in the European Union and the possible use of organisations linked to the Moscow Patriarchate to spread Kremlin influence.