Lawmakers in Rovno and Volyn have prohibited all activities of the UOC

The governments of two regions in western Ukraine have banned the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC) and its activities this week.

The UOC is canonically part of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate - the largest Orthodox Church in the world, with 150 million worshippers around the globe.

The local parliament in Ukraine's northwestern Rovno Region, which borders Belarus, was the first to ban the UOC. The 55 lawmakers present in an emergency session on Monday supported the move in a unanimous vote, the parliament said in a statement.

The legislators also revoked the registration of the UOC's religious chapters in Rovno Region and terminated lease agreements with them, the statement added.

They then vowed to demand that Ukraine's parliament - the Verkhovna Rada - "immediately adopt a law on the prohibition of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church [of] the Moscow Patriarchate" in the entire country.

On Tuesday, the parliament in neighboring Volyn Region, which borders Poland, followed suit and banned the UOC in another unanimous vote. The lawmakers also published an appeal to members of the UOC and called on them to sever all the ties with the Church.