People vote with the heart: social networks respond to the victory of UOC priest in "Voice of the Country"

"This is not only the victory of the high vocal level, which Fr. Alexander really has. People vote with the heart. Therefore, this is also the victory of the image, the image of the priest. People, or rather the society, miss a real image of the priest. Those churches are filled with people, where priests like Fr. Alexander are serving. People go to the well with living water," said deputy head of the Synodal Department for External Relations of the UOC Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich.

Despite the attacks of the media, Ukrainians gave their votes to Fr. Alexander, said the rector of the Kiev Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, Archimandrite Alipiy (Svetlichny): "The absolute majority of audience sympathies was given to the priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Alexander Klimenko. Quite recently, the media have worked against the victory of Fr. Alexander, publishing materials that denounce him as unpatriotic in their view. But it did not work out. Their plan failed.

On the stage, Fr. Alexander remained incorrupted by deceitful Fortune. He remained a Christian and a pious priest. When the sounds of music subsided, the Father cooled down too, returning to his dignity as a humble servant of God and His Church," he stressed.

There were, however, those who were upset about Fr. Alexander's victory: the clergyman of the Kiev Patriarchate from Poltava, Alexander Dediukhin, called the priest of the UOC "an anti-Maidan vatnik", "working as a priest in the church-occupant," and considered his performance "sharovarshchina," although he noted that the voice is "good".

Speaker of the UOC-KP Yevstratii Zorya, who devoted several posts on Facebook to the discussion about the victory of priest Alexander Klimenko, tried to convince his readers that the show "The Voice of the Country" does not deserve attention. In his opinion, the 1 + 1 television channel (known for its dislike for the canonical Church and sympathy for the Kiev Patriarchate - Ed.) deliberately promoted the priest of the UOC to the winners to raise its rating.

Fr. Alexander himself is very grateful to everyone for their support. "Thanks to all and everybody for their support. However, I continue to believe the main word of the week, month and all life is Christ is risen!", wrote the priest on his Facebook page.

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