Does OCU order a survey from an advertising agency?

The OCU, together with an advertising agency, has announced a survey. Photo: delo.ua

On February 10, 2020, the press officer of the OCU Mikhail Omelian and the advertising agency “Postmen” began promoting the social survey “Church in Ukraine - what is it like?” in social networks.

The survey, which is positioned by the agency as an objective study, actually contains a number of features that make it possible to talk about sympathy for the OCU and its leader Epiphany Dumenko.

The main part of the survey questions is devoted to the newly created structure and is grouped in the block “The Orthodox Church of Ukraine today”.

The survey participants are invited to tick “what actions of the head of the OCU do you support most,” “what qualities would you note”, etc. Participants are asked to name “what is most liked about him”: there are options “modernity”, “charisma”, “authority”, “patriotism” and so on.

Transfers to the OCU and the reasons that prevent these transfers make a separate topic. Among the latter, it is indicated "the behaviour of Honorary Patriarch Filaret".

According to Ukrainian blogger Alexander Voznesensky, the survey was ordered on a commercial basis.

Commenting on the specifics of the survey, the blogger draws attention to the fact that the Crimea as a region is not included in the survey, although it is designed for residents of the Lugansk and Donetsk regions.

He also notes that although in the survey the OCU positions itself as the “Ukrainian Church” and the questions are written in Ukrainian, all system pointers and additional options are made in Russian.

The number of people wishing to take the survey is still small.

We recall that earlier a sociologist and religious scholar from Germany visited services at the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, the Theodosius Monastery of the OCU and the churches of the Darnitska district and counted the number of parishioners of the UOC and the OCU present at them.

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