“I’m not a batiushka!”: Video from Easter blessing goes viral online
A clergyman claimed that "batyushkas are all abroad." Photo: Screenshot from Nazarienko’s YouTube channel
The video, uploaded by Nazariy Yeremenko on YouTube, has already gained over 2 million views. In the clip, a woman with an Easter basket approaches a man in liturgical vestments and asks him to bless her paska, addressing him as batiushka (a traditional Orthodox term for a priest, used in particular by the UOC and the ROC). The man refuses, citing the way she addressed him.
“I won’t do it, because I’m not a batiushka. I’m a priest, a father. All the batiushkas are abroad,” he says.
The location and the confession of the “not-a-batiushka” remain unknown. It is assumed he may be a representative of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) or the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC).
Earlier, the UOJ reported that Dumenko had declared the practice of kissing a priest’s hand to be a servile Russian tradition.
Read also
Volyn Eparchy faithful collect six tons of aid for Sviatohirsk Lavra
Believers in Volyn collected food and warm clothing for people displaced by the war who have found shelter at Sviatohirsk Lavra.
Trump: "Paris is going to be a Muslim city very soon"
Donald Trump blamed uncontrolled immigration for street protests in France, warning that Paris would soon become a Muslim city.
Dumenko: Jerusalem Church is wrong to refuse communion with us
Dumenko claimed that the OCU, like the Apostle Paul, is standing up against the errors of the Jerusalem Church and other Local Churches.
Ukrainian parliament registers bill to establish Bible Day
Lawmakers have proposed establishing Bible Day to strengthen moral values and preserve the country’s spiritual heritage.
Dumenko: Pochaiv will be ours, and Sviatohirsk Lavra is no Lavra
The OCU head called Pochaiv Lavra the Russian Orthodox Church’s “last stronghold,” predicted that circumstances would eventually allow its transfer, and rejected Sviatohirsk Monastery’s status as a lavra.
Metropolitan Victor offers condolences to families of shelling victims
The ruling hierarch of the Khmelnytskyi Eparchy expressed condolences to the families of those killed in the Russian attack on Khmelnytskyi on October 19.