On the “search for dialogue” between LGBT and Christianity

Dumenko and Hryshchuk. Photo: OCU

A roundtable in Kyiv organized by the Sophia Brotherhood, a group closely affiliated with the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS), titled “Modern Ukrainian Orthodoxy: Debunking Myths for the Sake of Reconciliation Among Orthodox Christians in Ukraine and Societal Unity.”

A lecture in Lviv provocatively titled “Was Jesus Queer?” under the slogan “LGBT and Christianity – In Search of Dialogue.”

At first glance, comparing these events may seem inappropriate or even offensive to the “Sophia Brotherhood.” But on closer inspection, they share a common thread.

Despite claiming to seek “dialogue,” both sets of organizers are fully aware that these “searches” are disingenuous – empty words, mere performance.

LGBT activists know perfectly well: there can be no real dialogue between their ideology and Christianity, because Scripture clearly and unequivocally condemns such ideology.

Likewise, members of the Sophia Brotherhood know that as long as the OCU continues to seize churches of the UOC across Ukraine through deception and force, no genuine dialogue is possible. These are not isolated abuses – they represent institutional policy sanctioned by the OCU leadership.

That very same day, April 26, OCU head Epifaniy Dumenko welcomed and honored the notorious Bukovyna raider Roman Hryshchuk – the same man known for the brutal, bloody nighttime assault on a UOC church in Verkhni Stanivtsi. And that was just one of his many such incidents. If Dumenko were truly seeking reconciliation with the UOC, what would he have done? He would have suspended Hryshchuk and publicly condemned his actions. Instead, he rewarded him.

And Hryshchuk is just the tip of the iceberg. Ruthless church takeovers are happening across Ukraine – in Cherkasy, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Khmelnytskyi, and more. In each case, the OCU responds not with discipline but with awards. The leadership is sending a clear message to its clergy: any means – deceit, coercion, or violence – are justified, as long as they result in captured churches.

Thus, all current appeals for “dialogue” with the UOC by fringe groups are in the same category as LGBT appeals for dialogue with Christianity – pure hypocrisy. These appeals are designed for external consumption – so they can later say: “See how peaceful, democratic, and loving we are?”

In modern language, the phrase “making love” has come to mean something far removed from actual love. If we slightly adapt that phrase, we get “making dialogue” – a similar euphemism, detached from sincerity.

Until the OCU changes its course from dismantling the UOC, all calls for “love and unity” can rightly be labeled with that same ironic expression.

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