Online debate erupts over whether women are allowed to enter the altar

A girl enters the altar in a Uniate church in Ladychyn. Photo: TikTok / Choir_Ladychyn

An online discussion has erupted over whether it is permissible for women to enter the altar. Priest Andriy Shymanovych posted a video from the Greek Catholic Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos in Ladychyn, showing a girl entering the altar during a Mother's Day concert.

"As the band VV sang back in the late 1980s, 'there were lovely dances in the club'... At the start, a girl without a headscarf confidently walked into the altar as if she were heading to a nail salon. Canons? Tradition? Never heard of them," the priest wrote.

Commenters expressed differing opinions on the video.

"The altar, where the Holy Spirit descends upon the Eucharist, has become a utility room, from which flowers are being carried out..." commented Valentyna Shakhniuk.

Oleh Shkuratovskyi disagreed with Fr. Andriy: "Father, I admit that the participants may have gone a bit too far by entering the altar. Yes, they offended some people’s feelings. But they did it unintentionally, sincerely. Scripture tells us that God does not dwell in temples made by human hands, and that the body of a Christian is the temple of the Holy Spirit."

DESS expert Andriy Smirnov asked the priest why he was "so concerned with the behavior of Greek Catholics in their own church." He was answered by the OCU’s "bishop" of Kherson, Nikodim Kulyhin: "They’re concerned with everything except their own affairs – it's a standard pattern of behavior."

As a reminder, girls dressed as devils previously entered the altar in a UGCC church. Earlier, the UOJ reported that women were seen walking through the altar area in another UGCC church.

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