Is the anti-UOC propaganda backfiring?
Metropolitan Onufriy and Epifaniy Dumenko. Photo: TSN
Some of those surveys literally labeled the UOC as the “Moscow Church” in their questions – poisoning the well right from the start. Others had laughably opaque counting methods. Almost all of them stank of political order-taking. So no one was exactly shocked when those polls showed the OCU enjoying “astronomical” support, while the UOC was supposedly abandoned and despised.
Not to mention the government’s relentless propaganda machine and the OCU’s chorus, which made sure most “non-churchgoing” Ukrainians sincerely believe the UOC is nothing but an “FSB front” and “pro-Kremlin,” and treat it accordingly.
That’s why the results of the latest SOCIS Center poll are a bit of a surprise. Yes, the majority still view the UOC negatively – but the gap has shrunk noticeably.
For example, when asked if the UOC should be liquidated, 34% said yes, but 31% said no. Practically even. And that’s despite the question explicitly calling it the “Moscow Patriarchate.”
A similar picture emerges on the question of whether the UOC should be stripped of state-owned churches it rents: 38% in favor, 28% against. Again, not exactly a landslide.
In the trust rankings, “Moscow’s” Onufriy trails “Kyiv’s” Epifaniy by just 9 percentage points: 10% versus 19%.
And this is after a nonstop media barrage telling Ukrainians that the UOC is in bed with “bloody Kirill,” while the OCU is the shining embodiment of patriotism.
So what’s going on here?
In our view, there are two possible explanations:
It’s a commissioned poll, and the President’s Office decided to ease off the gas pedal in the campaign to eradicate the UOC, realizing that pushing further might blow up in their faces worse than they thought.
It’s a halfway honest poll. In which case, the brutal church seizures and state persecution have produced the opposite of the intended effect – people are starting to see through the lies and realize the propaganda against the UOC is just that: propaganda.
And if it’s the second scenario? Then the peak of that awakening is still ahead.
Read also
On the church raid in Odesa
The OCU’s church raids have long been remarkable for their sheer absurdity.
Zelensky's revoked order: What kind of heroes should Ukrainians have?
In recent years, the Ukrainian authorities have sought to present members of the OUN-UPA as heroes for all Ukrainians.
Religious processions banned – gay parades allowed
The authorities “respect rights, freedom, and human dignity” for many: Jews, pop and rock music fans, and now homosexuals. But Orthodox Christians are not among them.
Lavra's Dormition Cathedral and the money
While the construction of the entire cathedral cost approximately $12.5–13 million, more than $11.1 million is now being sought for its restoration. And that is only the “starting” figure.
Strike on the Lavra: what will the consequences be?
No one is saying that a strike on the Lavra, the portion of the Mother of God, is a level of absurdity beyond all limits – that after destroying hundreds of Orthodox churches, the war has now reached the very heart of our Orthodoxy.
Zelensky and the strike on the Lavra: grief for export?
If Russia’s strike on the Dormition Cathedral is, in Zelensky’s words, “barbarism,” then what should we call the Ukrainian authorities’ destruction of UOC churches? Is that not barbarism? Or is that somehow “different”?