“Moscow-style” funeral service for Bandera
Portrait of Bandera on the building of the Ternopil Regional Administration. Photo: Korrespondent
Today, many in the OCU and UGCC call the Church Slavonic language “Moscow language.” Yet it is used not only by the Russian Orthodox Church but also in the Serbian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Polish, American Churches, and the Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia – in other words, in nearly half of all Local Orthodox Churches.
Recently, the UOJ received a link to archival footage of the funeral service for Stepan Bandera, leader of the OUN and now a national hero of Ukraine. Paradoxically, the Greek Catholic clergy can be seen conducting his funeral entirely in that same Church Slavonic. Yes, it’s the Kyiv recension, whose pronunciation differs from what is heard today in many UOC churches. But it is still not Ukrainian – it is the same language of Cyril and Methodius.
As people here often say, "treachery came from where it was least expected."
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