Want a payment for a fallen soldier – have the funeral service with the OCU

Provocateur from the OCU in Novoselivka. Photo: Facebook Angela Sirbu

The local priest of the UOC was accused of disrespecting the fallen hero, allegedly because he did not open the church for the funeral service performed by a Dumenko “priest.”

The Odesa eparchy revealed the details of the provocation. It turned out that this soldier had already been commemorated in absentia by the UOC priest on the very day of his death. The priest was ready to perform a full funeral service in person together with clergy from neighboring parishes, but the mother, at the last moment, refused in favor of an OCU cleric.

And here one should pause on this detail. The mother made such a decision because she was told: if the funeral is performed by the OCU, the burial will be free of charge. If by the UOC – she would have to pay for everything herself.

And this case is not an exception, but a system. Almost everywhere today, the relatives of fallen soldiers are placed before such a choice. Considering the cost of funerals and the poverty of the population, people often do what they are forced to by the authorities. And this becomes part of the picture of “universal support” for the OCU among the people. Moreover, in many cases, a funeral service in the OCU becomes a necessary condition for the lawful financial compensation to the family of the fallen soldier.

The DESS head, Yelensky, very much enjoys telling fairy tales that all confessions in our country are equal, and that the state does not privilege any one of them. For his part, Dumenko proclaims that his structure is not state-run but “statist.”

And Podoliak, adviser to the head of the Presidential Office, says that in Ukraine “there will be only the OCU.” And it seems that of the three, Podolyak is the most honest.

According to the Constitution, the Church in Ukraine is separate from the state. But, as is well known, during wartime, the basic law has been put on pause.

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