Priest calls media pressure on UOC discrimination

Archpriest Viktor Zemlianyi. Photo: priest’s Facebook page

The secretary of the Rivne Eparchy of the UOC, Archpriest Viktor Zemlianyi, has publicly criticized what he described as manipulative coverage of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) in Ukraine’s information space. He wrote about this on his Facebook account.

The priest’s post was prompted by a report from the Telegram channel Rivne Online and a video segment by journalist Pavlo Nevesenko about the mobilization of UOC clergy. According to the archpriest, if a particular cleric has committed a crime, there must be a trial and personal accountability. But shaping a negative image of the entire Church and millions of its faithful through isolated cases, he said, amounts to religious discrimination.

“When a negative attitude toward the entire Church and millions of its faithful is formed on the basis of individual cases, this already looks like discrimination on religious grounds,” Fr. Viktor stressed.

The priest also asked why the information focus is placed specifically on the UOC, while officials and law enforcement officers who went over to the side of the occupiers are barely mentioned.

Separately, the archpriest drew attention to the use of the term “UOC-MP.” He recalled that after the 2022 Council, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church officially declared its departure from subordination to the Russian Church. Fr. Viktor emphasized the position of the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate, Kyrylo Budanov, who stated that the UOC is not the Moscow Patriarchate: “It is the UOC. They removed the MP prefix. That is a fact.”

“Therefore, when journalists continue to broadly tie all UOC faithful to Moscow, this is no longer objective journalism, but the formation of a negative image of millions of Ukrainian citizens,” the priest stressed.

He also said it was a matter of serious concern that Ukraine effectively lacks a proper legal response to public insults and humiliation directed at UOC faithful. On television channels, social media, and in public speeches, sweeping labels such as “Moscow priests,” “agents,” or “wrong Ukrainians” are often heard.

Viktor Zemlianyi also pointed to a contradiction in the issue of chaplaincy: UOC priests are effectively denied the right to serve as military chaplains under the pretext of suspicions of collaboration, yet at the same time they are mobilized as ordinary servicemen – machine gunners, engineers, and soldiers in other specialties. According to him, this contradicts the principle of equality of citizens before the law and the Constitution of Ukraine. The priest also noted that UOC clerics serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, engage in volunteer work, and include wounded servicemen from the Odesa, Volyn, and other eparchies, some of whom have received state and military awards.

As the UOJ reported, a Ukrainian Armed Forces colonel oversaw the mailing of draft notices to UOC priests. Under Article 161 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code, incitement of religious hatred and violation of citizens’ equality on religious grounds entail criminal liability – a provision that, in the archpriest’s view, is applied disproportionately.

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