Priest on LGBT march in Kyiv: A sin that should have no place in our land

2026 Pride march in Kyiv. Photo: Telegram channel "Kyiv-info"

A cleric of the Rivne Eparchy of the UOC, Archpriest Vasyl Nachev, called the gay pride parade held in Kyiv propaganda of the Sodomite sin and stated that such events should have no place in Ukrainian land.

According to the priest, believers expressed their protest against anti-Christian values with a small religious procession. He emphasized that the Gospel explicitly calls the Sodomite sin a sin, and that today in the capital people living in this sin are openly propagating it.

“While our country is under martial law, when we, on the contrary, need repentance before God, we allow such parades to be held,” Father Vasyl noted. He added that the Church must stand against this, and named prayer as the only weapon in such a struggle: “May the Lord forgive all those who today propagate this sin.”

The priest thanked the parishioners who took icons and walked around the church, calling it their prayer to God and their support for those who live by Christian values, love their country, and do not want gay pride parades to take place in the capital.

Fr Vasyl also drew attention to the fact that UOC believers are banned from holding religious processions throughout the country, while the “Equality March” in the center of the capital is permitted. He recalled that religious processions previously took place freely in the regional center of Rivne as well: from the cathedral to the metochion.

“God, grant us to understand this, and may we never have such things here. And may prayer always resound across the Kyivan land, where the foot of the Apostle Andrew once trod, and may there be nothing sinful,” the priest concluded.

As the UOJ reported, on June 21, 2026, the tenth LGBT march was held in Kyiv. At the same time, religious processions are prohibited in Ukraine under martial law. In 2026 alone, according to media reports, UOC believers were repeatedly fined for organizing such processions — in particular, in Bukovyna, where pilgrims, despite the ban, undertook walking religious processions to monasteries.

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