UGCC cleric criticizes OCU head for awarding Greek Catholic officials

Dumenko presents an order to the head of the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Military Administration. Photo: OCU

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) has criticized the practice of representatives of other confessions presenting church awards to its faithful. The criticism appeared in a Facebook post by Hieromonk Yustyn Boiko.

Hieromonk Yustyn Boiko, a Studite monk of the UGCC’s Lviv Archeparchy, wrote in a post entitled “When an Award Ceases to Be an Award” that particular attention should be paid to cases in which “hierarchs of one Church honor people who belong to another ecclesiastical community.”

“This raises the question: should it not remain the normal practice for a person to be honored first and foremost by his or her own Church, which knows that person’s service best? And should inter-church awards not be reserved for truly exceptional cases?” Boiko wrote.

The author illustrated the post with a photograph showing Epifaniy Dumenko presenting an order to Svitlana Onyshchuk, head of the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Military Administration, whose husband is a UGCC priest.

The post sparked a wave of criticism in the comments. Some readers accused the author of staging a provocation and chasing “hype” instead of offering a theological reflection. Others said it was inappropriate to criticize the leadership of another Church.

The UOJ also reported that blogger Sonia Koshkina, who had been fined for making false claims about the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, said that an OCU order she received served as a “protective talisman.” Epifaniy Dumenko’s practice of presenting church awards to secular officials and public figures has previously prompted debate among believers.

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