Serbian media criticize “Trump’s spiritual advisor” for working against UOC

Pastor Mark Burns. Photo: the UOJ in Serbia

Serbian journalists have highlighted what they describe as a contradiction in the position of American pastor Mark Burns, who calls himself a spiritual advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump: while publicly honoring the memory of Orthodox Serbs and meeting with hierarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church, he has also supported the ban on the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church. This was reported by the UOJ in Serbia.

The publication noted that in March 2025 Burns visited Ukraine at the invitation of Rabbi Moshe Azman and called the country a “beacon of religious freedom,” while failing to meet with representatives of the canonical UOC. Mark Burns was among those who effectively justified the persecution of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

“The pastor showed a blatant disregard for the extensive, well-documented evidence of the persecution of Orthodox Ukrainians by Volodymyr Zelensky’s government. He compared believers to terrorists and supported the law now being used as the basis for banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Such statements raise serious doubts about the sincerity of Burns’ professed commitment to Christian rights, which he frequently invokes in his public remarks,” the article stated.

At the same time, the pastor visited Republika Srpska, Serbia, Kosovo and Metohija, where he met with Patriarch Porfirije of the Serbian Orthodox Church and honored the victims of the 1992–1995 war. According to the publication, he visited Serbian holy sites, including the Patriarchate of Peć, and met with Bishop Ilarion to discuss the situation of Orthodox Serbs in Kosovo.

“Can a person who holds such views sincerely sympathize with all the suffering endured by the Orthodox people? We want to believe that his visit to the holy sites of the Serbian land will truly touch his heart and open his eyes to the truth,” the publication said.

The law used to ban the UOC in Ukraine has been in force since 2025 and continues to draw criticism from religious organizations around the world.

The UOJ previously reported that, according to a hierarch of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, Burns has been helping the Phanar disrupt meetings in the United States held in support of the UOC.

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