Ukrainians criticize official who called the religious procession to Pochaev "horrifying"

The religious procession from Kamianets to Pochaiv. Photo: UOJ

The statement made by the head of the National Nature Reserve "Ancient Kyiv," Roman Malenkov, about the religious procession from Kamianets-Podilskyi to the Pochaiv Lavra sparked a wave of criticism on social media. The official's post, in which he called the annual pilgrimage of UOC faithful "a horrifying horror," is being actively discussed by Threads users — and far from all of them share the author's indignation.

As a reminder, on August 21, Malenkov published an emotional post stating that "tens of thousands of UOC MP parishioners set out in a religious procession from Kamianets to Pochaiv." The official claimed that the participants of the procession "cannot be stopped by war, Russian missiles, or Ukrainian authorities," and described their organization and numbers as alarming.

The post attracted numerous comments, and a significant portion of users disagreed with the official. "What do you have against people who are simply walking down the road and praying to God?" asked user stuv19722.

Some commenters directly reproached Malenkov for his lack of compassion toward believers. "Do you have anything human left in you?" asked viktorovavladimira. User konekotanya posed a rhetorical question: "Is it easier to fight believers than to go to the trenches?" And elenaolena36 sharply reminded the official of centuries-old church tradition: "Kyivan Rus — in Church Slavonic since 988."

Some users attempted to explain why people go on pilgrimage. "These people are praying for peace and salvation! Throughout all ages, there has existed a Christian tradition of walking in religious processions... so that God may preserve — whether a locality, an entire country, or a family," wrote in.nes.ka.

User yaroslav.prihodko1992 drew attention to the selective approach of the authorities: he recalled that UGCC faithful had previously not been permitted to proceed to Zarvanytsia and were forced to change their route, even though the number of participants was significantly smaller than in the procession to Pochaiv. "Are all equal before the law, or are some more equal than others?" he asked.

"Well and good — at least someone is praying for peace in this country," wrote eskander109.
 
There were, however, commenters who supported Malenkov's position, calling the pilgrims "waiters" [a derogatory term]. Yet such remarks were noticeably fewer than the criticism directed at the official himself.

The UOJ previously reported that, according to pilgrims, the 2026 religious procession to Pochaiv is larger in scale than in previous years.

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