UOC hierarch responds to critics of Holy Face banners at Pochaiv procession

Example of a banner depicting the Holy Face of Christ. Photo: Archbishop Jonah’s Facebook page

Archbishop Jonah (Cherepanov) of Obukhiv responded to accusations against participants in the Pochaiv procession who carried banners depicting the Holy Face of Christ. The hierarch wrote about this on Facebook.

According to the archbishop, some “patriots” were outraged by the image of the Holy Face on the pilgrims’ banners, regarding it as a symbol of the Russian occupiers allegedly being promoted by FSB agents. In response, the hierarch cited two photographic examples: an image of the “uncompromising leader” Korchynskyi standing against a similarly composed flag “in the colors of a state that ceased to exist in 1945,” and a screenshot from an online marketplace where a similar banner depicting Christ can be freely purchased for hryvnias with delivery by Ukrposhta.

Archbishop Jonah urged critics to stop looking for imaginary threats and instead provide real help to Ukraine and its defenders. He also recalled that Russian servicemen wear crosses and keep icons of Christ, the Mother of God, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, and Archangel Michael in their vehicles, rhetorically asking whether critics would now campaign against those images as well.

As the UOJ reported, a number of Ukrainian media outlets had previously accused procession participants of carrying a “DPR army flag” instead of an icon of the Savior. That controversy concerned the 2018 procession from Kamianets-Podilskyi to the Pochaiv Lavra, which drew about 20,000 believers.

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