From Judas to this day: The story of a priest who swapped Christ for money
On May 13, 2024, Priest Vasyl Kovtash from Bukovyna announced that he is joining the OCU. But why did he do it?
Over the recent period, several dozen priests have left the UOC for the OCU. There is no talk of any "mass transition" (as representatives of Dumenko thought at the beginning of the war), but even these few dozen are a lot for the Church. Because the departure of one person from the Church is always a tragedy for all of us, especially if that person is a priest. Among them, there may be Christians or simply decent people. But with each "transition", we see that there are many more "Judas", traitors, and dishonest people. To avoid being baseless, let's give one specific example.
"A Moment of Fame"
Not so long ago, the Bukovynian media was stirred by the news that a "well-known blogger-priest from the UOC has moved to the OCU." We are talking about the former priest of the Chernivtsi-Bukovyna Diocese of the UOC, Archpriest Vasyl Kovtash.
Some publications even called him the "most famous blogger-priest of the UOC". Although his fame is relative, because he does not have so many followers on TikTok and Facebook for this fame to be taken seriously. But for a rural priest, 67,000 followers is quite a lot.
On May 13, 2024, Vasyl Kovtash wrote that the "decision is made" and practically on the same day, he was photographed with the "hierarch" of the Chernivtsi Diocese of the OCU, Feognost. On May 16, Kovtash spoke on the GIT channel about the reasons for his decision.
We won't delve into all the interviews of this, actually, inarticulate person who cannot clearly express his thoughts. Let's focus on a few quite indicative moments.
"Betrayed or not betrayed?"
So, at the very beginning, the journalist asks why Vasyl switched to the OCU. Instead of a specific answer, Kovtash talked about being from the Lviv region and immediately started promoting his pages on TikTok and Facebook. "I'm a blogger," he declared, but then corrected himself, saying, "but first and foremost, I am a priest."
Another interesting moment occurred at the 20th minute when he was asked about betrayal. Essentially, how parishioners and acquaintances reacted to his transition to the OCU. It was clear that this question touched a nerve, and he struggled to find words. When he finally started speaking, he came up with this: "I didn't betray Metropolitan Onuphry, nor did I betray Patriarch Kirill... Ah, well, or did I still betray him?"
So, did he betray or not? We don't know how Vasyl himself sees it (because we didn't understand anything from his answer), but we know what those same parishioners, whose opinion the journalists asked about, think. Here are just a few screenshots of comments on one of Kovtash's recent posts:
The subscribers write: "How can you change your views on the fly?", "Vasyl is talking nonsense", "Has your soul been warmed up by 30 pieces of silver?", "Schismatics...", "Forgive him, Lord, for he knows not what he does."
Some other comments are: "On the fly... Only at Christmas did he film Metropolitan Onuphry only to appear on the photo together with Serhiy Dumenko at Easter... Shocking... Traitor", "Jackass", "the seed falling among thorns", "Judas".
In the middle of the interview, Kovtash delivered a true "masterpiece" about praying to the "Ukrainian god". He mentioned that in February 2024, he left his post, went abroad to "spiritually support" Ukrainians in Brussels, but apparently something didn't work out there, and he returned to... "pray to his Ukrainian god". What kind of "Ukrainian god" is he talking about, and how does this "god" differ from Christ – Kovtash didn't explain.
On the other hand, it's not only sad that this person has a mess in his head, but also that this person used to be a UOC priest for 10 years. What did he teach people? And how did he even become a priest? However, there's one point to be made.
What happens to those who switch sides?
We have long noticed that after "switching" to the OCU, something seems to happen both to former priests of our Church and to ordinary laypeople. And it's not just about the aggression, malice, and hatred that literally pour out of them in an endless stream. It's about how their words, actions, and even their appearance change beyond recognition. They say that if the Lord wants to punish someone, He deprives them of their reason. Similarly here: the things Kovtash says now are so different from what he said just a month or two ago that it could indicate some serious damage, at least to his conscience.
Again, to avoid baseless claims, let's present a few facts.
On May 18, 2024, Dumenko arrived in the village of Mamayevtsi, near Chernivtsi. Kovtash eagerly approached him for "blessing" and, naturally, he filmed everything – after all, he is a blogger.
In his communication with Epifaniy, Vasyl mentioned that he "felt what the 'Russian world' is, what the ideology of the 'Russian world' is" and noted that Dumenko is a fine example for him. An example of what, betrayal? After all, Serhiy Petrovych essentially betrayed Filaret Denysenko (leader of the schismatic UOC-Kyiv Patriarchate, which merged with the UAOC in 2019 to give birth to the so-called "Orthodox Church of Ukraine", led by Dumenko – Ed.), who literally raised him. Just like Kovtash betrayed his parishioners and his Church.
For example, here's what he wrote after an unknown person beat Metropolitan Longin: "This is the price of purity of faith."
So, two months ago, Kovtash believed that Metropolitan Longin was an example of purity of faith, and the Church he belonged to preserved this purity. Not the "Russian world" but faith.
On January 14, 2024, the then priest Vasyl shared a joint photo with the Primate of the UOC, Metropolitan Onuphry. The photo is accompanied by an audio track in which a digital voice (for some reason) tells how grateful he is to God for everything.
On the same day, he posted two more videos. In the first one, titled "Our Beatitude", we see a moment from the service officiated by Metropolitan Onuphry in the Bancheny Monastery of the UOC.
In the second one, Father Vasyl, against the backdrop of the main cathedral of the Bancheny Monastery, talks about being in a "wonderful place", his soul being "filled with God's grace and joy" from concelebration with His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry. He particularly emphasized "the love that His Beatitude has for people and for the Church."
But just three months later, the same (or no longer the same?) Vasyl Kovtash says that he is grateful to God for such a "Beatitude" as Epifaniy Dumenko. When was he lying?
Advertising business
Probably, from the moment he decided to switch to Dumenko's side. Father Vasyl made up his mind to do so not on May 13 but much earlier. When? Probably when he realized that being a "blogger-priest" could earn him more than just being a priest.
Yes, Father Vasyl was involved in advertising even before joining the OCU. But as a cleric of the UOC, he couldn't advertise everything indiscriminately – he had to be selective because there are canons, there are bishops, there is a flock that could ask uncomfortable questions. And therefore, the priest advertised spots at the Chernivtsi market where one could buy stoles, priestly attire, kamilavkas, and so on.
It's clear that the audience for such advertising is small and very specific, meaning that it won't be possible to earn much. But he really wanted money.
Already abroad, Father Vasyl records videos where he talks about being highly demanded in advertising business and declared that a minute of his 'service' costs 50 euros – "because one must value oneself."
Of course, those who were "lining up" to him were not owners of tailoring workshops but people from different marketing categories.
For example, a restaurant owner. Here the audience is larger, and consequently, the earnings from advertising are more substantial. So Kovtash doesn't hesitate and records three videos right away, in which he talks about some tavern on the Zhytomyr highway.
The problem is that there exists the 54th Apostolic Canon, according to which, "If any of the clergy be found eating in a tavern, let him be excommunicated, unless he has been constrained by necessity, on a journey, to lodge in an inn."
But in the UOC, Father Vasyl would definitely have been reminded that advertising a tavern is not good, not right for a clergyman. Because, as the Greek canonist Zonaras writes, "those called to be God's lot must be an example of a modest life for the laity, blameless in everything, so that the name of God is not blasphemed because of them. And visiting taverns shows that those who do so lead an immodest life, and that their morals are corrupted not only with regard to food and drink but also in relation to all other conduct."
Moreover, Kovtash would have been asked in the UOC whether a priest should sell his time for 50 euros per minute.
But in the OCU, no one will ask about that. The leaders of this structure are not concerned with what their henchmen are busy with in their spare time. Therefore, the choice in favor of Dumenko was logically predetermined.
And when you watch an interview with Vasyl Kovtash, who cannot clearly answer why he switched to the OCU, you understand that the reason is one – money.
Exactly the same reason that prompted Judas to betray Christ.
