Did they turn on the light? Hysteria around the "God-fighters of Ukraine" website
The persecutors were not afraid when they seized churches, banned the Church, and incited hatred. But they became agitated when the website "God-fighters of Ukraine" appeared. Why?
In May 2026, "patriotic" social networks exploded with indignation: a new website "God-Fighters of Ukraine" appeared in the media, aimed at defending the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. It contains sections about temple seizures, clergy mobilization, violence against believers, and more. The site positions itself as an "online archive of facts about religious persecution in Ukraine." The project's authors state that they collect testimonies about violations of believers' rights, evidence of crimes, stories of persecution victims, and dossiers on persecutors.
But the page "Persecutors" attracted the most attention, where the names of people who have distinguished themselves by inciting hatred against the UOC or actions to seize its temples are published.
When persecutors spoke the language of victims
State Ethnopolitics expert Lyudmila Filipovich, a figure in "God-Fighters," erupted in an angry Facebook post, where she wrote that the project's creators allegedly call for the murder of those listed. "Active persecutors are named. Now – get them! Isn't this a call for their destruction??? It's time to open criminal cases, respected prosecutor's office, because they are encroaching on the life and health of specific people," she wrote.
In the comments to this post, Uzhhorod "bishop" of the OCU Varsonofiy Rudnik called the site "a list for Muscovites, with a request for priority execution." "And our special services, as always, turn a blind eye to such things. This is not a manifestation of democracy, this is a manifestation of open, unveiled collaboration and aggression against Ukrainians inside the country. And we still want a just peace…" wrote the "hierarch."
MP Pavlenko, who organized the Tomos for the OCU, also saw not an archive of facts in "God-Fighters," but "hatred." He wrote that "nothing testifies in favor of the fastest possible ban" of UOC structures as much as "the hatred they continue to sow." According to him, from under the "sheep's clothing" of those suffering for faith, one can see the "wolf's grin of hatred toward the Ukrainian Church, state, and people."
OCU cleric Roman Grishchuk and Greek Catholic hieromonk Justin Boyko went even further: they saw in "God-Fighters" a parallel with the scandalously known "Peacemaker" website, where personal data of thousands of Ukrainians who allegedly committed crimes against national security were published for years.
This reaction is telling.
People who for years broadcast hatred toward the UOC, called for seizures, searches, forceful actions, branding millions of believers as "Moscow agents," suddenly took offense that all these facts were collected on one website and those who engaged in all this were named by name.
Most surprising of all was what Justin Boyko said on the air of Lviv's NTA channel. According to him, "God-Fighters" "brand people the way communists once did, calling people enemies of the people."
"This is an ancient practice from the time of Nero, who declared Christians undesirable for society, which became the cause of repressions against them," Boyko declared, assuring that the site "brands all those who dare to say even a word of criticism toward the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC – Ed.)."
At the same time, Boyko himself called UOC parishioners in Lviv, who secretly attend services in apartments, "Muscovites and traitors." "These are people who have as their idée fixe Patriarch Kirill, Putin, and the Russian world," Boyko said. According to him, "this disease is cured by time and death."
A vivid example of double standards: a person openly lies and incites hatred toward an entire group of people – UOC believers – but as soon as someone calls this out loud, he instantly transforms into an innocent victim who is being "branded by communists as enemies of the people." However, isn't it Boyko himself who, with his rhetoric, pushes the persecuted UOC parishioners of Lviv region – those from whom the authorities have taken or destroyed ALL temples – into the position of real enemies of the people? And don't the absurd labels of "Muscovites" and "Russian world supporters" make them outcasts?
And exactly the same logic applies to all other figures in "God-Fighters." But still, why are they so concerned? After all, they essentially retransmit the authorities' position. Behind them are the SBU, media, any expertise, and all the power of the state.
Why is publicity so frightening?
On the "About the Project" page, "God-Fighters of Ukraine" directly formulates its task: to collect and preserve facts of religious violations so that crimes are not forgotten, and victims can defend their rights "both in Ukrainian and international instances." Is there anything reprehensible here? For a democratic society – not at all.
Here's another thesis from "God-Fighters": "The first stage of responsibility for violators is publicity. We make crimes visible and public."
This, essentially, is what caused panic. Publicity! By itself, it frightens UOC enemies. But why? After all, most of the facts collected on "God-Fighters" are already in open access. Often persecutors themselves publish corresponding photos and videos, themselves make angry statements on social networks. They are not afraid to do all this and speak about it out loud, to publicize it too – so why were they frightened when the same facts were simply collected together on one website?
Here's the thing. UOC persecutors wrap their atrocities in elegant ideological packaging. In it, such a person appears before the public not as a persecutor of believers, but as a "patriot," "expert," "public figure," "defender of the state," "fighter against Moscow's influence." And everything he does is covered by euphonious slogans: "security," "decolonization," "spiritual independence," "voluntary community transition," "will of the people," and so on.
And "God-Fighters" do a simple thing: they remove the ideological packaging and show the "naked" action. Who beat, who cut temple doors with an angle grinder, who stood nearby, who blessed, who organized, and so on. And outside the "patriotic" context, it turns out that these are simply facts that fall under criminal articles and entail other unpleasantries.
And here it turns out that many are ready to participate in persecutions of the Church, but are not ready for their participation to be recorded.
For example, Lyudmila Filipovich, whose angry post is cited above. The site says about her that on "Channel 5" Filipovich proposed dismantling UOC temples and transporting them to Russia, and "cleansing the brains" of UOC believers. Why wasn't she afraid to say all this on TV, but when that information appeared on the "God-Fighters" website, she suddenly considered it a threat?
Because on "Channel 5" all her words were wrapped in that same beautiful ideological packaging, while on "God-Fighters" it's presented simply as fact. A fact of inciting hatred on religious grounds.
And Justin Boyko explains the reason for concern. "Obviously, in some perspective it will negatively affect people's biographies, since it will be referenced. Sooner or later – if it hasn't already surfaced – it will surface at some international church meetings or even in international parliaments, where Russian lobby will work and will name the persecutors of the Moscow church," declared the UGCC cleric.
And if the passages about "lobby" and "Moscow church" are familiar lying propaganda, then the scenario where "God-Fighters" figures might face sanctions on international platforms is quite real. And this is not to mention that practically all the mentioned persons fall under the action of one or another article of Ukraine's Criminal Code. And the time will come when they will start working.
"Peacemaker" is allowed, "God-Fighters" is not?
The comparison of "God-Fighters" with "Peacemaker" looks especially caricatured. Because if this comparison works, it's not at all in favor of "God-Fighters" critics.
The "Peacemaker" website has long been known for publishing personal data of people whom its authors considered a threat to Ukraine's national security. Addresses, phone numbers, workplace, other personal information are published.
Moreover, "Peacemaker" sometimes includes not individual personalities, but en masse everyone who happened to be "in the wrong place at the wrong time." For example, in 2016 "Peacemaker" published names and contact details of 4,508 journalists and media representatives who worked in territories not controlled by Kyiv. "Peacemaker" called them all "terrorist accomplices."
This caused a wave of protests from various human rights organizations. And G7 ambassadors in Ukraine stated that mass disclosure of personal data on the "Peacemaker" website endangers these people's personal safety.
In some cases, it turns into tragedy. For example, in 2015 "Peacemaker" published personal data of former MP Oleg Kalashnikov and journalist Oles Buzina. Soon after publication, they were both killed near their apartments.
Let's compare: "Peacemaker" published personal data of people, including journalists, with the ideological label of "terrorist accomplices" or "enemies." "God-Fighters of Ukraine" do not publish personal data and do not hang labels.
The difference is fundamental. If "Peacemaker" directly indicated where and how one could find an unwanted person, then "God-Fighters" simply record violations of religious rights with indication of public figures, their positions, and actions.
Why then do people who calmly related to "Peacemaker" suddenly become horrified by a website where facts are simply collected and personalities indicated?
They fear the light
The Gospel says: "For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed, because they are evil…" (John 3:20). This is not just a moralizing phrase. This is a law of spiritual life. Good does not fear light, it does not fear being seen. And evil always needs fog, justifications, slogans, and the silence of its victims.
But when victims stop being silent, when they begin to speak the truth, then we see that reaction which followed the publications on the "God-Fighters of Ukraine" website.
