Priest Zechariah Lynch, originally posted at The Inkless Pen, reprinted by permission.
In November of 2019, I wrote an article entitled The Narrow Blindness of False Unity, an Appeal to Orthodox Greeks. Almost seven years later, I am republishing the appeal. Since 2019, the situation surrounding the “recognition” of the structure called the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” (OCU) has only become more disastrous.
The violent persecution of the authentic Orthodox Church, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), under His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry, has only increased. Lamentably, the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s “recognition” of the OCU has only acted to increase and encourage the persecution of the UOC.
The republishing of my original appeal to Orthodox Greeks is very pertinent for a number of reasons. First, September 26th, 2026, certain leadership and groups within the Greek Archdiocese of America (GOARCH) are set to give an award to Zelensky, president of Ukraine. Zelensky’s government is directly involved in the active persecution of the UOC. Ironically enough, the award is called the “beacon of hope.” Obviously, GOARCH must have a very different definition of hope than that of the persecuted Orthodox in Ukraine.
This past Sunday, Aug. 23rd, three monks were ruthlessly attacked at Sviatohirsk Monastery in Ukraine. One of these monks was brutally murdered. The other two are in critical condition at a hospital. The Abbot of this monastery, Met. Arseny, has been under unlawful arrest by the Ukrainian government for some time now. Although I have no direct evidence of government links or OCU links to the attacks, nonetheless, they certainly are the fruit of the continued encouragement of persecution against the UOC.
Ukrainian Orthodox clergy are being abducted and sent to the front lines of the war. In this article, I am providing two recent instances. They are just the tip of the persecution iceberg. Here is a link to a video of the ruthless Ukrainian government abduction of the Priest Ioann from his home. It is heart-wrenching to watch. Here is an article about the abduction of the Priest Anatoliy as he was on a walk. These two represent a multitude of abducted clergy. Here is another link to a video about the abduction of priests. I would ask a question of my GOARCH brethren: what if these were your priests? What would you do? I would ask the organizers of the Zelensky award: do these actions exemplify Christian hope? If they do not, then why is Zelensky being given an award under that name?
I have been covering the events surrounding the establishment of the OCU and the persecution of the UOC since 2018 on my blog. For those who may not be that informed, here is a well-done thirty-minute video summary that is worth watching.
I do not think that GOARCH leadership will listen or change its course. But it is, in my opinion, worth raising our voices. Here is a petition requesting that GOARCH not give the “beacon of hope” award to Zelensky. I’d encourage anyone to sign it.
During the seven years that have transpired since I originally published my appeal to Orthodox Greeks, the leadership in the EP and GOARCH has only intensified its stance and support of the false OCU.
In America, it would be a blessing to see the Assembly of Bishops raise its voice and condemn the persecution of the UOC. Will that happen? Or will politics prevent us from speaking on behalf of suffering Christians?
Regardless of political leanings, the persecution of fellow Christians should be important to all warm-hearted Christians. In that sense, this transcends politics. What does it say of those who, in a desire to support a certain political interest, actively support the violent persecution of fellow Orthodox? Can evil be used as a means to attain a purported “good”?
I am thankfully not in GOARCH. But to those, especially the faithful, the laity, I would say, please raise your voice loudly on behalf of your suffering Orthodox brethren in Ukraine. Watch the above video of the abduction of Fr. Ioann, hear his screams as he is dragged away. Now ask yourself, what if that were your priest? What would you do? Would you remain silent? GOARCH faithful, please raise your voices, write letters to your hierarchs, call them, talk to your priests. Tell them that you do not support the persecution of the UOC. Will you raise your voice on behalf of the persecuted?
Once again I’m publishing my appeal to Orthodox Greeks (ethnic or simply part of GOARCH). What follows is my original appeal from 2019. May the Lord have mercy on us.
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem …” or we may now lament, “O Constantinople, Constantinople!”
Once you were a defender of true Orthodoxy, and now you have begun to promote worldly political agendas. Once you preached the heavenly homeland, and now you are grasping at earthly power!
Rise up! Not in defense of your own rights and powers but rather in the humble defense of Truth and Orthodoxy, then we will gladly follow you!
My Grandmother is a full-blooded Greek; my lineage on that side goes back to Cappadocia, where my ancestors lived for ages (they left at the time of the exchange of populace). It is a great encouragement to know that many Greeks (including my ancestors) stood like an anvil in Holy Orthodoxy under the relentless hammer of Turkish Muslim rule.
Did they endure persecution, the seizure of property, and even death for the Ecumenical Throne of Constantinople? Or was it rather for the Truth of Holy Orthodoxy? Yes, ultimately, they endured for the love of Christ Jesus and His Church, Orthodoxy.
Orthodox Greeks, do you not see your fellow Orthodox brothers and sisters in Ukraine suffering valiantly, as once your ancestors did? They have been persecuted by Government forces, heretics, and radical nationalists. They have lost church buildings, they have been forced out of homes, they have been beaten – all for the same Holy Truth for which your ancestors stood. Now, will you not stand with your Orthodox brethren? Or will your own ancestors condemn you, your silence, and for some, the active support of falsehood? Rise up! Stand in your laudable heritage as defenders of Orthodoxy!
Does not the blood of Christ Jesus in Holy Communion bind all Orthodox together in a manner greater than ethnic bloodlines (as great as they may be)? Are we not all of the “Orthodox Christian race” through holy baptism?
In the Ecclesiastical History by Eusebius, it is noted that Christians had this mindset: “Those who have manfully contended for the truth rather than for their country and who have struggled for piety rather than their dearest friends.” Would that we would again be such as these!
Yet, at present we hear from certain sectors only about “ours,” “our nation,” and “our patriarch,” “our prestige.” We would be wise to remember that in Christ the Lord “there is neither Jew nor Greek … all are one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28). This is not an obliteration of nationality but a confession that a person transcends nationalism through living in Christ. The only thing that will save a person is being in Christ the Lord. No national pedigree will save a man, as grand as it may be. Indeed, only in Christ Jesus can each nation be truly perfected. We see the beauty of this national striving reflected in ideals such as Byzantium and Holy Rus’.
Orthodox faithful, we are called to contend for Truth! Nowhere are we commanded to place “ethnos,” nor one hierarchical throne, above Truth. If we do, this reveals a loss of Gospel vision. This betrays a darkening of the spiritual nous.
I have no ill will towards the Ecumenical Patriarchate (EP), but the EP is neither the totality, nor the fullness of Orthodoxy, nor is it the sole standard thereof, nor a “first without equals,” nor the “mother church” of all. The EP is called, as every Patriarchate and every Bishopric, to uphold the standard of Orthodoxy, the Truth of the Faith. This standard is not directly equated with or contained in any one Patriarch or Bishop. Rather, every Patriarch, Bishop, Priest, Monk, and Layman is subject to the Gospel and Holy Orthodoxy – to rightly divide the Word of Truth. We may simply recall the numerous times that the EP and other Patriarchates have espoused heretical teaching throughout history. Let us also not forget the many wonderful things the Lord has worked through it.
I have outlined in a number of other articles how nefarious is the false church in Ukraine, called the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” (OCU), which is under the EP.
“You shall know them by their fruits,” says our Lord (Matt. 7:16). The testimony of the fruit of the false church in Ukraine (OCU), which is supported by the EP, is not Christian. Its “hierarchs” are indeed wolves in sheep’s clothing, mercenaries in pastoral garb.
Does the EP have the authority to override the Gospel? Does it have the power to turn stones into children of Israel? It does not. Only true repentance can truly change a man by grace.
Why are lies being promoted as truth? The claim put forth by the Greek Archdiocese of America is that “In Ukraine he (Mr. Epiphany, leader of the schismatic OCU in Ukraine under the EP) has already provided the Solomon-like wisdom that was needed to reunify the Church, return to Eucharistic unity, and establish it as an integral member of the group of autocephalous Orthodox Churches worldwide.”
This is a preposterous and outright deceptive claim; every point in it is false. The facts are that Epiphany (and those under him) has caused greater division and promoted persecutions; he has acted in an altogether unchristian manner. The fact is that he has no canonical ordination whatsoever. May we now be heathen inwardly as long as we wear pretty vestments? May we be full of dead man’s bones, as long as we work “as a defender of the religious freedoms of the Ecumenical Patriarchate …”? What does it say of such “freedoms” when it enlists false Christians to defend it? What does it say of such “freedoms” when it relies on violence and persecution to advance them?
No “reunification” has taken place at all! Rather, Epiphany of the OCU has only promoted disunity, together with those behind him. Lord, please preserve us from “Eucharistic unity” with the likes of these!
Has the EP replaced Christ the Lord as the standard of Holy Orthodoxy and the Head of the Church? Is he the new Pope of Orthodoxy? Has the goal of maintaining the perceived honor and prestige of the EP replaced the true Christian vocation of being a humble servant of Christ the Lord and His Church? Has “ethnos” gained a place of prominence above being born anew in Faith?
Have we forgotten the spiritual joy our Christian forefathers and mothers experienced when they suffered persecution and disdain from the world for the sake of the Cross of our Lord? Is preserving worldly prestige and agendas of more value than that honor which comes from God alone?
“A dispute also arose among the disciples as to which of them … was the greatest. And Jesus said to them, ‘The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become the youngest, and the leader as one who serves’” (Lk. 22:24-26).
Today some strive to defend “prestige” through any means. How far we have fallen!?
The growing “recognition” of the false “Met.” Epiphany by those who promote a narrow Greek “ethnos” is an absolute disgrace and travesty. It is a betrayal of everything true Orthodox Greeks stood and fought for.
How is it possible that an uncanonical “Bishop” with an illegitimate “ordination” who heads a “church” that actively persecutes (with violent acts) the longstanding true and canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church would be legitimate in any way? The Scripture says, “If anyone says ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 Jn. 4:20).
Are we so in love with ourselves that the Scriptures are no longer relevant? Are we simply going to praise whitewashed tombs because they serve worldly political agendas and personal aggrandizement? Will we be silent as true Christians suffer and false ones are exalted? Woe to us if we lose our salt, for we will be trampled underfoot even in our pretty vestments and lofty thrones. Woe to us when we call evil good. The “recognition” of the OCU and its support is calling that which is evil – schism, division, and persecution – good. Or as another priest has already said, “somehow this looks completely demonic.”
Those who promote and agree with these actions are in fact participants in them. They themselves are also facilitators of the persecution of the True Church in Ukraine under His Beatitude Met. Onuphry; their hands are also stained with blood.
The glorification of schismatics is heresy. Serving with them is apostasy.
Will other Orthodox Hierarchs speak against these machinations? In America, will we remain silent as the leaders of the Greek Archdiocese actively promote a false church in Ukraine and glorify its leader, Epiphany? What authentic unity will there be if it’s explicitly clear that some have entered into fellowship and union with the schismatic OCU? Let us not deceive ourselves, “A little leaven leavens the whole lump” (Gal. 5:9).
Will we stand with the true Hierarch of Ukraine, His Beatitude, Met. Onuphry, and the suffering faithful there? Will we stand with the persecuted Church?
Will Orthodox Greeks honor their laudable ancestry and heritage by speaking out in defense of their true Orthodox brethren in Ukraine? Or will they become like new Turks: participants in the active persecution of fellow Orthodox brethren?
** Aug. 2022. Since I penned this article almost three years ago, much has transpired. Many more under the sway of “ethnos” and “primacy” have entered into communion with the false “church” in Ukraine. Epiphany is set to travel to Greece in September of this year and serve with the primate of the Church in Greece and Pat. Bartholemew. Thus, it seems, very sadly, these few years later, my appeal to Orthodox Greeks still is pertinent.
My dear friends from Orthodox Reflections!
We have One Judge—our Savior, the Lord – our God Jesus Christ.
And His Kingdom will have no end! And Ukraine has become a land stained with the BLOOD of martyrs for the Orthodox faith.
Patriarch Bartholomew and Zelensky, as well as all your close associates! Earthly life passes quickly, and then comes the ordeals of the soul and God’s judgment! Aren’t you afraid? Prepare for God’s judgment!
Here is important information. Please distribute it widely.
With love in Christ
Your sister in Christ and your Ukrainian friend
Tetyana Avramenko
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https://spzh.eu/en/zashhita-very/96119-two-murders-one-silence
Faith Protection
Two murders, one silence
28 September 14:52
Zelensky condemned the killing of a Catholic priest in Poland the very same day. A month earlier, a UOC monk was murdered at the Sviatohirsk Lavra – and the president has remained silent ever since.
On September 24, 2026, in the Polish city of Jarosław, a citizen of Ukraine, a former soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, attacked a convent of Benedictine sisters and killed a Catholic priest. That very evening, the crime was condemned by Volodymyr Zelensky.
Shortly afterward, the Ukrainian Embassy in Poland issued a statement of its own. Zelensky’s same-day condemnation and call for a thorough investigation were publicly reported.
And rightly so, one might think. When a citizen of your country commits such an atrocity abroad, the head of state should respond.
But there is another question.
A month earlier, on August 23, Monk Varsonofiy (Turianskyi) of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was killed at the Sviatohirsk Lavra. He was killed on Ukrainian soil, behind Ukrainian army lines. Yet neither Zelensky, nor his Office, nor the Interior Ministry, nor the SBU has publicly responded to the killing to this day.
Why, then, does a Catholic priest murdered in Poland merit condolences from the Ukrainian president, while an Orthodox monk murdered in Ukraine does not?
Let us try to understand.
How Poland responded – and how Kyiv responded
First, let us recall what happened in Jarosław. At about 9:30 a.m., a 31-year-old Ukrainian entered the monastery grounds through open gates and began attacking people with a knife. Five people were injured, three of them Catholic priests. One of them later died in the hospital. The attacker was detained at the scene, and the mayor of Jarosław convened an emergency crisis team with the participation of the voivode the same day.
Contemporary reports confirm that one person was killed and four wounded in the attack. More details emerged later. The 31-year-old Ihor M. had previously served in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and fought at the front. He reportedly held Ukrainian and German passports, as well as a Polish PESEL number allowing him to obtain temporary protection status.
Poland’s top officials responded almost immediately. Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote: “The Jarosław killer is in the hands of the Polish police. Investigative measures are underway. The perpetrator is a Ukrainian citizen. He will face the full severity of Polish law. I share the pain of the loved ones of the victims of this brutal attack.”
President Karol Nawrocki was even more forceful: “In the face of such acts, the state must be strong, act swiftly and relentlessly within the law… The task of the state is to ensure the safety of its citizens.”
One may have different views of Nawrocki’s tone, but his central point was clear: the state is responsible for people’s safety. When a priest is murdered in a monastery, it is a matter for the state, not merely for the police.
Zelensky responded to the killing in Poland that same day: “A horrific crime was committed at the Benedictine Sisters’ Abbey in Jarosław by a citizen of Ukraine. We are shocked by this evil… We extend our deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of the deceased.”
He continued: “The person responsible for this evil must be held fully accountable under the law. We expect a swift and thorough investigation into all the circumstances. It is painful that people are capable of such horrific crimes. Justice must prevail.”
The Ukrainian Embassy in Poland did not remain silent either: “We strongly condemn the brutal attack… We consider all manifestations of violence unacceptable. It is especially painful that such a tragedy occurred in a place that should be a sanctuary of prayer and mercy.” The diplomats stressed that “there can be no justification for violence or attacks against people.”
The following day, Ambassador Vasyl Bodnar was already telling journalists where the suspect was being held and what condition he was in. The Embassy’s public condemnation was also reported at the time.
It is not difficult to understand why Kyiv reacted so quickly. Poland is a key ally, relations are already complicated, and now the killer was a former Ukrainian serviceman – something Polish politicians were already highlighting. Silence would have carried too high a reputational cost for Ukraine.
The author’s contention is that the speed of the response reflected not only sympathy, but political calculation. UOC believers inside Ukraine, by contrast, have neither Poland’s Confederation party nor a Polish president capable of putting pressure on Bankova Street – and, in this view, there has consequently been no comparable response.
No one is criticizing Zelensky for what he said. Quite the opposite: those were the right words, spoken at the right time.
The question is why he could not find the same words for his own citizen – a UOC monk murdered at the Lavra.
The diplomats wrote that it was especially painful when tragedy struck “a place that should be a space of prayer and mercy.” They were speaking about a Polish monastery.
No Ukrainian official wrote anything comparable about the Sviatohirsk Lavra.
Sviatohirsk: a month of silence
At around 11 a.m. on August 23, a group of people attacked residents of the Sviatohirsk Lavra near St. Nicholas Church in the monastery’s upper grounds. Monk Varsonofiy (Turianskyi) died from a through-and-through gunshot wound to the head and neck. Monk Gregory was wounded, as was Andrii Kyriienko, who was living at the monastery.
The UOC reported the attack that same day, and the Lavra later said the forensic medical certificate identified a gunshot wound to the head and neck as the cause of Varsonofiy’s death. A criminal investigation remains underway.
Kyriienko spoke about the attack in the days that followed. According to his account, he was assaulted after responding “incorrectly” to the greeting “Glory to Ukraine!” with the words “Glory to God.” The article argues that the circumstances suggest Monk Varsonofiy paid with his life for similarly “incorrect” words.
Schema-Archimandrite Gabriel (Bunge) later put it this way: “That monk could easily have saved his life if he had obeyed his killers’ demand. But he did not. He answered as a Christian: glory belongs to God alone.”
Of course, the investigation into the Sviatohirsk killing formally continues. But already now we can say that the theory of a Russian sabotage and reconnaissance group appears untenable. We can judge this from a statement by Andrii Biletskyi, commander of the 3rd Army Corps – a man hardly likely to be suspected of sympathy toward the UOC: “There has never been a Russian soldier in Sviatohirsk… The city of Sviatohirsk lies within the defensive sector of the 60th Mechanized Brigade of the 3rd Army Corps. It is a rear area of our corps.”
In other words, the monk was killed behind Ukrainian army lines, in territory controlled by the Ukrainian state.
In Jarosław, the killer was a former Ukrainian serviceman. In Sviatohirsk, the article says, a monk was killed by people in military clothing behind Ukrainian lines. The president spoke about the former soldier who committed a crime abroad on the very same day. About the people in uniform who killed a monk at home – not a word.
Can that simply be coincidence?
Former Ukrainian MP Ihor Mosiychuk put his interpretation of the Sviatohirsk killing bluntly: “It sends a signal to the military that nobody cares – you can do whatever you want.”
Where did the hatred come from?
It is hard to believe that Zelensky simply failed to notice a tragedy in a small frontline city. More likely, the problem lies elsewhere. To honestly condemn the Sviatohirsk murder would mean having to say where the atmosphere came from in which a man in a cassock could be killed outside a church.
And that is something the authorities clearly do not want to do. Because that atmosphere was years in the making. And it was created by people who were anything but marginal.
Let us remember Kvartal 95 – the studio Zelensky himself once founded and headed. In late 2022, presenters on its Bayraktar News program used obscene language to insult UOC clergy and read out a mock “price list”: “spit at an MP priest – 20 hryvnias”; “hit him on the left cheek and automatically on the right – 100 hryvnias.”
Some people found it funny.
But on January 2, 2023, a man burst into a UOC church in Vinnytsia and slashed the rector across the throat with a straight razor. Beneath the Kvartal video, one user later wrote: “His blood is on your hands too.”
Government officials also spoke out in sweeping terms. Oleksii Danilov, then secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, said: “This institution [the UOC – Ed.] contained many representatives of the so-called intelligence community of the Russian Federation.”
Note the distinction: he was not speaking about specific individuals whose guilt had been established in court, but about the Church as an institution. When the official responsible for national security speaks this way during wartime, millions of believers can effectively find themselves branded without trial. The rhetoric was then picked up by lawmakers, “experts,” television “religious scholars,” and bloggers.
Gradually, it was reduced to three labels: “sect,” “Muscovites,” and “FSB in cassocks.”
A recent Kyiv FM broadcast offers a telling example. Journalist Bohdan Butkevych, appearing on the program Kyiv Speaks. War with activist Maryna Koval, discussed the question: “Is there a chance to ban the Russian Church in Ukraine?”
Speaking about UOC believers, he said: “I have my own score to settle with them – with that scum who pretend to be Christians even though they are not.”
Butkevych said the point of the broadcast was to determine whether it was possible to “cut off the head of this hydra.” He called the clergy “bastards in black cassocks.” By the end of the program, Butkevych said he would gladly serve as executioner at a trial of the UOC.
And this was not 2022, when emotions were running white-hot in the first weeks of the war. Butkevych said all this after the killing at the Lavra.
Such statements are nothing new for him. Back in 2014, appearing on Hromadske.TV, he spoke of “a certain category of people who simply need to be killed.”
Twelve years have passed. He is still on the air, and no state institution has publicly responded to those words.
Imagine for a moment that a journalist on Kyiv radio called OCU members, Catholics, Greek Catholics, Jews, or Muslims “scum” and volunteered to become their executioner. How long would it take for the National Council, prosecutors, or perhaps even the president himself to respond? Hardly more than a day.
But when such things are said about UOC Orthodox Christians, no one bats an eye.
Metropolitan Timotheos of Bostra of the Jerusalem Patriarchate put the danger this way: “When people are taught for years to see an enemy in their baptized brother, sooner or later someone will inevitably carry that idea to its ultimate conclusion.”
The Odesa Eparchy of the UOC put it more simply: “Words have consequences.”
And there is the answer to why the authorities remain silent about Sviatohirsk. If they seriously condemn the murder of Fr. Varsonofiy, they will have to admit that it has a prehistory.
And there are too many familiar faces in that prehistory – from former Kvartal colleagues to the former secretary of the National Security and Defense Council.
It is far easier to pretend nothing happened.
But when the head of state remains silent in a situation like this, that silence is still perceived as a signal.
The signal was understood correctly
Mosiychuk, as we have already noted, called this silence a “signal to the military.” Someone may argue with that. But what is happening in practice speaks for itself.
First – mobilization.
Reports appear almost daily of UOC priests being detained by Territorial Recruitment Center (TRC) officers. At the same time, we have repeatedly stressed that the Church is not asking for any special privileges for its clergy. The issue is equal treatment and the fact that, under Church canons, a priest cannot take up arms – something DESS is perfectly well aware of.
Under the Geneva Conventions, military chaplains are considered noncombatants. Yet in Ukraine, UOC priests are sent to the front regardless of their clerical status or cassocks.
Second – the information environment.
Butkevych is not an exception. He simply says openly what others say in more veiled terms. When a capital-city radio station discusses how to “cut off the hydra’s head,” while the news routinely speaks of “Moscow priests,” a simple picture takes shape in people’s minds: these people are beyond the pale, and no one will stand up for them.
Bishop Job of Stuttgart warned about precisely this. He said that violence against a representative of a Church “that for many years in Ukraine has stood on the brink of a state ban” takes us “back to the days of early Christianity, when representatives of a religio illicita – a forbidden religion – could and should be destroyed for the good of society.”
And third – impunity.
Almost four years have passed since the attack in Vinnytsia. Throughout that time, attacks on UOC priests have become neither occasions for statements from the authorities nor high-profile court cases.
Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanich), Chancellor of the UOC, asked: “Has someone really been given the right to kill with impunity simply because another person is of the ‘wrong faith’?”
More than a month later, there is still no answer from the state.
And that silence is understood perfectly well by everyone – including those carrying weapons.
What the authorities should remember
Ukraine’s authorities are very fond of talking about the country’s European choice and European values.
Well then, let us remember what those values say about freedom of conscience.
Article 35 of the Constitution of Ukraine guarantees everyone freedom of worldview and religion. Article 24 prohibits privileges or restrictions on grounds of religious belief. Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, ratified by Ukraine, protects the freedom to practice one’s religion. And the European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly stressed that the state must remain neutral and impartial toward different religious denominations and has no right to decide whose faith is “correct.”
And then there is the simplest point of all: the state exists to protect the lives of its citizens. All of its citizens – not just the ones it likes.
In the European Union, which Ukraine is so eager to join, people look not only at laws governing prosecutors and anti-corruption agencies. They also look at how a state protects minorities.
German CDU member Irina Volfson put it very clearly: “Freedom of religion and the protection of minorities must never depend on which religion a person belongs to.”
The picture is a strange one.
Gather together all the reactions to the tragedy in Sviatohirsk, and it turns out that some of the loudest demands for an investigation into the killing of a Ukrainian citizen on Ukrainian soil are coming from Europe.
Kyiv simply remains silent.
Instead of an afterword
So it appears that the Ukrainian state divides the dead into those whose deaths deserve acknowledgment and those whose deaths are better left unmentioned. And the dividing line is neither citizenship nor the place where the crime occurred.
It is church affiliation.
UOC believers will remember this.
They do not need to be told what war is. Many of them are fighting. Many are burying their sons. Many have lost their homes.
They do not need anyone to explain what it means to love Ukraine. They understand perfectly well. And they see everything – above all, the radically different responses to the same kind of crime.
The tragedy is that while the authorities remain silent, the Butkevychs keep talking.
And where the Butkevychs keep talking, sooner or later someone will once again pick up a weapon and walk to the gates of a monastery. And by then, he will no longer care which one.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWyuarg0Sb4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zjv-7T16b0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIMtMvr0jZg
DISRESPECTED Patriarch Bartholomew!
It is me, AVRAMENKO Tetyana, Ukrainian friend of ORTHODOX REFLECTIONS and I DO NOT RESPECT YOU!
I would like to tell you that after the BLOODY SCHISM—in which you, “Your Holiness,” were a direct participant—it is unlikely that you will be welcomed into the Kingdom of Heaven. You are up to your neck in the BLOOD of the Orthodox faithful of the UOC and in all the lawlessness perpetrated by Zelensky, the SBU, the Ukrainian police, Ukrainian courts and media, the Ukrainian parliament, and their entire entourage in Ukraine. And what will you, Patriarch Bartholomew, say at the Judgment before God, before your soul—if it does not REPENT—descends into HELL? Here is important information regarding the lawlessness and inaction of the Ukrainian authorities, carried out with the support of Patriarch Bartholomew in Ukraine. ETERNAL SHAME UPON THEM ALL!
https://spzh.eu/en/news/95221-a-monk-was-brutally-murdered-at-the-svyatogorsk-lavra-two-others-wounded
Monk brutally murdered, two others wounded at Sviatohirsk Lavra23 August 21:30
Unidentified assailants attacked members of the monastic brotherhood with a knife, leaving one dead and two seriously wounded.
On August 23, 2026, a group of unidentified assailants attacked the brotherhood of the UOC’s Holy Dormition Sviatohirsk Lavra, monastery representatives told the UOJ.
The attack occurred at around 11:00 a.m. near St. Nicholas Church in the upper part of the monastery. Monk Varsonofiy was brutally stabbed to death, and his face was mutilated beyond recognition.
Monk Grigory, whose lung was punctured by a knife, and novice Andriy were also wounded. Both are in serious condition at a hospital in Kharkiv.
Investigative and operational measures are currently underway.
The UOJ will continue to follow developments.
The UOJ previously reported that a UOC archimandrite had been beaten during the seizure of a cathedral in Kremenchuk.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/JvbqgD9d8IE
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/vM8ACv4JsMY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1NjlFdEojI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-v6f4JZrNk4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os-kRlnrJy4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJwdP1Mt2t0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGgeWDeMWNE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKAOAxfSB60
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKAOAxfSB60
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKAOAxfSB60
Father Zacheria appeal to the Greek Archdioces of America is far more gentle , than that of Greek Orthodox Faithful ….
For Immediate Press Release: Concerned Greek Orthodox Christians of New Jersey for the rule of God’s and Man’s law’s : Source: God
Orthodox Christians protest Church and State Sponsorship of Terrorism … Zelensky regime of Ukraine Awards night
OPEN LETTER TO THE ARCHDIOCESE AND ALLIES …
“This Issue is not just an Orthodox Issue , but an Issue for Catholic, Protestant, and all Christian denominations … where Persecution , Terrorism , War crimes and Oppression of Human and Religious rights of Christians Churches, faithful and Humanity are “ Acceptable Consequences” of U.S , Israeli , EU and Ukrainian undeclared Warfare and Policies .
“If you believe in God, I beg you, leave the church, let me bury my son!” a grief-stricken woman screams, kneeling in the snow in front of the priest. He is surrounded by Ukrainian officials and territorial defense fighters who are there to help him seize the church. A woman begs him in Ukrainian to stop. Her son, who went to the front and died in the battles for the city of Bakhmut, prayed in this church, and now the mother wants to bid him goodbye. “You didn’t let me pray in front of the icon yesterday, your men beat me up. I beg you to leave, let me bury Volodya!”
Ukrainian Orthodox Christian Mother banned from Ukrainian Orthodox Churches
Priest Renews Appeal to GOARCH to Oppose Persecution of UOC
https://uoj.news/news/priest-renews-appeal-to-goarch-to-oppose-persecution-of-uoc/