July 27th, 2026
To the Trustees of St. Nicholas Church and National Shrine:
Christ is in our midst!
However, I am writing to protest your decision to honor Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine as the 2026 “Beacon of Hope.” Zelensky is a divisive, dishonorable character, unworthy of any award.
As an American with multigenerational American roots, I would likewise object to honoring any other autocrat on the planet.
The dictator Zelensky is ruling Ukraine as a police state, having suspended elections, silenced critics, and censored the media. His government has violently seized and repurposed more than 1,000 Ukrainian Orthodox Church properties, has beaten and arrested clerics and parishioners, and has committed countless human rights violations. This is only an abbreviated list of his thuggery; a full accounting would take pages.
Why would you even associate with Zelensky? Aren’t you invoking a potential PR crisis?
I object to your using an Orthodox organization and an awards dinner to promote militarism and to score geopolitical points. And I urge you to rescind the Zelensky award and to choose a worthy non-political honoree.
Sincerely,
Cassandra St. John, an Orthodox Christian
If you would like to join Cassandra in objecting to honor being bestowed on a dictator and persecutor of canonical Orthodoxy, please sign the petition below. Each time the petition is signed, an email with the petition text will be sent to info@stnicholaswtc.org, info@goarch.org, archdiocese@goarch.org, communications@assemblyofbishops.org, and info@archons.org. Further, prior to the event, a final copy with all signatures attached will be delivered to the Assembly of Orthodox Bishops, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, the Board of Trustees, and the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Even if we get tens of thousands of signatures, will they cancel the event? Of course not, but a protest of the event makes for bad PR, and optics are an obsession for Constantinople. American Orthodox Christians, and others who care about Ukraine, have to challenge the narrative of widespread support for Zelensky. Otherwise, Constantinople will continue its narrative that Zelensky, and his persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, are popular among Orthodox Christians. American Orthodox need to be very clear before God and the world: this is not done in our name. Non-Orthodox are welcome to sign as well! Orthodox jurisdiction is optional. Leave blank if not applicable.
Silence equals assent.
Petition Text:
“I object to the Board of Trustees of the St. Nicholas Church and National Shrine bestowing an award on Zelensky, the dictator of Ukraine. Zelensky is not a democratically elected head of state. He has cancelled elections, shut down his opposition, and engaged in brutal repression. He and his government have actively persecuted the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, even to the point of forcibly conscripting canonical Orthodox priests into the Ukrainian Army. Many American Orthodox belong to jurisdictions that actively pray, each Divine Liturgy, for Metropolitan Onuphry, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and the Ukrainian people. Honoring Zelenksy in this manner is a direct slap in the face to all Orthodox jurisdictions in North America that recognize the UOC as the canonical Church in Ukraine. It is also a rejection of God, Whose Church is under attack, and Whose beloved Ukrainian people deserve peace and honest government. In shame and repentance, you should cancel this event. I doubt you will. However, know that American Orthodox have rejected your actions honoring this man with Christian blood on his hands. This is not done in our name. The Trustees and other officials of the Greek Archdiocese will answer alone for their actions before the Dread Judgement Seat of Christ. Amen.
In Christ,
(Your name will be displayed in the email)”
Additional Suggestions
So we are flooding some inboxes with each signed petition, but there is more you can do (besides sharing the petition):
Visit the website dedicated to saving the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Let St. Nicholas Trustees hear from you on Social Media: X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube
Canonical religious freedom or money ?????
Why are pro-bono bloggers and Mr. Gianakos leading the charge against the Zelensky dinner?
Where are the American Orthodox luminaries? The priests and commentators with large followings? The professors, artists, and authors? The YouTubers and experts who grant interviews and speak at conferences?
With the Zelensky dinner, the war against the Orthodox Church is on their shores. Exactly what type of flashpoint are they awaiting, before they deign to speak up loudly and persistently against the religious repression funded by their own government?
If you are Orthodox, the Zelensky dinner is your problem. Period.
If you’re an “influencer,” where are you?
Dropping soon. We got one at least. https://x.com/i/status/2088504325991784919
Good.
We don’t need them !
“In judgement I come into this world, so the Blind can see, and those who can see will go Blind”— John 9:39
God will not be satisfied with just the “exorcism” of the heretic leaders of Goarch ,but the heretic religious leaders of the United States government… Period!
And he lets us see ..that are all going to go blind ..if you haven’t noticed!
Take or send copy of the criminal complaint and just fill in the name of your local representative.. as I have done….
Republican Congressman Tom Kean Jr. of New Jersey now joins the State Department and officials of both parties in the criminal complaint because, despite receiving a 2023 petition documenting alleged persecution of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, he took no action to condemn the abuses and continued voting to fund the Zelensky government.
After receiving notice, he allegedly tried to mislead constituents by appearing with Volodymyr Zelensky in front of St. Michael’s Cathedral, a church allegedly banned or targeted by the Ukrainian government. By ignoring the documented persecution and using religious imagery to sanitize a foreign leader accused of repression, he is alleged to have aligned himself with the same political‑religious network at the center of the complaint against GOARCH and the State Department.
Thank you, Tribulation Saints.
Link to full video, with its accompanying sources, including Orthodox Reflections:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csuAfPAkeak
[…] ΔΗΛΩΣΗ ΓΙΝΕΤΑΙ ΕΔΩ. (Orthodox […]
Headline from the Greek blog The Doors The Doors:
“Americans collect signatures against awarding Volodymyr Zelensky.”
Includes Greek translation of the letter and petition text.
https://tasthyras.wordpress.com/2026/08/13/%ce%b1%ce%bc%ce%b5%cf%81%ce%b9%ce%ba%ce%b1%ce%bd%ce%bf%ce%af-%cf%83%cf%85%ce%bb%ce%bb%ce%ad%ce%b3%ce%bf%cf%85%ce%bd-%cf%85%cf%80%ce%bf%ce%b3%cf%81%ce%b1%cf%86%ce%ad%cf%82-%ce%b5%ce%bd%ce%ac%ce%bd/
Sign the petition, and then follow up with a phone call.
Here are phone numbers. Deliver a brief, polite message to whomever answers the phone: “I am calling to let the archbishop, trustees, and archons know that I oppose their September dinner for Mr. Zelensky of Ukraine. Thank you.”
Office of the Archbishop: 212-570-3511
St. Nicholas Church & National Shrine: 212-227-0773
Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate: 212-570-3550
“WAR is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.” -Smedley Butler, War Is a Racket
Mhm, right, gotcha.
Ecumenical Patriarch: “There Has Never Been, Nor Will There Ever Be, A ‘Holy War’”
https://archons.org/persecution/ecumenical-patriarch-holy-war/
This invitation for the dictator Zelensky to appear at a dinner sponsored by the St. Nicholas Shrine is a desecration of the memory of those who died on 9/11. Zelensky has robbed American taxpayers – relatives of those who were killed at Ground Zero – to finance his war in Ukraine and the Ukrainian “government” to conscript Orthodox Christian men to fight against their Russian counterparts while their churches are being confiscated to the heretical and uncanonical EpiPHONY Dumenko and the OCU. Enough with this war against the Canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church and her faithful. None of this is worthy of any type of award, but especially when it is connected to the Orthodox Church here in America. Elpidophoros, Bartholomew, and the Archons are a disgrace.
Look at that crowd. This Lavra is about 5 hours west of Kiev:
THOUSANDS PRAY AT POCHAEV LAVRA AS STATE TRIES TO SHUT IT DOWN (+VIDEO)
Pochaev, Ternopil Province, Ukraine, August 7, 2026
Excerpt:
The Lavra was given a month either to leave the UOC—which would render it schismatic—or face a lawsuit aimed at forcing its closure.
Link with article, photos, video:
https://orthochristian.com/179429.html
By contrast, below are the OCU schismatic usurpers live-action-role-playing (LARPing) on stolen Church property. Notice the tight photos to make the crowds look large.
Links with photos:
https://orthodoxtimes.com/first-divine-liturgy-by-metropolitan-epifaniy-at-st-anne-church-of-the-kyiv-pechersk-lavra/
https://orthodoxtimes.com/metropolitan-epifaniy-leads-transfiguration-feast-at-kyiv-cathedral/
Orthodox Times received a $100,000 grant from the US State Department in 2018 “TO COUNTER ENTITIES SPREADING FAKE NEWS & MISGUIDING BELIEVERS IN ORTHODOX COMMUNITIES BY MONITORING MEDIA & EXPANDING REACH OF NEWS PORTAL ROMFEA.GR.”
“It is true that the techniques of war are constantly ‘improved’ as the genius of an age of invention is put in the service of the war machine. But that is not what is most disturbing. What is revolutionary is that the minds of men, women and children are being deliberately trained, directed, distorted, by every conceivable instrument of education and propaganda, to make them tolerant of war, receptive of war, prepared for war, lovers of war. The greatest menace in the world is not poison gas. There are gas masks against that. The menace is poisoned words, poisoned ideas.” -Dorothy Thompson, journalist, 1937
UOJ podcast mentions the petition campaign:
https://x.com/UOJ_America/status/2085108784783896638
Amsterdam’s White Paper on the situation:
https://a.storyblok.com/f/332766/x/4a911709e2/save-the-uoc-white-paper-1.pdf
“Ukrainian authorities are within their right to investigate and prosecute any individual, regardless of their religious affiliation, when there is credible evidence to indicate their specific actions are illegal and pose a threat to public safety and state security,” Williamson said. “However, religious affiliation on its own can’t be considered such evidence.”
https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/10/30/ukraine-new-law-raises-religious-freedom-concerns
Tucker Carlson’s 2025 interview with lawyer Robert Amsterdam about the UOC:
https://tuckercarlson.com/tucker-show-bob-amsterdam
The Ukrainian Church crisis has been well documented in these links:
https://orthochristian.com/115806.html
Freedom of religion equals freedom of conscience. It is the seminal freedom, undergirding all the other freedoms and ordering society. Americans and American hierarchs should know that.
[…] της πρωτοβουλίας, οι οποίοι, σύμφωνα με το Orthodox Reflections, θεωρούν ότι η τιμητική διάκριση προς τον Ουκρανό […]
Headline:
New York: Official request to revoke Zelensky’s award from the National Shrine of Saint Nicholas
Full English translation available on the site.
https://www.vimaorthodoxias.gr/nea/nea-yorki-episimo-aitima-gia-anaklisi-tis-vraveysis-zelenski-apo-to-ethniko-proskynima-agioy-nikolaoy/
Readers, if you’re on Twitter, please follow and thank the international lawyer @robertamsterdam for his work on behalf of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC). Defending persecuted Christians in a Slavic war zone must be a lawyer’s equivalent of performing parkour on the world’s stage.
Mr. Amsterdam is amazing. May God bless him.
Editor: Are you available on our other channel?
Responded on email. Got the update.
See other channel; please reply there.
“Somebody, after all, had to make a start. What we wrote and said is also believed by many others. They just don’t dare express themselves as we did.”
-Sophie Scholl of the White Rose Student Movement
Statement to the Volksgerichtshof People’s Court of Judge Roland Freisler (21 February 1943)
Jurisdiction is optional. Anyone who is concerned about this event is welcome to sign.
Updated the petition form to note that Orthodox Jurisdiction is Optional, and added some verbiage that non-Orthodox are welcome to sign.