The priest with the UOC (in unity with the Moscow Patriarchate) in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra believes that Ukrainians themselves are to blame for the war. According to the minister of the UOC (MP), the Ukrainians were “the first to bomb” Donbas, which allegedly rebelled against (then-president Viktor – ed.) Yanukovych, who betrayed them.
“Why did Donbas rebel? Because Yanukovych deceived them,” the priest told a Pryamyi TV journalist.
The reported clarified that Donbas did not rebel and that it was the Russians who entered Donbas. In response to this, the crowd of parishioners started shouting at him: “What Russians?!”
The priest said that “no one was coming in there back then… Ukrainians were the first to bomb.”
“There is no need to talk about Donbas. Donbas didn’t want (Yanukovych’s successor Petro – ed.) Poroshenko. They didn’t want Maidan. What good has the Maidan given Ukraine?” added the UOC (MP) priest.
The journalist replied that Ukraine chose a path toward the EU.
“There is no such path. There will be no Europe,” the UOC (MP) priest is confident.
He also pointed to the monument of monks Anthony and Theodosius, calling them “leaders of Russian monasticism.”
“You are from the devil. You are crazy. You’re throwing fits. Do you understand this or not? And you need to be healed from it. But no one will heal you except the Ukrainian Orthodox Church,” concluded the representative of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (MP).
Then the UOC (MP) priest turned to threats. “If you value your family and friends, think about where they are leading you.” He recommended that the journalist not participate in “devilish deeds.”
It should be recalled that today, representatives of the UOC (MP) are supposed to vacate the premises of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra as the lease agreement concluded between the government and the UOC (MP) has expired.
