Religious fake news: What Russian propaganda fabricates ahead of Christmas

Russia trying to make Russian-speaking Ukrainians distrust Orthodox Church of Ukraine

A photo "announcement" allegedly posted on the door of a temple of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine is circulating on Russian news sites and Telegram channels. The text says that parishioners who have not repented for "slandering themselves with an enemy language" will not be allowed to attend the New Year and Christmas services. The coat of arms of the Volyn Diocese of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine is depicted on the top of the announcement.

This announcement is fake. "It never existed and could not exist," Archpriest Vitaliy Sobko, head of the press service of the Volyn Diocese of the OCU, told Ukrinform.

"Despite the image of the coat of arms of our diocese being used in this announcement, in principle, such a document could not appear on the door of any church of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine," Sobko said. "Every Orthodox clergyman, every conscious layman, and simply every person of common sense understands that speaking any language is not a sin."

The archpriest added that there is no such phenomenon in the OCU as preventing parishioners from attending religious services without confession.

"Everyone may take part in any ceremony and, of course, no one asks whether they have confessed before," he said.

Sobko also noted that after the start of the full-scale invasion, many Russian-speaking IDPs appeared in the Volyn region. Parishioners find support in Volyn churches regardless of whether they speak Ukrainian or Russian, the archpriest said.

Sobko considers Russian propaganda reports to be a provocation.

Fake news with the "announcement" emerged against the background of numerous raids conducted by the Security Service of Ukraine in churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate). Since December 2, evidence has been found in the UOC-MP temples of cooperation of the clergy of this church with the occupiers. Some clergymen have already been served with suspicion notices. On December 11, Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council imposed sanctions against seven representatives of the clergy of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Andriy Olenin