Political expert says why cross processions of UOC and OCU are so different

Political analyst Konstantin Bondarenko. Photo: screenshot of the youtube-channel "Club of Experts"

The head of the Ukrainian Politics Foundation, Konstantin Bondarenko, during a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine agency, dedicated to statistics and analysis of the main religious groups in Ukraine, said that the religious processions of the UOC and OCU can showcase two approaches to religiosity, according to interfax.com.ua.

“If you take a look at the real situation, then a political bias makes it impossible to talk about the churching of parishioners of certain confessions. It is one thing to declare faith, but another thing to become a practicing believer. This can be observed every year, when at the end of July religious processions are organized in honor of the feast of the Baptism of Rus. In this respect, the cross processions of the two confessions (UOC and OCU) are different. The number of parishioners of the UOC, as a rule, is 200-300 thousand people, who walk with crosses and banners, demonstrating their devotion to Orthodoxy. At the same time, at the processions of the OCU, parishioners mainly walk with national flags and portraits of the heroes of the Ukrainian pantheon. This actually demonstrates the existence of two approaches to religiosity in these confessions,” said Kost Bondarenko.

As the UOJ previously reported, according to the "Miriane", UOC believers are no longer willing to silently let their churches be mauled.

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