“I’m not a batiushka!”: Video from Easter blessing goes viral online
A clergyman claimed that "batyushkas are all abroad." Photo: Screenshot from Nazarienko’s YouTube channel
The video, uploaded by Nazariy Yeremenko on YouTube, has already gained over 2 million views. In the clip, a woman with an Easter basket approaches a man in liturgical vestments and asks him to bless her paska, addressing him as batiushka (a traditional Orthodox term for a priest, used in particular by the UOC and the ROC). The man refuses, citing the way she addressed him.
“I won’t do it, because I’m not a batiushka. I’m a priest, a father. All the batiushkas are abroad,” he says.
The location and the confession of the “not-a-batiushka” remain unknown. It is assumed he may be a representative of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) or the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC).
Earlier, the UOJ reported that Dumenko had declared the practice of kissing a priest’s hand to be a servile Russian tradition.
Read also
Orthodox and Catholic bishops make joint visit to Mount Athos
The head of the Phanar blessed a joint pilgrimage to Mount Athos by Roman Catholic and Orthodox bishops.
UOC Kryvyi Rih Eparchy marks 30th anniversary
Metropolitan Yefrem led the anniversary Divine Liturgy in Kryvyi Rih.
Ostapenko: Everyone in UCCRO feels fine except the “FSB UOC”
The director of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve called the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches “a wonderful organization.”
Khmelnytskyi Eparchy donates funds for treatment of 12-year-old girl
UOC believers raised UAH 20,000 for Anastasiia Mamchur as part of an eparchial charity campaign.
Shevchuk: We had to convince world UOC ban does not violate religious freedom
The UGCC head claims that by banning the UOC, the state is not violating religious freedom but merely protecting the Church’s faithful from Moscow propaganda.
Lavra reserve head estimates damage to Dormition Cathedral at €15 million
Maksym Ostapenko said restoring the Dormition Cathedral would take at least a couple of years and require major funding.