The head of the Ethnopolitics Service claims that all collaborating priests originate from UOC-MP

In an interview with Religiyna Pravda, Viktor Yelensky, religious scholar and chairman of the State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience, stated that while not all priests of the UOC-MP are collaborators, all priests who have collaborated come from this environment and this church, reports Ukrinform.

When asked about who the OCU should unite with in terms of the highest clergy of the UOC-MP, given that most of the bishops of the MP work with Russian intelligence, Yelensky responded that this is a matter for counterintelligence agencies.

"This is not a problem of uniting churches, but a matter for those who work in counterintelligence agencies," Yelensky said. "Counterintelligence measures were carried out until recently. You know that sanctions were imposed on church leaders of the MP. Some were deprived of Ukrainian citizenship."

According to Yelensky, however, the UOC-MP's biggest problem is its long-standing indoctrination of people with Russian propaganda.

"While you won't find anti-aircraft missile systems or tanks hidden in 99% of churches and monasteries, the problem is different. For a long time, this church has been causing harm in a different way, by putting lies about Russian superiority, the insidious West, and Ukrainian chauvinism into people's heads. This has crystallized in the 21st century as a completely heretical, militaristic, and misogynistic doctrine," Yelensky explained.

Yelensky disagreed with the notion of collective responsibility, emphasizing that not all priests of the UOC-MP are collaborators, but all collaborating priests come from this environment, from this church. "But this problem is not the main one. The main issue is that this church has been poisoning people's minds for a long time," he stressed.