OCU сleric on UOC faithful: “This rot must be cleansed”
According to Zasansky, unless Ukraine “deals with” UOC believers, it will not win the war.
On May 5, 2026, OCU cleric Nazariy Zasansky posted a video on his Facebook page in which he called UOC believers “rot” that must be “cleansed from Ukraine.”
The video was prompted by the funeral of Yevhen Kora, a volunteer of the Da Vinci Battalion, whom Zasansky said he had buried at the request of the fallen soldier’s father. The funeral was organized by the soldier’s aunt, a parishioner of the UOC, and, according to the OCU cleric, she wanted the deceased to be buried by priests of the canonical Church.
“Of course, she wanted him to be buried by Moscow priests. That is, priests of the Russian Church – the very one that blessed the murder of her nephew,” Zasansky said, referring to the UOC.
According to him, during the funeral service the soldier’s aunt “hid farther away” and “did not approach her own nephew’s coffin.” The OCU cleric presented this behavior as typical of UOC parishioners: “This is the attitude of parishioners of the Moscow Church even toward their own relatives who have died.”
Zasansky also criticized government officials who oppose forceful methods in the religious sphere, apparently referring to the head of the Presidential Office, Kyrylo Budanov: “I will not name our respected general – he has no understanding at all of matters of religion and faith.” In the cleric’s view, the country’s top leadership must understand that “the Moscow Church in Ukraine is the enemy.”
“This is an enemy inside the country, one that has done and will do everything so that Russia is here. If we do not deal with it, there will be no victory for us, not even close. This rot must be cleansed from Ukraine. And there are very many such people among us,” Zasansky concluded.
Zasansky did not specify exactly how Ukraine should “deal with” UOC believers or “cleanse the rot.”
Earlier, the UOJ reported that OCU cleric Hryshchuk called UOC believers “zombies” and urged their destruction.
