“Throw them out of the country!": producer of culinary show in Lavra's Refectory Church calls for reprisals against UOC

Akim Galimov, the producer of the scandalous cooking show filmed in the Refectory Church of the Holy Dormition Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, said that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is to blame for the “hate” against the event. The showman believes that the outrage caused by the TV program in Ukrainian society is actually a Russian information operation aimed at the sixth anniversary of the creation of the OCU. He wrote about this on his Facebook account.

“We see a classic prepared special operation to the day… look at the calendar – yesterday was the anniversary of the Unification Council, after which we received the Tomos. An event that became one of the Kremlin’s biggest defeats in Ukraine. If you analyze most of the comments, they boil down to: “look what we’ve been brought to…” That is, it used to be better. In the days of Pasha Mercedes and Moscow’s dominance. They gave away the shrines and now there is this! If not for Yevhen and me, there would have been another reason. It is important to understand this! Yesterday, at about the same time, this news began to rush through telegram channels with the headline “cooking show in the church.” Then there was a classic wave with a peak in the evening,” – Galimov wrote.

The producer added that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church should be fought by any means necessary to finally expel the Church from the country. He called on the Ministry of Culture to take measures and take away all churches that are architectural monuments from the UOC as soon as possible.

“Friends, all this together is another large-scale attack against Ukraine. I draw the attention of the Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications Mykola Tochytskyi to this whole situation, because the Moscow Patriarchate still uses hundreds of our monuments. Where you can do anything but carry narratives about Ukraine. And it is our strategic task to throw it out of our country. In this vein, I support the Kyiv Cave Monastery Reserve, which is at the forefront of this battle. The Muscovites cannot let it go, and they are trying to take revenge. I was filming in Poltava this weekend: The Holy Cross Cathedral of the Poltava Monastery – Moscow Patriarchate. The Holy Dormition Pochayiv Lavra – Moscow Patriarchate. The Holy Dormition Sviatohirsk Lavra – Moscow Patriarchate, Motronynsky Monastery Kholodnyi Yar – Moscow Patriarchate. They are everywhere. And now they are beginning to feel a surge of strength. What should we do? Stand firmly on our land and do what we have to do – beat this evil spirits by all means,” – Galimov summarized.

Earlier, the head of the Kyiv-Zhytomyr Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church, Vitaliy Kryvytsky, criticized the holding of various shows and performances in the Refectory Church of the Kyiv Cave Monastery. Krivitsky compared what is happening to the times of communist atheism, when churches were turned into museums, warehouses, and other premises for misuse. In addition, he drew attention to the fact that there are still a huge number of Catholic churches in Ukraine that are not used for their intended purpose.