OCU's lies exposed: UOC priests perform funeral service for fallen Ukrainian soldier despite claims of ban

The Ukrainian media have been actively spreading false information, stated by Roman Hryshchuk, a cleric of the OCU in Bukovyna, about the alleged refusal of the priests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) to perform the funeral service for the fallen soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valentyn Faliboga. However, as it turned out, the funeral service was successfully performed by the UOC clergy in the church of the village of Banilov-Pidhirny at the request of the family, which refutes all the statements.

According to the UOJ, Roman Grischuk claimed on his Facebook account that the rector of the Ascension Church of the UOC in the village of Banilov-Pidhirny refused to perform the funeral service for the fallen soldier Valentin Faliboga. According to him, because of this, the ceremony had to be held in the House of Culture. Hryshchuk’s statements were widely picked up by the Ukrainian media, which disseminated this information as fact. The OCU cleric also accused the UOC priests of being unwilling to “pray together.”

In reality, the situation developed differently. After the OCU clerics performed their rite in the House of Culture, the family of the deceased soldier expressed a desire for a full funeral service to be performed in the UOC church. According to the group “The Faithful of the Chernivtsi-Bukovyna Diocese of the UOC,” on December 30, the funeral service was led by Archpriest Vasily Kovalchuk, dean of the Storozhynets district. The service was held in concelebration with the rector of the church, Father Yaroslav Kucheruk, and other clergy of the diocese in the Church of the Ascension in Banylovo-Pidhirne, which completely refutes the previously circulated statements.

Earlier, we reported that in the village of Toboly, Volyn region, supporters of the OCU provoked another interfaith conflict, using the funeral service of the fallen soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleg Pronetsevich, who was a native of the village, as a pretext. The priest of the UOC, who did not want to provide a local church for the funeral activities of the OCU representatives, was accused of “forbidding the funeral service” of the fallen soldier.