A mural of the OCU Schismatic church, which is recognized by Constantinople, depicts Nazi SS members in WW2 uniform.
In a disgusting, yet tragically unsurprising speech, it recently came to light that yet another “priest” of the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine”(OCU) literally glorifies Nazis.
On July 28, 2019, Vasily Sagan, a “priest” of the schismatic OCU, which is recognized only by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, recently declared that he is certain that many members of the Nazi SS Galicia division, which fought with Adolf Hitler in WW2, are among the saints.
The “cleric” declared this while performing a funeral in the village of Chervone of the Zolochiv district of the Lviv Province. The funeral was in fact, a reburial service for 29 actual members of the SS division, who fought during WW2, and whose remains were rediscovered. The OCU priest served together with members of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, as the SS fighters were given full military honors. Specifically, Sagan said during the service:
“I think there will be a moment, not only for the recognition of SS Division Galicia, but a moment when many of these heroes of the church will be recognized in their own way, in due time. And not simply as heroes, but as saints, which many of them are in fact… Glory to the heroes!”
At the funeral, there was an honor guard dressed not only in modern Ukrainian military uniform, but in the WW2 era fascist style uniform of the Galician SS Division. The red and black flag of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army can also be seen.
This video of the service also displays what can only be described as a blasphemous mural disguised as an icon, shown further above, which the “priest” calls peoples attention to.
The so-called “icon” depicts soldiers in WW2 German style uniforms, with one holding what appears to be an MP-40 sub-machine gun. The words “God and Ukraine” can be seen on the “icon.” This likely refers to the schismatic saying “God is with us and Ukraine [is with us]” which was described as the theme of another blasphemous and similar image which we discussed extensively in the article “False Patriarch Philaret Blesses a Nationalist Mural with Nazi Symbolism.”
I am of course referring to when false-Patriarch Philaret blessed a massive mural depicting the Holy Spirit as the Ukrainian coat of arms, Donetsk Airport burning with people caught in the fire, Nazi symbols, and St. George slaying a two-headed eagle.
These reminiscent images display the same style of ethno-phyletism, specifically the Neo-Nazism characteristic of many Ukrainian schismatics and ultra-nationalists.
Take for example schismatic “priest” Alexander Dedyukhin, who was known for posting speeches of Adolf Hitler on his Facebook page; ironically, the Ukrainian nationalist “priest” seems to post in the Russian language. Dedyukhin is known for several extremist and anti-Christian views, especially:
- Denying the miracle of the Holy Fire.
- Saying the Maidan coup which overthrew the Ukrainian government was an act off the Holy Spirit, comparing the Molotov cocktails used to the fire of the Holy Spirit.
- Saying a terrorist attack in Russia which killed at least 15 people was the answer to the Kiev Patriarchate’s prayers.
- Drugs and prostitution should be legalized.
- And who could forget “Father” Dedyukhin’s teaching on forgiveness which is unorthodox in every sense of the word, let alone an understatement. According to this schismatic cleric, the best way to forgive an enemy is to simply kill him.
These are the type of people who represent the schismatics, and this specific priest was shamefully awarded by Patriarch Bartholomew!
Let’s give His All-Holiness the benefit of the doubt and say he was unaware of the obscure neo-Nazi ramblings of this deranged individual. Even if this is the case, it just emphasizes how poorly the Phanar understands the extremists and literal Nazis they now are in communion with.
However, the schismatic priest who led the Nazi funeral in Chervone was not simply an obscure figure in the OCU.
Vasily Sagan is in fact the dean of the Zolochiv district of the Lviv Province, therefore he, and by logical extension his views, holds weight within the OCU.
The Zolochiv district is one of the hot spots where the Orthodox Church underwent suffering as described in this detailed and eye-opening article by Ukrainian Archpriest and Professor Rostislav Yarema.
As for the schismatics, it is worth noting that this Nazi supporting trend goes as far back to WW2. On January 24, 1942, the Reichskommissariat of Ukraine registered a new generation of the schismatic UAOC which collaborated with the Nazi occupiers.
Their leader, “Archbishop” Polycarp, “consecrated to the episcopacy” Mstyslav (Skrypnyk), a relative of Simon Petliura, and one of the most prolific Ukrainian schismatics as the former so-called “Patriarch of Kiev.”
Mstyslav’s 1942 article in Volyn’ Here is an example of an article Mstyslav wrote, published in the newspaper Volyn’, on the 7th of May 1942, openly glorifying Hitler and Nazism. I include it both in the Ukrainian original, as well my translation into English:
And today, released from the terrible chains of twenty-three years of Muscovite-Jewish-Asian slavery by the blood and labor of German soldiers, with raised heads we Ukrainians proudly return to a new Europe, to that very Europe which arose in the genius vision of the great European Adolf Hitler. It is this Europe in which we believe, this Europe which we preach in our sermon; we dreamed of such a Europe for twenty-three years. For this Europe we shed a sea of precious Ukrainian blood.
І сьогодні звільнені кров'ю і трудом німецького вояка зі страшних кайдан 23-річної московсько-єврейської азіятської неволі, ми, українці, з гордо піднятим чолом повертаємо до нової Європи, до тієї Європи, що повстала в геніяльній візії Великого Європейця – Адольфа Гітлера. В таку Європу ми віримо, таку Європу ми проповідуємо, про таку Європу ми мріяли на протязі 23 років, за таку Європу пролито море найціннішої, української крові
It should also be noted again, that in the context of this Nazi funeral, the OCU schismatics served together with Uniate clergy. Serving and praying with Greek Catholic Uniates is a trend the schismatics were known for both before and after recognition by Constantinople, and is an issue never addressed by the Phanar, themselves known for their ecumenism.
It is hard to justify authentic love for Ukraine with pro-Uniatism, considering the violent atrocities Uniates committed against Orthodox people in the Ukrainian lands.
Uniate Clergy themselves have also served memorial services for Nazis, complete with honor guards in Nazi uniforms.
There was also an incident when a high-ranking Uniate priest, glorifying WW2-era Nazi collaborators, literally called for terror and assassination. He also emphasized the need to stop any “Chinese guys, Negros, Jews, or Moskali (a derogative term for Russians), who in his mind are all plotting to steal Ukrainian lands. The sad thing is that the speech at the funeral in Chervone was actually a relatively mild example of Neo-Nazism, which sounds ridiculous even to type out, but this is the world we now live in.
Sagan finished his speech at the funeral with the traditional Galician and Carpatho-Russian greeting “Glory to Jesus Christ,” however one could hardly hear if anyone knew the proper response, which is “Glory forever,” as a gunfire salute followed immediately after, with the Ukrainian national anthem loudly sung.
This reminded me of another very similar situation that truly exposed the Uniates and schismatics. This was an incident involving a video of the infamous Uniate Chaplain Nikolai Medinsky.
I am not even referring to the time when he assaulted Orthodox grandmothers while seizing a church in Kolomyya, while he and his fellow Greek Catholic priests declared: “We will not throw crumbs to you Moscow pigs. You are biomass devoid of rights. We will take not only this church from you, we will take it all. We will kick you off our land, and from the Kiev Caves Lavra!”
Nikolai Medinsky demonstrating how strong a man he is by shoving aside elderly women and stealing their churches
That incident is an entirely separate display of degeneracy from the church raiding incident that was covered here.
I am referring to this video, in which Nikolai Medinsky conducts a memorial service with the Neo-Nazi black and red flags in the background.
A microcosm of ethnophyletism can be seen here. Close to the end, the priest says the traditional greeting “Slava Isusu Khristu” (“Glory to Jesus Christ”) but received an anemic response from just a few who knew to reply properly “Slava na viki” (“Glory forever”).
But the moment he tried nationalist and Nazi slogans, such as “Slava Ukraini—Heroyam slava” (“Glory to Ukraine—Glory to the Heroes”), he got a very loud and proud response. He finished three times with the slogan “Slava Natsii—Smert Voroham” (“Glory to the Nation—Death to the Enemies”) and the people began to chant as if possessed, “Death to the Enemies!” as their gunfire rang out. (By the way, last year at Philaret’s cross procession, “Death to the enemies” was a popular chant, as evidenced in this video.)
The phenomenon we saw with Medinsky’s group is the same we saw here in Chervone. The “priest” called out the traditional national greeting “Glory to Jesus Christ,” to which any true blooded Galician, Volhynian, Carpatho-Russian, or Ukrainian should know to immediately shout back “Glory forever,” and just like with the video above, barely got a response. More people seemed to have no issue recalling the words to the national anthem, however.
It also seemed to me that the “priest” put such emphasis on the words “Glory to the Heroes,” but said “Glory to Jesus Christ” afterwards much quicker, as if it was an afterthought. You can watch the video yourself and see what you think.
Sagan and Medinsky are wrong however, as Ukrainians do not need to glorify the members of the Galician SS division any more than they should the godless authorities. They should instead glorify all the saints of Galicia, Volhynia, Zaporozhye, and Carpathian Rus’.
In conclusion, it is to my great sorrow that this form of neo-Nazism and ethnophyletism, which is only self-destructive, has taken root among the rocky mountains of the God-saved Galician lands. It is also clear, from looking to history, that the source of this schism and extremism is not from these lands naturally, but was a foreign ideology, originally brought over by Jesuits and Uniates.
This radical nationalism was carefully fostered both by occupiers like Austro-Hungary, seeking to divide and conquer Slavs, and the godless Bolshevik regime under Stalin and Khrushchev as an attempt to destroy Holy Rus’ and divide her peoples.
But as St. Lavrenty of Chernigov reminds us:
“It is impossible to divide Russia, the Ukraine and Belorussia, for these together are Holy Rus’. Know, remember, and do not forget!”
Through his prayers, and those of all the Galician, Volhynian, and Carpatho-Russian saints, may the Lord Almighty cause the people of these lands to remember their Orthodox traditions and remain loyal to their Church, and may He make them unconquerable against those who would cause strife.
