A number of military personnel and volunteers refused the UOC KP awards

Award from the UOC KP

Pavlo Shatokhin/Facebook

The military and volunteers refused the awards they received from the Patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate Filaret. They did it as a sign of support for Viktor Pylypenko, who canceled the award because of his sexual orientation.

Military personnel made relevant statements on their Facebook pages Ivan Gavrylko and Ilya Krotenkovolunteers Olena Kolomiychuk, Pavlo Shatokhin, Natalia Solovyova and Evgenia Dukhopernikova.

According to Olena Kolomiychuk, the only function of the medal from the UOC KP is to “serve as an example that awards have no meaning.”

In a comment for “UP. Life”, the volunteer said that it was the situation with Viktor Pylypenko that prompted her to refuse the award.

“The reason for the refusal was the revocation of Viktor Pylypenko’s award due to his orientation and public position, when formally the reason for this award was his service for 10 years. He did not stop being a military man, he stopped meeting the UOC KP’s ideas about him.

My personal life and views on freedom of will and other human rights also do not meet the requirements of the UOC-KP.” – emphasized Olena.

The woman also added that no one approved her nomination for the award. The volunteer also did not attend the ceremony of awarding the medal – the award was received and handed over by familiar volunteers.

“If they had asked me to award, I would have refused. First of all, I am not a Christian. I do not believe that the UOC KP has any right to evaluate me with medals or in any other way, since it does not know anything about me. And the awarding process itself is as much as possible impersonal” – said Olena.

Activist and volunteer Pavlo Shatokhin noted in his post that after the decision to cancel Pylypenko’s award, their awards have no value. Therefore, he is going to return his medal to Volodymyr’s Cathedral.

“If the rules of your strange imaginary game include insults and attempts to humiliate Ukrainian servicemen (and any person) in the real world, then do not be surprised that you will receive contempt or the same insults in return. If I played the same game, then in to her, “sinner” would mean “primitive, stupid, poor ignoramus”. So, for me you are sinners, – said the volunteer.

Writer and volunteer Yevgenia Dukhopernikova noted that the church’s action forced her to refuse the award.

“At the nearest opportunity, I will take her from the house and bring her to the gate. I love Ukraine – but not the kind where one of the defenders, and yet, one of the Ukrainians is considered a second-class person. Ukraine, where they do not respect a person who stood up for the defense of the Motherland . Ukraine, where “wrong” love is more important than actions”, – wrote Dukhopernikova.

Military Ivan Gavrylko noted in his post that he does not belong to LGBT and is a Christian. At the same time, he does not understand the actions of the UOC KP, which “does not respect true Ukrainian sacrifice”.

Defense attorney Ilya Krotenko called the actions of the church disgusting in a statement about the refusal of his award.

“Your anti-human views are disgusting to me, and your rattle that you give out and then take away is worthless.” – he emphasized.

Volunteer Nataliya Solovyova also pointed out the inadmissibility of the decision of the UOC KP.

At the same time, volunteer Valeriy Garaguts, who received an award from the church back in 2015, decided to “repent” in his own posts.

“I would like to inform you that I am a Buddhist, and if in the opinion of the UOC this is a terrible sin, I will not be against if you cancel your Decree No. 8009, dated November 24, 2015.

I assure you, my Sacrifice and Love for Ukraine will absolutely not suffer from that!” – he wrote ironically.

What is known about the situation?

UOC KP canceled award to military Viktor Pylypenko because of his sexual orientation and “LGBT propaganda”, which he received on February 8.

This became the reaction of the church to post Pylypenko, in which he noted that the medal allegedly signifies a change in the church’s position towards the LGBT community, which “no longer considers us ‘sinful’ and what we are” the cause of the coronavirus“.

The UOC KP called it “outright manipulation and lies.” They thanked Pylypenko for his military merits, but indicated that they did not share his “sinful preferences”, which is why they canceled the award.