Is it true that the OCU is creating new, “more youthful” clothes for priests?

In April 2023, reports emerged that the Orthodox Church of Ukraine had decided to update the vestments of priests to match modern fashion. Sketches of new clothes have even gone viral on the Internet. We have verified their authenticity.

Since mid-April 2023, posts with a picture allegedly depicting youth “everyday clothing options for deacons of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine” began to circulate on social networks. If you believe numerous publications, it is proposed to replace the clergy’s shoes with sneakers or sneakers, outerwear with a dark jacket with a hood, and pants with something resembling Afghani And Zouaves. On the right side of the image, in English, the colors, patterns and fabrics used (in particular, Jersey And French Terry). “OCU schismatics are encouraged to wear short cassocks over trousers, more reminiscent of Cossack trousers. Sneakers are used as footwear, and headdresses are more reminiscent of KKK followers’ caps,” commented news publication “Moscow Region Today” (spelling preserved).

Many similar publications appeared on Telegram, for example in the channels “Rita Ebzeeva"(74,000 views at the time of writing), "DPR 🅉 info 🇷🇺" (53,000), "On the front line 🇷🇺"(45,000), "Urgent and accurate"(34,000), Nina Vatt (24,000), "Batkovich" (23,000), "Antichips | Live news channel"(22,000), "Brother for brother" (18,000), "This is different"(13,000), "Guard"(8000) and Tarik_News (5000), as well as in "VKontakte", Twitter (examples here, here, here And here) and Facebook* (here, here, here And here).

“Verified” did not find any news about the redesign of the clothes of OCU priests in the Ukrainian media. There is no announcement of plans to create new church vestments on the official website church, nor on its social media accounts (Twitter, Instagram*, Facebook*), as well as on the social networks of the Primate of the Church, Metropolitan Epiphany (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook).

Our colleagues from the Georgian fact-checking project “Myth Detector” contacted with the press service of the OCU, where they were informed that such reports about the choice of new clothes for clergy were not true. According to representatives of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, they have not made such a decision and are not even considering it.

“Verified,” in turn, tried to track where the spread of the image with fake sketches began. Thanks to the TGStat service, we found that the earliest publication with the required keywords appeared in the pro-Russian Telegram channel “Shaman Rahu” (2200 views), where the picture was posted on April 12, 2023 at 14:27 Moscow time. At the same time, it is reported that the information was allegedly sent by an anonymous subscriber from Ukraine, who added: “There is no longer any talk about honoring traditions.” Where he got these sketches from is not said. Channel “Shaman Rahu” is not the first time publishes disinformation about Ukraine and not for the first time becomes the original source of the fake “from a subscriber.” In general, such a postscript is already became traditional reception, used For distribution these kinds of fakes.

It is noteworthy that on April 11, the day before the fake appeared on the Internet, many Russian Media reported about the “raider seizure by schismatics” of St. George’s Church in the city of Khmelnytsky. Telegram channel of the local diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) mentionedthat a group of unknown persons, dressed primarily in sports uniforms, entered the temple territory.

*Russian authorities think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns the social networks Instagram and Facebook, is an extremist organization; its activities in Russia are prohibited.

Cover photo: collage “Verified” / social networks

Fake

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. Is it true that Louis Vuitton advised Ukrainians to study geography in response to their criticism on Instagram?
2. Is it true that the temple of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was burned in the Nikolaev region?
3. Is it true that foreign magazines published these covers dedicated to Zelensky and the Ukrainian church?
4. Is it true that the crosses on the Refectory Church of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra turned black after the services of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine?
5. Is it true that webcam models from Ukraine raised money for the OCU through OnlyFans?