The country that blocks the road to God
We analyze why the authorities are banning religious processions and why this will lead to tragic consequences for the country.
Processions of the UOC – prayer for the nation
July and August have always been the season of pilgrimages and cross processions of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. One can recall the All-Ukrainian Cross Procession in Kyiv on the Day of the Baptism of Rus’, the procession to the Kalynivka Cross, the Brailiv procession to Pochaiv, the procession in honor of the Zinovyn Icon, to the Josaphat Valley, the procession from Kamianets-Podilskyi to Pochaiv, pilgrimages to the Kreshchatyk Monastery, to St. Anne’s Mountain, to the Boyany Icon – year after year they brought together hundreds of thousands of believers.
But why do people set out on these long, wearying journeys? Why do they trudge for days under the summer sun, sleeping by the roadside, praying without ceasing? To the atheist it is a strange whim of eccentrics. To the believer it is a sacred act – a miniature spiritual feat. It is a time stripped of distractions, when the soul turns wholly to God: pleading for oneself, for one’s children, for one’s homeland. And when such prayer rises up not from one person but from a multitude, it carries extraordinary power – power to alter not only the lives of the pilgrims but even the destiny of the nation.
Ordinary logic suggests that any government desiring the good of its people would encourage such prayer, would pave the way for it. Especially now, when the nation is bleeding in war.
But in Ukraine the opposite happens. At the very hour when prayer is most needed, those in power move to silence it, often under flimsy pretexts.
UOC – forbidden. Uniates and Catholics – allowed
In spring 2025, the Vinnytsia Regional Administration issued an order forbidding “the holding of public religious events outside places of worship” throughout the region. The SBU, National Police, and local administrations were tasked to ensure that no processions took place.
Thus centuries-old pilgrimages were canceled. On August 15, in the Exaltation Monastery of the Josaphat Valley, the faithful walked no more – only the Liturgy was celebrated, without the traditional 5-kilometer cross procession.
The annual Brailiv–Pochaiv procession of thousands will also not be allowed. Or rather, people will likely still go – but furtively, avoiding patrols and skirting villages.
The same elsewhere. In Khmelnytskyi, Governor Tiurin prohibited processions to the Pochaiv Lavra “in small or large groups” already in 2024. Since he cites martial law, the ban remains today.
The Ternopil administration has done the same, declaring that previous bans remain in force in 2025.
Officials insist this is not discrimination, only “concern for safety.” That is why the SBU and police chase down even small bands of pilgrims walking through fields and forests. All “for their own good,” lest a Russian missile suddenly fall on a deserted country path.
Yet this supposed concern applies only to the UOC. Toward others – complete indifference.
For example, the UGCC website freely publishes schedules of pilgrimages and processions. On June 26, the traditional annual pilgrimage to the village of Stradch took place – “thousands of pilgrims walking the way of the cross over the Stradch hills, praying for Ukraine, peace, and church unity.”
On July 29–30, tens of thousands gathered for the pilgrimage to Zarvanytsia. No police patrols dispersed them “for safety.”
On August 3–4, UGCC pilgrims walked to Knyazha Hora in Krylos. No patrols, no prohibitions, no dispersal.
Catholics and Uniates freely march in thousands during martial law. No one raises a hand against them.
And we know well – were it the OCU, the authorities would not object either. But they have no great pilgrimages to speak of.
Meanwhile, a different confession is treated as a people of highest rank. Anr these are not Ukrainians.
Hasidim – guests of honor
On August 12, 2025, under the chairmanship of Viktor Yelensky, the State Service for Ethnopolitics gathered the MFA, Interior Ministry, Health Ministry, Culture Ministry, National Police, Border Service, Emergency Service, Customs, the Cherkasy administration, the mayor of Uman, and others.
Their sole concern: how to receive forty-five thousand Hasidic Jews arriving for Rosh Hashanah in Uman, September 18–24.
Let us remember: martial law is in place, missiles strike cities in minutes, and Uman has nowhere near enough shelters. Uman’s population is about 80,000. Another 45,000 will more than double it.
Mayor Pletneva has repeatedly said there are not enough shelters. In 2024 she admitted “there may not be enough shelters for thousands of pilgrims.” In 2023 she called ensuring their safety “impossible.” In 2022 she openly said: “We did not expect them, we do not expect them, and we appeal to them not to come because the situation is very bad. They should not come and endanger themselves and our residents.”
Yet for the Hasidim – everything is possible, everything will be arranged. For Orthodox Ukrainians – prohibitions and police raids. For Hasidim – honor, attention, and guarantees.
Double standards in the open
Nor is it only Hasidim or Uniates. In Vinnytsia, where all religious gatherings are strictly banned, on August 3 a crowd gathered downtown for “Karaoke on the Maidan.” On June 1 (and again September 7) the city hosted the 21-km Vinnytsia Run half-marathon.
Ask yourself: in terms of safety, how are pilgrims walking along a road different from marathoners running down the same road? Will missiles not catch up with the runners?
In Kyiv the All-Ukrainian procession is banned, but concerts and festivals drawing tens of thousands are allowed. In mid-July, Kyiv hosted the Atlas Festival – during a period of heavy bombardment. In theory, it could have become a mass grave in minutes. Did officials express concern? Did they ban it? Never.
So the truth is plain: in wartime Ukraine, mass gatherings of every kind are permitted – secular festivals, athletic events, Catholic and Uniate pilgrimages, even Hasidic celebrations without adequate shelters. Only one group is forbidden: the faithful of the UOC.
Clearly it is not “safety” that motivates the bans, but the fact that these people belong to the “wrong” confession. It is as if the authorities imagine UOC believers pray to a “Moscow god” who might bring disaster.
But there is no “Moscow god” or “Kyiv god.” There is one God – Creator of heaven and earth, in Whose hands lie the fate of nations.
Beneath a Vinnytsia eparchy post about the canceled Brailiv–Pochaiv procession, someone commented: “And they still want the war to end.”
Those few words cut to the heart. Throughout history, when calamity struck, nations turned to God. Nineveh was spared destruction only because its people, warned by Jonah, humbled themselves, fasted, prayed, and repented. And the Lord relented.
A nation’s collective prayer can avert disaster. This is a lesson and a call for Ukrainians – even if we do not see ourselves as sinful as the Ninevites. Yet our authorities act contrary to Scripture, despite loudly proclaiming “Christian values.”
Christ Himself said: “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matt. 7:7). Instead of asking, our rulers slam the door on those who do.
The UOC is the largest confession in Ukraine – millions of faithful, hundreds of thousands on its processions. To persecute this Church is not merely a shameful political act – it is a spiritual danger.
For Christ also said: “He who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me” (Luke 10:16).
Any nation that rejects God signs its own doom. Because to reject the Creator is to walk the road to ruin.
