Trump’s 'Spiritual Advisor': UOC Refusing to Call Itself Russian Is a Challenge

Pastor Mark Burns and Sonia Koshkina. Photo: LB.ua

KYIV — American pastor Mark Burns, who styles himself as the “spiritual advisor” to President Donald Trump, in an interview with the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) propagandist and chief editor of Livyi Bereh (translation: Left Bank), Sonia Koshkina, shared his vision of the religious situation in Ukraine.

Burns said that his attitude toward Ukraine’s largest confession was shaped at a meeting with the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (AUCCRO), where no representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) were present. According to him, he drew his conclusions based on explanations he heard from other participants and on certain materials given to him.

"As it was explained to me and as evidence was provided, the Russian Orthodox Church is a continuation of the Kremlin’s criminal agenda,” the pastor declared.

Calling the UOC the ROC, a typical tactic used by those who position themselves against the canonical Church which has condemned the War in Ukraine and ceased commemoration of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow for his endorsement of said war, he further asserted that one of “Vladimir Putin’s goals is to establish control through the Russian Orthodox Church.”

“And once a Church becomes a political instrument, it ceases to be a Church. It is just another political weapon used by one country seeking to gain control over another,” he said. 

To this point, the only institution seeking to gain control over another has been the OCU, which has seized churches, arrested and beaten clergymen, and defecated in altars with the assistance of the Ukrainian government in an attempt to wipe out the UOC from existence.

According to the American preacher, the fact that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church does not consider itself Russian is “a challenge.”

At the same time, Burns explained how “not to deprive people of civil liberties while also protecting the nation”: “In America, we have the Department of Homeland Security. I know you have something similar here. And what we do is monitor,” he said.

He stressed, however, that in America the authorities do not wage war against an entire religion, but only against specific groups or individuals who “hide behind religion to carry out terrorist activity.”

Previously, UOJ reported that Burns said he was invited to Ukraine to address alleged disinformation about religious freedom in the country.

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