"You can't tar everyone with the same brush." Usyk made a confession about his relationship with the UOC-MP

Maksym Inshakov Sport25.08.2024 14:47

Oleksandr gave a frank interview where he touched upon the topic of the church

WBA, WBO, WBC and IBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) avoided answering the question whether he had left the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. The boxer is outraged that he is being asked about this by people who have never attended a morning service in their lives.

"I will explain. I am an Orthodox Christian, period. I go to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. We do not have a documented Moscow Patriarchate. Let them show me where the Moscow Patriarchate is documented. Look here. There are people in the church. And we are fallen people. You can't tar everyone with the same brush. I say again, I believe in God. I go to this church for salvation and will continue to do so. I am Orthodox," Usyk said on the YouTube channel Video NV.

Usyk answered negatively to the question whether he was impressed by the searches in the Lavra, when Russian documents were found on people's possession.

"No, of course, I was not impressed. We are all human beings. We are fallible. Can you imagine that there were five presidents before this and how many were given the opportunity to work here? And now all the blame is on Volodymyr Oleksandrovych, that he is to blame [for the adoption of the law banning the UOC-MP - ed. Where were you all? Where are all your promises? Only now is the president being blamed for doing something wrong. So let's ask the previous five what they did," the heavyweight said.

''You can't tar everyone with the same brush.'' Usyk made a confession about his relationship with the UOC-MP

Usyk was asked if he sees any good fruits from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church now during the war, and Oleksandr again said that one cannot judge something by its words alone.

"What you see does not mean that it is there. And what you do not see does not mean that it is not there. I can feel the prayer of the monks praying for me in the ring right now. Not a hater who says that I go to some wrong church, but the prayer of ordinary people, monks who have been living there for 40 years, 30 years, 20 years, some more..." Oleksandr said.

As reported by OBOZ.UA, in February 2019, Usyk visited the Holy Dormition Monastery in Odesa. The boxer was blessed by His Eminence Agafangel, Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.