Why Russians Called Exorcist for Ukrainian POW Who Was an Evangelical Christian

• A Ukrainian soldier says he was tortured by Russian separatists and forced to undergo an exorcism.
• Viktor Cherniiavskyi said he was targeted because he was an evangelical Christian.
• Some members of the American Christian right have ironically shown support for Russia.

A Ukrainian soldier has said he was tortured by Russian separatists and forced to undergo an exorcism, in part because of his evangelical Christian faith.

Viktor Cherniiavskyi is now a first-person view (FPV) drone pilot, but he said he was a chaplain for evangelical Christians in the Ukrainian army in 2014, when Russia invaded the Crimean peninsula.

While serving as a volunteer in the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk, Cherniiavskyi said he was captured by Russian-aligned forces.

During his 25 days of captivity, Cherniiavskyi said he was held in a cell in the basement of a Luhansk prison, where he said he was beaten with a baseball bat, shot at his head with guns discharged and tasered several times.

When his captors became aware of his evangelical faith, a Russian Orthodox priest in Moscow was called in to perform a form of exorcism on him, he told Business Insider.

“When the priest tried to cast the demons out of me, he gave me two reasons: first, because of my ‘black eyes.’ Second, because I am an evangelical Christian. Crossing his hands, he urged me to kiss the crucifix,” Cherniiavskyi said.

He added that the Kremlin had a particular hatred toward Protestants and evangelical Christians and that Moscow considered anyone affiliated with American churches to be “foreign agents.”

In contrast, some members of the American Christian right have ironically shown support for Russia, viewing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s country as an ally in a global culture war.

“Which side is God on now?

Some Christian conservatives have embraced Russia’s staunchly traditionalist views on family, sexuality and gender – so much so that when Russia launched its invasion of Crimea in 2014, former presidential adviser and paleoconservative Pat Buchanan posed a simple question in a post on Townhall: “Who owns Russia?” Is God on your side now? »

Buchanan then highlighted his admiration for the way Putin seems to defend Christian values.

“In the cultural war for the future of humanity, Putin is firmly planting Russia’s flag on the side of traditional Christianity,” he writes.

Conservative American evangelicals have formed symbolic ties with the Russian Orthodox Church, attracted by Russia’s religious traditionalism and white nationalism, the Boston Review reported.

Despite these ties, the Kremlin has no reciprocal affection for American Christian denominations.

Ukraine’s evangelicals need help from the United States

While many conservative American evangelicals have aligned themselves with Russia, Ukraine’s evangelical community needs support from the United States. the hill reports.

Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian president’s office, this week called for cooperation between evangelicals in the United States and Ukraine.

Ukraine is home to the largest evangelical Christian community in Europe, Yermak wrote. Between 800,000 and 1 million Ukrainian evangelicals attend Protestant churches on Sundays.

Yermak called Russia’s religious oppression in his country and Ukraine a “systematic assault.”

He argued that American evangelicals should ignore the pro-Putin rhetoric of some conservative evangelicals and come to Ukraine’s defense.

Quoting the Apostle Paul, Yermak called on American evangelicals to “exhibit good will toward all people, especially toward their fellow believers.”

Religious pluralism in Ukraine under threat, experts say

An Atlantic Council report says Russia’s occupation of parts of Ukraine threatens the country’s religious pluralism.

Russia has banned certain religious groups, such as Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Earlier this year, a Russian court sentenced nine Jehovah’s Witnesses to lengthy prison terms for “extremism”, adding to a series of imprisonments and interrogations of believers since the ban was introduced in 2017 , Reuters reported.

Religious sites have also been targeted since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, as Putin’s forces sought to eradicate Ukrainian culture.

Some of the approximately 30,000 books in the library of the Tavriski Protestant Christian Institute in Kherson were looted and thrown in the trash, according to local reports.

In video testimony, Pastor Dmitry Bodyu of the Word of Life Church in Melitopol, occupied by Putin’s forces in the first weeks of the war, added: “The Russian army took over our church. I was imprisoned and told that I would soon be killed. For local evangelical believers under Russian occupation, a deadly threat remains.

Bodyu told NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth that his Russian captors thought he was a spy, which appears to be a common occurrence.

Rev. Mykhailo Brytsyn, pastor of the Grace Church of Evangelical Christians in Melitopol, said at the International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington DC in February: “Most priests and pastors like me have been threatened, intimidated, humiliated , detained, beaten and expelled. » » Pastor Brytsyn said per The Christian Post. “Some priests and believers are still in Russian prisons today. Some of them have been killed.”

The Kyiv-based Institute for Religious Freedom (IRF) said that as of October 18, at least 660 religious sites had been damaged or looted during the invasion, adding that at least 206 of those sites were evangelical churches.

“In reality, Russian society, and the Kremlin, to be more precise, hates any kind of Christian denomination, except the Orthodox Church,” Cherniiavskyi said.