Head Of The Orthodox Church Who Calls Corona Punishment For LGBT Positive COVID-19

Illustration (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - The leader of a prominent church in Ukraine, Patriarch Filaret, who called the COVID-19 pandemic as "God's punishment" for perpetrators of same-sex marriage, tested positive for the new coronavirus.

Launching CNN Thursday, September 10, the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is still undergoing treatment in a stable condition. The news was conveyed by the church via a Facebook upload on September 4.

"His Excellency Patriarch Filaret is very grateful to everyone who showed love and support in prayers for his health," the church said. "Today the health condition of the Patriarch of Filaret is stable, treatment continues. We ask to continue to pray for His Excellency Patriarch of Filaret, so that God, the Merciful and Almighty, heals the Patriarch and heals him from illness," he said.

The 91-year-old made media headlines in March when he told a Ukrainian TV channel that the COVID-19 crisis was "God's punishment for human sin." First of all, I mean same-sex marriage, "said Filaret.

Ukrainian lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) group Insight sued Filaret after posting the comments. They say Filaret's words have the potential to incite hatred and discrimination. They urged the leader of the orthodox church to apologize and withdraw his words which were already widely broadcast on TV.

"Our aim is to show people that there is no more room for statements like that from church leaders in Ukraine," said Olena Shevchenko, Chair of Insight.

The criticism of Filaret's statement also came from Amnesty International Ukraine. "Such statements are very dangerous because they can lead to increased attacks, aggression, discrimination and acceptance of violence against certain groups," said Maria Guryeva, a spokeswoman for the organization.

The church responded to the lawsuit by saying, "As head of the church and as a human being, the Patriarch has the freedom to express his views, which are based on morality," the church said.

As is known, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Patriarchate of Kiev is one of the largest Christian denominations in the country. Members of the Kiev Patriarchate made up about 25 percent of Ukraine's 27.8 million Orthodox followers in 2016, according to the Ukrainian think tank Razumkov Center.

Meanwhile, Ukraine is actually a country that does not prohibit same-sex relations, but they do not legally recognize same-sex marriage. The country is ranked 35th out of 49 countries in the ranking of European countries for LGBT friendliness according to the ILGA-Europe association.