During the festive service, the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy, spilled wine from the communion cup ("the blood of Christ") on himself, which is considered a bad omen in Orthodoxy, LB.ua editor in chief Sonya Koshkina has said on Telegram.
It is noted that the festive service was held in the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra on the occasion of the 32nd anniversary of the episcopal consecration (the sacrament of ordination - ed.) of Metropolitan Onufriy. During the liturgy, Metropolitan Pytyrym of Mykolayiv and Voznesensk had a heart attack, as a result of which he inadvertently pushed Onufriy, which caused him to spill a cup of wine on himself.
In the Orthodox world, this is considered a bad omen.
"When the Divine Blood drops due to the negligence of the priest during the service, he will mortally sin. If it drops on the board (and he can bend down and get it), let him lick it off with his tongue; if this is impossible, then he should wipe it well with a sponge, then cut the board and burn the chips on a clean stone or brick, and bury the ashes in the church in a suitable place," this is what the service book (manual) Navchalni Vidomosti (Instructions) says about this.
If wine gets on clothes, it should be "sucked off, wiped off with a sponge". After the service, it should be washed off three times with water over an "antidoron plate, and the water should be poured out into a flowing river or into a hole in the church in a suitable place".
In addition, during the incident, the antimins was also damaged, which is a special consecrated handkerchief into which particles of holy relics are sewn. The vestments, which Onufriy smeared, belonged to the previous head of the UOC-MP, Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan). Now they have to be burned. It is noted that the incident upset all those present. Metropolitan Onufriy left the service depressed.
Today the court sent Metropolitan Ioasaf of Kirovohrad of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate under house arrest in the case of inciting sectarian hatred.