Trump's Spiritual Advisor Claims There's No Persecution in Ukraine - The Holy Spirit Told Him So.

Those who point out state persecution of the Church simply have no relationship with the Holy Spirit, according to Mark Burns

Originally Published by UOJ-America—footnotes added

Burns is one of many charlatans currently “advising” President Trump. Here he is pictured with self-proclaimed “Chief Rabbi of Ukraine” Moshe Azman, the organizer of the interfaith meeting. [Credit: Facebook.com/PastorMarkBurnsSr]

Kiev— Trump's spiritual advisor, Mark Burns, meets with representatives of minority religious groups, takes what JD Vance has dubbed "propaganda tour."

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On March 30, 2025, evangelical pastor Mark Burns visited Ukraine at the invitation of Chief Rabbi Moshe Azman. Azman introduced Burns as the "personal spiritual advisor" to U.S. President Donald Trump.

As part of his visit, a so-called “multi-faith religious forum” was arranged at the rabbi’s initiative, bringing together representatives of various minority religious communities operating in Ukraine. In addition to Jewish leaders, attendees included Michael Onyshchenko, Exarch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate; Oleksandr Drabinko, a "metropolitan" of the schismatic OCU; Ihor Shaban of the UGCC; and pastors from Protestant denominations. A representative of the Presidential Office, Oleg Havrysh, was also present.

Following the event, Pastor Burns took to Facebook, claiming he had met with “Ukraine’s top religious leaders.” He described their testimonies of alleged Russian religious persecution as “heartbreaking,” citing figures of over 20,000 kidnapped Ukrainian children, the destruction of more than 700 houses of worship, and clergy “brutally murdered.” Despite this, he praised Ukraine as a “beacon of religious freedom, welcoming ALL faiths.”

However, Burns' sweeping declarations raised immediate questions.

In the comments under his post, a user asked whether he had met with representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) under Metropolitan Onuphry—the nation’s only canonical Orthodox Church in the Ukraine, which has faced significant state persecution.¹

Burns responded with a photo showing the backs of Drabinko and Onyshchenko and vaguely asserted: “Yes, Bishop Andriy is seen in this photo. He explained that it is the Russian Orthodox Church and Russians in the occupied territories who are doing this.” Notably, Burns did not clarify who “Bishop Andriy” is or explain what connection the UOC has to the actions of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) in occupied territories.

Instead, he claimed that the Holy Spirit told him there's no persecution from the Ukrainian government.

"The Holy Spirit doesn't lie. And when you have a real relationship with God, He and He alone will bear witness to what the Spirit is saying. There is no propaganda in my post."

Group photos from the forum show that no UOC clergy were at the event.

Instead, Burns was convinced that the schismatics are the Orthodox Church, and the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church under persecution is instead the "Russian Orthodox Church."² It is curious that the Holy Spirit did not reveal to Pastor Burns how the "church" of "bishop" Andriy has spent half a decade raiding and stealing churches, assaults clergy and old women; or how every group with which he met were zealous supporters of the ban on the UOC.

Perhaps Pastor Burn's "connection to the Holy Spirit" is not so strong after all. It is curious how often "Bible-believing" Protestants miss the advice of St. John the Theologian "not [to] believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world" [1 Jn. 4:1].

Beyond the forum, Burns was also given a guided tour of Bucha and Irpin—locations frequently highlighted in discussions of the war.³

Earlier, UOJ reported that Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the UGCC, admitted his church does not understand the direction of the Trump administration’s policies—an observation that seems particularly relevant given Burns’ selective narrative on religious freedom in Ukraine.

1. It should be noted that the schismatic “Orthodox Church in Ukraine” (OCU) and Uniate Church (Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church - UGCC) have been deeply involved in the persecution of the canonical Church, actively seizing parishes, slandering clergy, supporting, justifying, and covering up the persecution—as they were doing in this meeting.

2. The position presented is essentially that there is no UOC; there is only the schismatic “state church” and then the “Russian Church,” which is actively persecuting minorities in Russian controlled areas. It’s a wild narrative. Unfortunately it’s a narrative which Evangelicals readily fall for due to their ignorance.

3. Except, of course, when Russia requests the evidence of their crimes to be presented at the UN—where Lavrov has repeatedly denied such accusations and even requested that if such evidence exists, it be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC). This is not, however, to say that there have not been war crimes in the Ukraine War. There exists hours of footage of both Ukrainian and Russian soldiers brutalizing prisoners, wounded, and civilians. War, as I have often said, is dehumanizing, and brutality becomes increasingly normative as time goes on.