Metropolitan Luke: Satan hits UOC because it is the true Church of Christ

Metropolitan Luke of Zaporizhzhia and Melitopol. Photo: press service of the Zaporizhzhia Eparchy

Metropolitan Luke of Zaporizhzhia and Melitopol noted in his Telegram channel that today many people are throwing stones at the Mother Church, slinging mud at Her people and clergy, coming up with new fakes, bills and the like.

“Many began to talk about the future of the Church, predicting grim prospects for Her (but have they ever been bright?). Perhaps they have some logical reason to do so. As for the future – it is always there! According to the Holy Scriptures, for some it is the Kingdom of God, for others it is eternal torment. In earthly existence, the emperors outlawed the Church, the atheists staged the ‘red terror, Khrushchev, who promised to ‘show the last priest on TV’ – everyone knows these examples, so where are all these ‘powers that be’, what is their ‘glory’ today? Yet, the Church continues to live,” the bishop notes.

Refuting the words of "experts" about the lack of prospects for the UOC, Metropolitan Luke gives the following arguments:

• the UOC talks about the salvific path to Christ without any politics; it is constantly attacked by the media because of its unwillingness to turn a blind eye to sin;
• despite strong pressure from outside, the UOC remains true to itself, i.e. Gospel commandments and canons of the Church;
• despite slander and constant lies, it remains faithful not only to God, but also to its people;
• it is an object of hatred for people who want war at any cost.

“Indirect evidence of the UOC’s loyalty to God is the legislative initiatives of the enemies of the Church, as well as the incessant false accusations from all sides. Some, on the basis of fakes and pieces of paper that mean nothing to the state, come up with new bills, others accuse our clerics of being ‘FSB agents’, others say that they are ‘agents of the SBU’. All this is only because, according to the commandments of Christ, we pray for peace and call for an end to bloodshed. These examples clearly show who serves Caesar and who serves God, which is why Satan hits us like that. The UOC was, is and will be in our Motherland, because it is the soul of our people, it prays for it, suffers with it, strengthens it to the best it can. As long as there are people who remain faithful to God and profess the Orthodox faith, they will need the Mother Church like air, because they will not go to any other organization, even decorated as a ‘church’. And the fact that we have a lot of such people is evidenced by the fullness of our churches during worship,” added the hierarch of the UOC.

Vladyka emphasized that Orthodox communities will always remain with their priests, faithful to the Gospel truths and canons of the Church, in any, even the most unfavorable, conditions, and this is evident in the example of those parishes that are forcibly seized by theomachists.

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