UOC hierarch urges not to judge strictly those who are under persecution

Metropolitan Theodosiy of Cherkasy and Kaniv. Photo: a screenshot of the YouTube video channel “Cherkasy Evangelist”

Metropolitan Theodosiy of Cherkasy and Kaniv recorded a video message in which he urged not to judge harshly those who found themselves under persecution.

"Now the Church of Christ in our country is undergoing persecution. Our Church has always been under pressure, during all these years in various regions temples have been seized, and Western Ukraine especially suffered in the nineties. But it is one thing to hear about persecutions that are taking place somewhere far away, or have happened once, to read the lives of confessors, it is quite another thing to become participants of persecutions. You begin to look at many things differently, and you begin to understand many things differently. When we reason speculatively about the martyrdom that once took place, we reason very boldly, we are ready to say about ourselves: "And I would do so" or "We should do so, but they behave differently". Having no practical experience of living under persecution, do not judge strictly those people who find themselves in these circumstances," said Metropolitan Theodosiy.

The UOC bishop said that in modern Ukraine many people are beginning to live as Christians of the first centuries.

All generations of Christians who have suffered persecution have searched for an acceptable conclusion to this situation – how to live in society and not betray their God. Since the first centuries of persecution, this search has been going on. In the first centuries, a principle was developed: you can be a secret Christian, but if you are discovered, you must confess Christ without fear, and if necessary, you must accept suffering, torment and death for it. This principle is universal and it is still valid today. And today in Ukraine many people begin to live as Christians of the first centuries. At the same time, Christians have never sinned against their faith," he added.

As previously reported, the Metropolitan of Cherkasy said that St Luke's words about "Renovationists" can be applied to the OCU.

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