Met. Luke addresses the head of Novonikolaevka RSA with an open letter
Metropolitan Luke of Zaporozhye and Melitopol reminded the civil servant that his position does not make him a celestial being or exempt from honoring the Constitution.
Coercion and intimidation of the UOC clergy to make them backslide into schism contradict the Constitution of Ukraine and testify to the ignorance of the history of the struggle of man against God, wrote Metropolitan Luke of Zaporozhye and Melitopol in his open address to Vladimir Grianisty, Chairman of Novonikolayevka District State Administration.
“Let me quote you Article 35 of the Constitution of Ukraine, which states that “Everyone has the right to freedom of religion or belief ... The church and religious organizations in Ukraine are separated from the state ... No religion can be recognized by the state as compulsory," says the address, published on the website of Zaporozhye eparchy on January 15. “Your actions to coerce the clergy of Novonikolayevka deanery of Zaporozhye eparchy of the UOC, by persuasion and intimidation, to make them backslide into schism through the treachery of the Mother Church – the UOC, which bore them as priests, completely contradict this article, which is a violation of the oath of the public servant.”
Vladyka stressed that such actions bear witness to the ignorance of the history of the struggle of man with God in the person of the Church, created and led by Him.
“There have been a number of such attempts to destroy or subjugate the Church. Have you never heard of the actions of Nero, Maximilian, Robespierre, Stalin, Hitler or Khrushchev, as well as their minions and loyal servants? All their attempts were destroyed by God. The Church has stood and will continue to stand and affirms the word of Truth! What is preserved in the national memory about the above-mentioned persons? Shame and popular censure! Today, the history list includes the names of those who decided to lay their hands on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Do you really want to get on the list?” said Metropolitan Luke.
The priest recalled that any treachery, including betrayal of the Church "for the sake of lentil soup", is a manifestation of evil and entails spiritual death.
“By reviving the medieval postulate "he who has power, has the Church," you are trying to "pull God by His beard" to the feet of your masters in order to curry favor with them. Remember that happiness cannot be built on someone else’s misfortune, and all bad things are returned a hundredfold to the person who has committed evil,” recalled the Metropolitan.
As the UOJ reported, earlier Metropolitan Agafangel of Odessa and Izmail emphasized that history teaches nothing to modern god-fighting people who have forgotten that the Church was created by the Lord Himself.
