Met. Augustine: Aggressive minority decides the fate of an entire nation
It is not a democracy if the religious community decides to remain in the UOC, while the territorial community holds its own meeting, says Met. Augustine (Markevich).
Metropolitan Augustine (Markevich) of Belaya Tserkov and Boguslav, the chairman of the Synodal Department of the UOC for interaction with the Armed Forces and other military formations of Ukraine, called the leaders, who now turned against the canonical Church, crafty Pharisees. Vladyka’s comment on the events in Rudoye Selo, where OCU activists seized the temple and disrupted the traditional religious procession, was published on “1Kozaktv”.
“We must live in such a way so that not to make excuses at the Last Judgment, and here – so that your children are not ashamed of you ...” said Metropolitan Augustine. “Those leaders who treat our Church SO now – they were all in our Church! Those acting, and those that have been before. Are those speaking from the scenes and tribunes sincere? We are poor because the Pharisees, crafty people, are leading us.”
Vladyka stressed that an aggressive minority deсides the fate of an entire nation.
“It’s a shame, it’s not a democracy, but it’s a reality,” he said. “When a regular religious community, together with a priest, decides to remain a member of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and the territorial community holds an alternative meeting, this is at least unfair. Well, build for yourself.
However, according to the hierarch, to say that the persecution of the Church has begun is very pathetic: “Where are they persecuting us – to Christ? So, this is good, not from Christ we are being persecuted, but to Christ, to the Church.”
“It was not by chance that when we were going, we sang the “Symbol of Faith”– we live it. When we entered the seminary, we saw what was done to priests, how they were persecuted, and we knew what we were going for. Time passed and we saw who was who. Today, something similar is happening. And we are happy that we can testify to the Trinity that we are faithful,” added the bishop.
As the UOJ reported, on March 2, OCU supporters cut off locks and took over the Holy Trinity Church of the UOC in the Rudoye Selo of the Volodarka district, Kiev region. On March 8, they were not allowed to finish the traditional annual religious procession with the miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary, which was held with the blessing of Metropolitan Augustine (Markevich) of Belaya Tserkov and Boguslav. At the moment, parishioners of the seized church have to pray in the homes of local residents and are intended to go to court to protect their rights.
