Simeon – to UOC believers: I know most of you support OCU
The “hierarch” is convinced the majority the Vinnitsa Eparchy believers (UOC) want to join OCU but so far cannot do this because of the priests who do not support them.
“The time will come, and we will be united, and this time is just around the corner,” said the former ruling bishop of the Vinnitsa Eparchy of the UOC Simeon (Shostatsky) in an interview with the “Religious Truth”, addressing his former flock.
“Today we belong to the Church of Christ,” he said. “The Church that was born and is the 15th Church among the Local Orthodox Churches. And today, most of you, dear brothers and sisters, who do not live throughout Ukraine – we are talking only about the Vinnitsa region – we know that most of you support the autocephalous, local Ukrainian Orthodox Church."
According to him, the parishioners of the Vinnitsa Eparchy of the UOC have no other choice so far, "because the priests who serve in your parishes did not want to become members of the OCU as you do."
“Today, while praying in churches – now of the Moscow Patriarchate – do not forget that we are your brothers and sisters in Christ. We are not schismatics, we are not those who betrayed Christ or betrayed faith, we, just like you, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the Holy Trinity, are Orthodox and live the same traditions and laws that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church lives in general,” emphasized the “hierarch” of the OCU Simeon.
At the end of his address, the “bishop” urged “not to do harm to one another” and remember that “the time will come and we will be one, and this time is just around the corner”.
We recall that the former ruling bishop of the Vinnitsa Eparchy of the UOC Simeon (Shostatsky) urged to protect the Cathedral in Vinnitsa from the ideology of the “Russian world” and called the members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church a tool of the devil.
