UOC Spokesman: One should care about Church development, not about Phanar
In the difficult situation in the religious life of Ukraine, it is necessary to influence what we can change, Archpriest Nikolai noted.
The main task of the Church today is evolution and creation, explained the Deputy Head of the UOC DECR, Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich on the air of “1Kozak”.
“The task of our Church today is to develop the Church and build the Church. These are the words of the Apostle Paul (Eph. 4: 11-12 – Ed.). We need to build the Church as the Body of Christ precisely in the inner plane. It means to develop an internal mission, to develop parishes, catechesis – to do what the Church should do,” he explained.
The Spokesman of the UOC called to take Phanar’s actions easier and focus on the more important things.
Society often uses the Church as a bridgehead, an example of which is the situation with the fall of the Berlin Wall, he said. Archpriest Nikolai recalled his conversation with Lutherans from Germany, who told him about a surge of interest in religion during the fall of the Berlin Wall. At that time people would massively come to pray before going to the Wall, but when this event was no longer in the spotlight, there remained just a few Lutherans.
According to the Spokesman of the UOC, the Lord will ask each clergyman not about the degree of his involvement in political events and Maidan but by the number of spiritual children who came to Christ.
“There is a real Church and there is a virtual Church. You see, one can say: this is a Church, there are millions, trillions or zillions of us. Then we have a religious procession and these millions boil down to maximum two or three thousand believers. And those who "do not exist", whose Church is “wrong” and "not supported" – several hundred thousand people – participate in a religious procession. That's where the virtual church is and where the real one is,” he added.
Earlier, the UOC Spokesman said that during the Cross Procession on the occasion of the Baptism of Rus, an atmosphere of joy and uplift reigned. “People are working, people are praying, people are in the Church, and this is wonderful,” he emphasized.
