UOC marks the end of outgoing 2019 year
The UOC Chancellor, Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanich), spoke about the benchmarks of 2019 for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
The UOC Chancellor, Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanich) of Boryspil and Brovary, in his interview to Klymenko Time channel, summed up the results of the year for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
In particular, His Eminence said that in his opinion, only the Ukrainian Orthodox Church personifies Ukraine. Vladyka emphasized that the UOC unites all Ukrainians regardless of beliefs, social status or region of residence.
Metropolitan Anthony also reported on the reasons that prompted some representatives of the local Orthodox Churches to recognize the OCU. He emphasized that these Churches, namely of Alexandria and Greece, in a certain sense are “satellites of the Patriarchate of Constantinople” and are dependent financially on the Greek state.
Along with this, Vladyka noted that every Christian, despite the fact that he is a patriot of his homeland, should not forget about the main principle – “we are all citizens of heaven but with earthly registration. We must appreciate this earthly registration but understand that our true Fatherland is in heaven.”
Speaking about the “transitions” of communities from the UOC to the OCU, the Metropolitan said that the information about “hundreds” of such cases is untrue and manipulative. According to him, it can only be about 84 voluntary transitions, which is less than one percent of the total number of parishes of the UOC.
The hierarch emphasized that the OCU, recently created with the help of the previous government, is a political organization with a religious tint. He recalled that the so-called “Unification Council” of the OCU not only did not unite anyone but, on the contrary, brought about even greater confusion and discord, which ultimately led to the multiplication of the split.
According to him, "the unification and even legalization of schismatics did not bring them any canonicity." Moreover, the schismatics were even divided among themselves – Filaret left the OCU.
In turn, the UOC Chancellor supported the initiative of the Jerusalem Patriarch Theophilos to meet in Jordan to discuss the issue of maintaining pan-Orthodox unity in light of the situation in Ukraine.
Met. Anthony also spoke about the lawsuits under consideration by Ukrainian courts regarding the renaming of the UOC and the taken-over temples and also shared his vision of the relationship between the Church and the state.
He emphasized, in particular, that only the UOC represents Ukraine, while those who fight against the Church oppose the integrity of the state.
Earlier, the UOJ wrote that, according to Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanich), one should avoid those that have broken away from the Church and lifted their hand against Her, because sooner or later they will be responsible for their actions.
