UOC Hierarch: St. Vladimir showed – the power of Church is not in protests
The UOC Chancellor spoke about the last days of the life of Holy Martyr Vladimir and showed the path along which the saint went to martyrdom.
Holy Martyr Vladimir (Bogoyavlensky), Metropolitan of Kiev and Galicia, showed us that the strength of the Church of Christ is not in protests but in fidelity to the Commandments of Christ, stressed the UOC Chancellor Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanich) of Boryspil and Brovary. On the occasion of Commemoration Day, His Eminence Anthony posted a short film about Metropolitan Vladimir on his Facebook page.
“Metropolitan Vladimir (Bogoyavlensky) became the first of the new martyrs of the Russian Orthodox Church in the rank of hierarch. He witnessed fidelity to Christ with his blood and became a heavenly man of fervent prayer for the Church during the years of severe persecution, showing that the strength of the Church of Christ is not in protests but in fidelity to the Commandments of Christ,” the UOC hierarch drew the attention of the flock.
He spoke about the life of this amazing and courageous man who did not hesitate to give his life for Christ.
“Few people know that Metropolitan Vladimir was a poet in his soul. He extremely loved nature, appreciated beauty, loved poetry and composed poems himself until old age,” Metropolitan Anthony cited the words of one of the close friends of the holy martyr.
His Eminence noted that after the events of 1917, Metropolitan Vladimir openly condemned the atheistic Bolshevik power.
“The October Revolution also caused a revolutionary frenzy in the church life of Ukraine. Autocephalous sentiments arose among a part of the Kiev clergy,” said Metropolitan Anthony. “Metropolitan Vladimir opposed reorganization in the Church and non-canonical actions, urging pastors and believers to avoid hostility and schism, to keep the Church in unity and Orthodoxy in purity.”
In the film about the holy martyr, Met. Anthony showed the path, along which the armed people led the holy Metropolitan Vladimir to execution, and the place where the new martyr departed to the Lord. The hierarch of the UOC shared with the audience the recollections of eyewitnesses who told how, with great patience, on the eve of his martyrdom, the saint was reading at the service an akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos.
“’He was faithful to the canons of the Holy Orthodox Church, the traditions of the Fathers. Fearlessly and boldly, honestly and nobly, he professed this engrossing zeal of God no matter what the consequences might be,’ said His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon later about Metropolitan Vladimir,” added the hierarchy of the UOC.
Recall, on February 7, the Orthodox Church honors the memory of the Holy Martyr Vladimir (Bogoyavlensky), Metropolitan of Kiev and Galicia.
