UOC Chancellor: Believers, protect churches; bishops, do not abandon people
Metropolitan Anthony called on the clergy and believers to support one another and to remember that the Church is a community of people, not just church walls.
The UOC Chancellor, Metropolitan Anthony, in his sermon posted on his YouTube channel, reminded the clergy and believers that the Church is, first and foremost, a community of people, not just church walls. He urged bishops to serve the people, support communities and encourage the faithful to fight for their sanctuaries.
"In these challenging times when our churches are being taken away from us, when we are driven out onto the streets and when priests and parishioners are insulted, it is important to understand why this is allowed to happen to us," the hierarch said. "In my view, the Lord allows them to take away our churches to show that His Church is not in the walls. The Lord began His ministry by gathering the apostles. He was not constantly in one specific place but walked through Judea, preached, and interacted with people."
According to him, through today's events in the Orthodox life of Ukraine, the Lord wants to show us true Christianity in the way it originated.
"Early Christianity is a community, the union of people, not walls, even if they are sacred. As difficult as it is for me to say this, we must not get attached to the walls now, even though they are very dear to us because they are our churches, our shrines. We must remember that God does not dwell in man-made temples," Metropolitan Anthony said.
He noted that temples can be taken away, but one cannot destroy communities of people united by faith in Christ, and it is impossible to remove faith from the hearts of people. The UOC Chancellor stressed that it is especially important now for the episcopate and priests to help ordinary believers and support them.
"We must be with them, form strong church communities and focus on the development of an active church life. Christianity is, first of all, a community. Therefore, serving people should be our top priority. If we preserve faith in the hearts of our people, the Lord will return our churches to us," the hierarch said.
He highlighted that after the Soviet period, most churches were destroyed or disfigured, but the living faith of the people restored and transformed them.
"Today, I appeal to the pastors and faithful children of our suffering Church: protect your churches by all possible legal means. But if all legal methods are exhausted, and you still have to leave the church, the main thing is not to leave the people behind," Metropolitan Anthony urged.
In these difficult times, he called for particular support for one another: "Place the main emphasis on people. Go to them, be with them, bind up their wounds, weep and rejoice with them, be together with your flock. Walls are not important; people are. And the Lord will surely return our churches to us."
As reported, Metropolitan Anthony believes that the verdict to the Tultchin bishop is evidence of persecution against the UOC.
