Seizures of churches will not strengthen the Kiev Patriarchate, – Jerusalem hierarch (VIDEO)

Metropolitan Timotheus of Vostra (the Jerusalem Orthodox Church) believes that the multiplication, at the cost of seizure, of the Kiev Patriarchate parishes in Ukraine does not add to Filaret followers either authority or legitimacy. Vladyka expressed this opinion in an interview with the Information and Education Department of the UOC.

"If parishes are forcibly seized, they will not acquire anything," said Metropolitan Timotheus of Vostra. "The multiplication of the parishes of the Kyiv Patriarchate to the detriment of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church does not give them strong arguments in order to demand primacy, or to become the basis for a future union."

The bishop believes that only love can heal the wound of schism.

"When there is love among Orthodox people, whether they are in the so-called Kiev Patriarchate or in the Orthodox Church, then all questions can be discussed," said Metropolitan Timotheus. "And then some solution can be found that will be based on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross. Because he was crucified to unite all of us."