Bishop Viсtor: All believers of UOC are happy with its status
At a meeting with young people, Bishop Victor of Baryshevka spoke about causes of the church schism in Ukraine and said that all believers are happy with the UOC status.
Vicar of the Kyiv Metropolis, head of the Representation of the UOC to European International Organizations and associate professor of the Kyiv Theological Academy, Bishop Victor (Kotsaba) of Baryshevka, at a meeting with young people in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, said that the UOC now has such a status that suits all its believers, for whom God and unity is above all, according to lavra.ua.
“The UOC has a status that satisfies all of its faithful. The main thing that unites us and makes us one is our Lord Jesus Christ. As Blessed Augustine said, ‘if Christ comes first, then everything else will be in its place.’ If we live in the Church, then God is above all for us. Wherever we are born, we love our earthly homeland. We all have a different heritage, but we must not split but unite in Christ in order to walk the path of salvation,” Vladyka noted.
Bishop Victor, in a conversation with young people, spoke about the reasons for the church schism in Ukraine and also emphasized the independent and self-governing status of the UOC.
“After the election of the Patriarch in Moscow, former Metropolitan of Kyiv Filaret abruptly changed his rhetoric and single-handedly began to torpedo the issue of autocephaly for the UOC. Under his authoritarian pressure, an appeal to the Russian Orthodox Church for immediate autocephaly was adopted, but soon our bishops began to withdraw their signatures, for which they were immediately punished,” Vladyka said.
According to Bishop Victor, true believers always feel untruth and injustice, so Metropolitan Filaret at that moment was not supported by the majority of people on the issue of autocephaly of the UOC.
“You can make various decisions, but if they fail to benefit the Church, contradict its canons and are wrong, then ordinary believing people feel it. And no matter how confident the powerful Filaret was then, the majority did not support him,” Vladyka added.
As the UOJ previously reported, the UOC called on to think about the spiritual safety of being on the Internet.
