Metropolitan Luke: Debates over Feofania do not serve the Church’s good
The Zaporizhzhia hierarch warned of the dangers of public disputes.
Metropolitan Luke of Zaporizhzhia issued a statement in response to public remarks by UOC hierarchs regarding the Council held in Feofania.
“These arguments, in our view, do not benefit the Church but divide us, making us forget for Whom we live and Whom we serve. For we are ‘called to support one another in love and to strive to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace’ (Eph. 4:2–3),” Metropolitan Luke emphasized.
In his opinion, the public sphere has become filled with “accusatory polemics directed against His Eminence Theodosiy,” with which he disagrees.
“I want to ask everyone: where is Christ in all of this? We hear reproaches directed at Bishop Theodosiy, saying that he speaks only of the canons – but where is Christ? Yet are not the canons the very breath of the Church, which is the Body of Christ – its order and blessed safeguard? They were given not for condemnation, but for the preservation of Truth,” the metropolitan wrote.
He stressed that hierarchs must first and foremost show where Christ is – through their attitude, their love, their example.
“For Christ is revealed not in accusatory polemics, but in mercy and brotherly support,” he concluded.
Earlier, the UOJ reported that, according to Metropolitan Victor of Khmelnytskyi, the UOC Council was held without external pressure.
