Fear not, little flock... it would be surprising if a bishop did not say a word, given the circumstances in which we live, when God-fighting laws are being passed banning the UOC.
"Fear not". They say this phrase occurs in the Bible 365 times (one for every day of the year). And I turn to you: my dear ones, do not be afraid.
People ask me what we shall do next. I answer: we shall be with God, and everything else will be added to us. My dear ones, it is impossible to ban the Church... What they want to ban now are the church structures through which the Church is made manifest in our society...
In the Apocalypse, in the 13th chapter, John the Theologian speaks of a beast that came up out of the sea, and says that this beast was as it were mortally wounded, and then a little time passed and its wound was healed. Further it is said that it was given to this beast to make war with the saints and to overcome them.
I do not know whether my interpretation now will be correct. Can this text of the Apocalypse be laid over our own time? Perhaps that is wrong, but it is very like it.
Remember how in 1917 the Bolsheviks who came to power were called a red dragon. Let no one think that I am hurting the feelings of atheists, no... It is simply that if this atheist wants to take possession of my soul, to make it captive, I shall give an answer. Atheism is a faith, faith that God does not exist. We respect that faith, it is a person's choice. But neither should atheism interfere in the life of believing people...
Look at who wants to govern religious life in Ukraine today. It is those very same atheists out of the Soviet past... Zelensky, who said "thermos" instead of Tomos, and who said that he would not tell anyone which Church to go to... What is he doing with us now? We went to vote for him because he promised not to meddle in the Church. He deceived us. And he has put at the head of this whole God-fighting purpose a man who in Soviet times was called a scientific atheist (Yelensky is meant), who fought against believers, among other things through his scientific-atheist writings. And this man has drawn in his colleagues, atheists, unbelieving people, who want to command us. They do not now declare that they are atheists, but speak of showing canonical competence in church questions.
But in order to be a canonist, that is, a church lawyer, a man must be a believer, a practising Christian. Atheists are determining the canonical standing of the UOC! What is this? Why, this is that very beast which was mortally wounded in 1988. And now its wound has healed, and it has been given to it to wage wars with the saints and to overcome them...
Someone wants to wage a war inside a country that is already at war. They single out an enemy, and they have appointed us that enemy. Look at the television screens, our Ukrainian ones. How much filth is poured out on our Church. And we cannot answer. We are not allowed on television. If we are a democratic country, give us the chance to answer all your claims against us. No. An instruction has been given not to let the Orthodox in.
We are also told that bishops should not speak of the persecution of believers, or it will be worse. How we have slid back into the USSR... It was precisely in the 1920s that the Soviet authorities demanded of the bishops who were at liberty not simply to keep silent. They had to say that in the USSR there was no persecution of believers. To our great sorrow, some archpastors did say so. But let us not judge them. We have not been in their skin...
But we must not keep silent now. And so I say openly: there is persecution of believers in Ukraine. Zelensky's colleagues from "Kvartal 95" openly blasphemed the name of God on television, they committed sacrilege. And they did not merely insult, they mocked the feelings of believers. And of all believers: Catholics and Protestants too... And look at the silence — everyone is afraid to condemn this act. And only our Church condemned it openly.
We applied to the police to have a case opened. No reaction at all. The police had received an "instruction" not to listen to these "Moscow priests"...
Yes, there is persecution. And what happened in Ivano-Frankivsk... You can look on the internet at how Orthodox people were smoked out of their churches with gas and how the church was then seized. I do not know how the OCU can pray there after that. Those people have no conscience at all...
And how a church was seized in the Chernivtsi region. The authorities took part, the police took part, and the blood of Orthodox people was shed. And again silence. The authorities do not react. Churches are seized, documents are forged. No attention at all — the authorities completely ignore the interests of Orthodox citizens of Ukraine.
And the Subcarpathian region and Halychyna have been turned altogether into a testing ground for God-fighting experiments. All the churches were closed, and they thought people would go over to the OCU. The people did not go. In Lviv the churches stand empty. The priests and the people said: we shall pray somewhere in flats, in houses. But it was not to be. The militia comes, the SBU. The priest is categorically forbidden to serve. They want him to leave Lviv altogether. The priest cannot find work, because an "instruction" arrives at once. Then the priests began to celebrate the Liturgy in secret, to pass the Holy Gifts through laypeople who had been taught how to handle the Holy Gifts properly. People gather somewhere, now in one flat, now in another. Each time they change the location. They read the appointed services and, without a priest, commune themselves.
It turns out that even this is not allowed. In some cases vigilant neighbours telephone the police. They arrive, carry out interrogations and take a written undertaking that there will be no more such gatherings of a church character.
Is this not persecution of the Church? They are testing it there now. And it seems to me that they want to turn the whole of Ukraine into what is now in Lviv. But note — the people did not go into schism.
My dear ones, we do not know what will happen to us tomorrow. If it comes to the utmost point, as in Lviv, and the laity have no access to priests, I shall give the priests a blessing to prepare the Holy Gifts and distribute them to the faithful and to prepare the rite of self-communion...
If you do not have this rite, but you have the Holy Gifts — do not lose heart. Remember when the elder Zosimas came into the desert to the venerable Mary of Egypt in order to give her communion. He read the Creed and the Our Father. People ask, and how shall we confess. The struggle of the new martyrs prompts us in this. What did they do? There was no priesthood. Those who could telephoned; those who could not wrote out their confession on paper and sent it by post to a priest or a bishop...
Our situation is a little easier: we have the internet. This is not the norm. It is an extreme case. If they close all our churches and drive us out, then we shall be able to confess and receive communion in this way.
And here is what is interesting. The churches will be open, but the Church will not be there. In Soviet times the authorities resorted to this cunning device: they created their own church — it was called the Renovationist church. The authorities everywhere gave their patronage to this so-called church. Clergy who called this church schismatic were often tried and given prison terms. And what is interesting, this Renovationist church (people called them the red church) was recognised by the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
See how the situation repeats itself. It turns out that all this has happened before. If it turns out so with us too, my dear ones, we shall do everything so that the Church may continue its mission in these conditions as well...
What are we to do, Orthodox people? Today there is great pressure on the episcopate. Contact is being kept up with all the bishops, they are sounding out the mood. When "important" people were talking with me, I told them: I shall give you a very simple piece of advice: look, the OCU has been recognised by the Greek Churches, and not even by all of them, while the remaining local Churches do not recognise the OCU, because they say that it has no apostolic succession. They say straight out that Epifaniy is a layman. The Polish Church said so, the Albanian Church said so. That is, if there are doubts about the apostolic succession, then there is doubt about the Eucharist. And I proposed this solution. Let us humble ourselves, both we and they. Our Church has an impeccable apostolic succession, the OCU a doubtful one. Let us confer ordination on them, let us ordain them, and the problem is solved. They will become a Church. No, they said. That does not suit us. If you do not want to go over, then we shall cut off your electricity, gas, water and so on... In the twenty-first century that is how questions of faith are settled! Beria would have envied what is happening now in Halychyna...
We are accused of being enemies of Ukraine; they have invented a label: "Moscow priests". Where did this label come from? Do you know, it is actually of Gospel origin. Remember, when Christ was being condemned to death and there was a gathering of the Jewish leaders at night, it was said: "let it be better that He die. If He does not die, the Romans will come and take possession of our nation". In other words, Jesus is a "Roman priest". Judea was then under the occupation of Rome, and they accused Jesus of collaborating with Rome. That was the reason they needed in order to put our Lord to death "lawfully". Now "Roman" means "Moscow". And note, these atheists who govern church life today are interested in only one confession — us and our Church. And this, my dear ones, is precisely the sign that we are the true Church of Christ...
People ask us what the way out of this dead end is. Remember how the Orthodox Church came out of the Bulgarian dead end at the end of the 1990s. All the primates of the Churches came and healed the schism.
My dear ones, do not be anxious, do not panic. We shall be with God, we shall hold to one another in this sorrow that we are living through. The Church under persecution shows precisely the visible fruit of faith and piety...
They say we have lost the Lavra... No, no, no. We have not lost the Kyiv Caves Lavra. Note that a few people left the Lavra, but all the monks are in their places. Yes, people are not let in, they now live a genuinely monastic life, and they are there now, praying. And it used to be said of the Kyiv monks: well, these are city monks, what sort of monks are they? But look, the time of trial has come and see what fruit they have shown...
My call is one: no schisms! we remain in the canonical Orthodox Church. Be faithful to Christ and to His Holy Orthodox Church!
