Metropolitan Theodosius explained what attracts believers to temples and why the captured ones remain empty

Believers are attracted to temples not by external splendor, but by the invisible inner content of the Orthodox Church — Divine grace and the work of the Holy Spirit. This was stated by Metropolitan Theodosius of Cherkassy and Kanev in a sermon delivered during the Week of Solemnity of Orthodoxy on March 1, 2026. According to the bishop, it is the lack of this internal content that is the reason why many seized churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) stand empty despite open doors.

Metropolitan Theodosius explained in detail that the inner content of the Church is not just faith in God, but God’s response to our faith, it is inexhaustible Divine grace. «And it is this content that has been clothed by God with such splendid and beautiful forms. But without the essence, the external forms will have no meaning, » the bishop emphasized. He called the grace of God «the precious pearl of the Church,» which gathers millions of people under the vaults of the temples.

It is for the sake of grace, according to the Metropolitan, that people come to the temple to find help and forgiveness of sins, to feel deep peace in the heart and calmness of mind. In the Church of Christ believers receive the Sacraments, which give birth to their spiritual life, strengthen, comfort, fortify and give a sense of security in a turbulent world. If people do not find God in the temple, they leave, as people do not go to «empty» temples.

Metropolitan Theodosius explained that this is why many captured UOC churches throughout Ukraine remain empty: people do not receive grace there and do not return. At the same time, the bishop noted that the Church of Christ harmoniously resides both in earthly triumph and in poverty or even in catacombs, because «the inner content of ecclesiality, the grace of the Holy Spirit, which works to enlighten and save us» is not disturbed. A person can encounter God at the Divine Liturgy both in a magnificent cathedral and «somewhere in an attic or in an apartment where an exiled congregation serves,» if the liturgy is canonical and grace is present in it.

Earlier, Metropolitan Antony (Pakanich), the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s director of affairs, touched upon the pressing issues related to the ongoing persecution of the UOC, noting that the process of its de facto ban does not stop, although it contradicts the law. The Metropolitan emphasized that despite administrative seizures of churches and restrictions on activities, the Church retains its strength due to its deep rootedness in the people, and the taken away shrines often remain empty.