Metropolitan Luke urged the flock to be courageous and remain faithful to canonical Orthodoxy

Metropolitan Luka of Zaporizhzhya and Melitopol has drawn a historical and spiritual parallel between the current situation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) and the events described in the book of Acts of the Apostles. The hierarch emphasized that the current trials of the Church are a reflection of the biblical path of the apostles who faced political slander and aggression because of their faithfulness to Christ.

In his official address, Metropolitan Luke notes that “the light of Christ always rages against spiritual darkness.” According to him, the situation in ancient Thessalonica, where the preaching of the Apostles Paul and Silas provoked anger in those who turned faith into a tool of influence, exactly repeats the modern realities. Vladyka points out that when the persecutors run out of spiritual arguments, envy and violence come into force.

The publication pays special attention to the methods of pressure on believers. The hierarch draws an analogy between the seizure of churches by “unfit people” and the actions of the mob in Thessalonica. According to the Metropolitan’s position, “political slander” is used against the Church today: questions of faith and canons are deliberately translated into the plane of state loyalty in order to justify lawlessness. “The Church is again being judged by the judgment of Pilate, forgetting that Her Kingdom is not of this world,” the Metropolitan emphasizes.

At the conclusion of his message, Metropolitan Luke urged the flock to be courageous and remain faithful to canonical Orthodoxy. He expressed confidence that just as the empires of the past, which destroyed churches, have disappeared, so the current upheavals will end with the victory of the persecuted, and the true faith in our native land will remain forever.