UOC hierarch calls on law enforcement to refuse to participate in persecution of the Church

The hierarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Theodosius of Cherkasy and Kaniv, called on Ukrainian law enforcement officers to refuse to participate in the persecution of the Church. Metropolitan Theodosius recalled biblical examples when people, despite the duty to obey orders, preferred to preserve their personal piety in order not to share the afterlife of criminals. The hierarch said this in his sermon posted on the YouTube channel of the Cherkasy Eparchy of the UOC.

“At all times, there have been both conscious persecutors of the Church and those who carried out criminal orders unwittingly. This was the case in Bethlehem and at the crucifixion of the Lord, as it was in Soviet times and as it is today,” — the bishop noted.

Addressing the employees of the Security Service of Ukraine, the Prosecutor’s Office, the police and medical institutions, the hierarch of the UOC appealed to their conscience, emphasizing that actions against the Church are not just a violation of the law, but a direct rebellion against God.

“In your conscience, you realize that everything that is being done (against the UOC) is a lie, a crime. And when the criminals are punished in due time, either in this life or in the future, there is no need to share their fate with them. Do what conscientious soldiers did in Bethlehem — do not go to kill babies (who told the sick, who did something else), as conscientious people did in Soviet times: They went to shoot them, but did not shoot them, gave them documents to destroy the temple, and they divided them somewhere or threw them away — and some churches are still standing precisely because some party workers were believers at heart and did not give the documents a chance to go through,” — Metropolitan Theodosius added.

Earlier, the hierarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Irinej of Bačka, commented on the situation with the Ukrainian church crisis and the reaction of the Local Orthodox Churches to it. The bishop argues that the Churches that recognized the OCU did so under pressure and often contrary to the canons and their own charters.