Metropolitan Luke: “Zeal without reason is not service to God, but madness”

Metropolitan Luke of Zaporizhzhia and Melitopol (UOC) has called on people to evaluate societal events through the lens of the Gospel. In his message, he distinguished between true zeal for God and dangerous zeal “not according to knowledge,” which, in his words, leads to fanaticism and demonic frenzy. His remarks were published on his official Telegram channel.

“Where is zeal, and where is frenzy? Test it by the Gospel. ‘For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge’ (Romans 10:2),” the hierarch reminded. He emphasized that zeal for God means faithfulness to His commandments, while fanaticism stems from spiritual blindness.

«What guides the person who calls the temple a ‘hostile object’? What is the fault of people who have remained faithful to the canonical Church? Is it not jealousy beyond reason, or better to say insanity, when a person far from the faith determines which parish is “right” and which is not? When officials make lists of unwanted priests? Isn’t it a manifestation of permissiveness, and the worst of all — of godlessness, i.e. rebellion against God», — stated the bishop. He also condemned the sacrileges at the shrines organized near the walls of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.

“Zeal for God is like fire. But this fire must burn within the furnace of faith. Otherwise, it turns into the destructive force of fanaticism and frenzy,” the metropolitan warned. True zeal, he said, should be filled with prayer, love for others, and labor for the good of the homeland.

He pointed to the apostles as an example, noting that after receiving the Holy Spirit, they did not curse their enemies or fight with shouting, but lived in humility. “Whom did God glorify? The loud or the patient? The screamers or the prayerful?” he asked.

In conclusion, Metropolitan Luke cautioned against replacing the Gospel with political slogans: “We are saved not by slogans and protests, but by love. But this love must remain within the bounds of the Gospel commandments.” He called on the faithful to preserve their loyalty to the Church so that “our souls may enter the assembly of saints — those who burned but did not destroy, who lived and died for Christ, not for a political idea.”

The metropolitan also commented earlier on the news that His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy, Primate of the UOC, had been stripped of Ukrainian citizenship, stressing the spiritual meaning of this event. “They took away the passport — they cannot take away Christ,” he stated. He urged believers to see this as a sign of the times: “It is clear that the Lord is dealing with us seriously: internal upheavals, COVID, full-scale war, the legal threat of a ban, searches, trials, imprisonments — and now open and direct pressure on the Primate.”