“The unity of the Church is impossible without truth”: The bishop responded to the demands of the head of the Phanar to unite the UOC with the OCU

Metropolitan Luke (Kovalenko) of Zaporizhia and Melitopol responded to recent statements by the head of the Patriarchate of Constantinople about the need to unite the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the OCU into a single Church. The bishop pointed out that there can be no talk of unification as long as the foundation of this process is based on lies. He wrote about this on his Telegram channel.

«Recently, Patriarch Bartholomew said the following: ‘Our goal is to unite all Orthodox Churches in Ukraine, Metropolitan Onufry, and Metropolitan Epiphany, so that they unite in theory and practice, become one local Church, and be recognized by other sister Orthodox Churches. At first glance, this sounds beautiful: after all, the Lord Himself prayed, ‘May they all be one’ (John 17:21). But we must ask ourselves an honest question: on what basis is this unity possible? The unity of the Church is impossible without truth. It is not built on compromise, but only on fidelity to the apostolic succession, the canons, and the grace of the Holy Spirit,» — noted Metropolitan Luke.

The bishop drew historical parallels between current events and the period of the union, when the Orthodox were forcibly “united” with the Greek Catholics. He drew attention to the fact that those attempts were unsuccessful because they were carried out by force and under political pressure.

«History teaches us that when unity was attempted to be built by force or politics, it always ended in failure. Let us recall the union: it seemed that they had “united” us, but in reality they created new discord, suffering, and torment that continue to this day. The holy fathers said, “Where there is violence, there is no grace.” Today we see the same thing: behind the words about “unity” lies pressure on the UOC, the seizure of churches, slander, and persecution of believers. Is this the way of Christ? And here another question arises: what awaits those who try to impose such a false “unity”? First of all, spiritual consequences: they are replacing the Church, trying to put the human in the place of the Divine. Where there is no truth, there is no Christ. Secondly, the absence of grace: violent “unity” may exist on the outside, but it is dead on the inside. Third, the historical inevitability of collapse: everything that is built on falsehood is destroyed — and this has been demonstrated by the entire history of the Church,» — he added.

We recall that recently, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople stated that he does not intend to revoke the Tomos of autocephaly of the OCU. In his opinion, the process of autocephaly of the “Ukrainian Church” is irreversible, the UOC and the OCU must unite, and after that, other Local Churches will recognize it. The head of the Phanar believes that this will happen “in the coming years or decades.”