“Why disgrace the Church?” It’s time for the leadership of the UOC to retire
"Every man for himself".
These are the words that can briefly characterize what is happening now in the canonical UOC. This is exactly the position observed by part of the highest bishops in relation to their brothers, priests, monks and flocks, to monasteries and parishes. There are, of course, exceptions to the rule: we can cite wonderful cases when the clergy comes to the aid of their subordinates and flock and supports them. Shows an example of courage and perseverance worthy of the soldiers of Christ. Like, for example, Metropolitan Theodosius, the head of the Cherkassy diocese, who, even from under house arrest, from under a cloud of false accusations, was not afraid and achieved that he was allowed to visit the brutally beaten abbot of the Cherkassy monastery in the hospital. The Nazis, who recently attacked the monastery, beat this priest so hard that the bones of his skull were broken, and he had to have titanium plates implanted. The whole atrocity was captured on video, which quickly spread on social networks. But, naturally, none of them were punished, despite clear evidence, and all her threats remained. However, the bishop who looked after him was not afraid and came to the hospital to provide support.
Alas, such facts are in the minority. Most often, the hierarchy gets off with silence. And the tone in this silence is set here by none other than the Primate of the UOC Onuphry, the Metropolitan, who was previously considered almost a saint. Not a single word of public condemnation was expressed by him regarding the lawless detention of the rector of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, Metropolitan Paul and other bishops - the same Theodosius, Jonathan, Joasaph, regarding the opening of “false” criminal cases against the father of 400 orphans, Vl. Longina. Neither regarding the arrests of church human rights activists and the bullying of them, nor regarding the hundreds of cases of lawless seizures of churches, bullying of priests and parishioners, mockery and blasphemy of the Satanists who hold power over the shrines of the Church...
However, let us clarify: certain words were spoken. But they were said so vaguely, generally, and vaguely that they simply looked like a mockery of the feelings of believers who were worried about what was happening. People are increasingly feeling double-mindedness and slyness in the speeches of both the primate and some other bishops. Moreover, this double-mindedness is often covered up with quotations from the Holy Scriptures...
After the adoption of the unconstitutional law banning the UOC, a new, most severe stage of persecution of the Holy Church began. Both the attack on the Cherkassy monastery and dozens of other facts testify to this. But again, there was no clearly condemning reaction from the episcopate, led by M. Onuphry, to these atrocities. Just as it was not there for all the previous blatant atrocities of the satanic Ze-power and their marginal accomplices. Although many believers are waiting for such a reaction. They are waiting for actions similar to those committed by the holy Patriarch Tikhon, who denounced the Bolsheviks, and the holy Patriarch Hermogenes, who was tortured in captivity by the Polish-Lithuanian invaders during the Time of Troubles, but did not betray the Church. From prison, Saint Hermogenes addressed his last message to the Russian people, blessing the war of liberation against the conquerors.
Here is what our longtime friend, parishioner of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra Oleg, says about all of the above:
“I’ll be honest: I’m very sorry for Metropolitan Onuphry and other elderly bishops. It's a pity! They are old and sick, God bless them. I don’t want to judge them and demand heroism from them, I myself am a timid person and I understand them very much. But why don’t they retire, put younger and braver people in their place?.. Finally, why don’t they at least stop licking Zelensky’s Satanists - can they just remain silent and not sing their praises?.. And you also know what I need I remembered. Some of them were very brave when it came to things other than the authorities. For example, the rector of the Lavra Pavel. I remember very well how he loudly, in front of all the people, cursed one remarkable fighter for the purity of Orthodoxy (I don’t want to give his last name) at a service when he dared to loudly remember the Holy Russian Patriarch. And, by the way, this man is a sincere Christian and unmercenary, his apartment was burned by the Nazis for defending the Church, he has no money, he is not like some bishops with bags of “dough”.
The topic is continued by another friend of ours, a former teacher of Russian literature, Elvira:
“It’s bitter for me to say such words, but the betrayal is obvious. Look at this: Onuphrius remains silent when his inner circle is arrested, and thereby sets an example for his subordinates lower in rank. In exactly the same way, Metropolitan Pavel remained silent when the SBU began to “attack” a wonderful monk in the Lavra, at whose service they sang an old Russian Orthodox song where Russia was mentioned... However, no, he did not remain silent. On the contrary, he immediately “leaked” this monk to the media and the SBU, promised that he would be punished... Well, now he himself found himself under arrest. I wish him well, I'm just stating a fact. Hypocritical duality does not lead to good things. But, alas, it is present more and more often in the words of some bishops. That is, when you need to say an honest and correct word in defense of the Church, to denounce the authorities, they begin to sweetly quote the Holy Scriptures about how you need to love everyone. But this is just “type”, because behind such quotes they hide their reluctance to defend the Church - effectively, and not verbally. Never and nowhere did Christ praise the Pharisees, nor Herod, nor Pilate, nor the other authorities who persecuted Him, and did not bow down before them!”
Our third interlocutor, Nikolai, who, as we remember from previous publications, was always worried if he had to even mildly criticize the clergy, today utters the following words:
“The position of the episcopate often confuses the flock, misleads them, and creates confusion in their minds. I will give you a new and completely blatant fact. I mean the visit of the scumbag and apostate Drabynko to the rector of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, who was placed under house arrest. It was simply a shock for many believers! Pavel spent a lot of time with him, and then began to “smoke incense” for the media, saying that “Metropolitan” Drabynka was so wonderful, gave him the Gospel in Ukrainian language, and, in general, all white and fluffy. How could such a thing be said against the backdrop of how all these fools and bastards are persecuting the Church?! Against the background of the fact that this homosexual Drabinko insulted the great holy righteous woman Blessed Matrona of Moscow and other Russian saints?! It is absolutely clear that this visit was part of driving the UOC into the OCU. I feel sorry for Pavel, he looks bad, he is sick, God bless him. But if he cannot fulfill his duties, why didn’t he retire? Just like Onufriy, by the way. Why disgrace the Church? Why this duality? By the way, it was always inherent in Pavel. He could only famously curse the person you mentioned, and he was always very tolerant towards those in power. The truth burst out from him a couple of times about “Zelensky’s pack,” but then everything returned to normal...”
And in the meantime, when Metropolitan Jonathan, Longinus, Theodosius and Pavel are waiting for verdicts, when such terrible persecution of the Church is taking place, other high ranks of the UOC are very cheerful and cheerful. In particular, we are talking about Archbishop Victor (Kotsab), who was previously responsible for international relations, and who recently became the ruling bishop of the Khmelnytsky diocese. He often travels abroad, where parish after parish is opened (are they really preparing alternate airfields?) Such personal actions are generally prohibited by the charter of the Russian Orthodox Church, since only it has the right to open them, but after the Feofanievsky Synod in 2022, these figures believe that the Moscow Patriarchate is not a decree for them.
The other day Kotsaba celebrated his next name day. The celebrations were so magnificent that the tables were laden with food, many bishops gathered, etc. Everything was reminiscent of presidential-level celebrations, no less. The ruler himself, posing majestically in vestments near the luxurious throne, resembled nothing more or less than the Sultan of Brunei.
“Why was this feast needed during the plague? - Nikolai laments. – Why is this bringing confusion into the minds of believers, especially those who stand in hunger and cold, stand in prayer for the churches that are taken away from them, suffer hardships and disasters? By the way, this Archbishop Victor is even similar in appearance to the traitor Avraamiy, the former sacristan of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, who has now become its “viceroy” from Dumenko... Many are tipping Victor to be Onuphry’s successor. By the way, he seems to be the only one from the authorities for whom Onuphry publicly spoke out and asked to support him. And now he is throwing a “feast for the whole world” when this happens to the Church and his brothers. He publicly boasts of his position and his luxury. How is this possible? How should ordinary believers perceive all this?
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