View of the Church: love against lie and aggression
In recent weeks, there have appeared materials in the mass media aimed at discrediting the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The apotheosis of the relevant efforts has become the recent programme of ZIK TV channel on the theme "Down with the Moscow Patriarchate."
Its content and objectivity can be much talked about. Here is only the most indicative fact. A photo with a certain Orthodox bishop holding George ribbons was shown on the screen, while it was stated unequivocally by the broadcast presenter that it was the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy.
It is surprising how easily this deceitful fragment was organized. Even those people who have never seen the Metropolitan Onufriy can effortlessly uncover a fraud. To do this, they just need to use the search function on the Internet. It will show that the photo depicts a completely different person.
And here the question arises – why was all this done? The answer may lie on the surface. It is possible that for someone it is not enough to discredit the canonical Orthodoxy in Ukraine. These forces want to strengthen measures against the UOC. And for this they must provoke not only rejection in the society but incite aggression towards the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Therefore, the UOC is subjected to a flood of lies.
"Storage of weapons in churches", "dissemination of separatist literature", "carrying out subversive activity" – this is just a short list of those stereotypes, which are now used to defame the church. Unfortunately, the authors do not understand a terrible truth. In an effort to adopt the political expediency on the wreckage of the common sense they do not only split our society, but also take people away from God. After all, when aggression nestles in a person's heart, it has no place for God – Love.
That is why you should try to follow the path of love and forgiveness. In that is the principle guarantee of keeping the faith and unity of our people. A good example to illustrate this thesis is the situation in the village of Khodosy, Rivne region. In 2014, a church was illegally taken away from the local UOC community. However, people did not resort to tough countermeasures. They focused all their efforts on creation. And the Lord helped them – soon they built a new church, which can rightly be considered a bright symbol of the victory of love over aggression.
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