A film released about schism and feat of the faithful having preserved canonical Church

On June 12 in the Cinema House of Kiev there was presented a film ”Ukrainian Orthodox Church: In Faith and Truth”, dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the Bishops’ Council in Kharkov. As Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine Onuphry said to the UOJ correspondent, “this film reveals the timeline of the events taking place in complicated years and shows the exploit of the priesthood and laymen who prevented a backslide from the canonical Church and returned conciliarity.”

The Primate of the UOC addressed all those present at the cinema, "Today we thank God for the fact that the Lord gave us moral and physical strength, mental capacity to understand the circumstances in which we found ourselves after the collapse of the Soviet Union. And we were able, while preserving the true faith and canonicity of our Church, to find that way of conciliar service and management of the Church, which is inherent in its nature. And I want to wish all of us, dear brothers and sisters, that we would be the keepers of those traditions and rules that the Bishops' Council in Kharkov confirmed and emphasized. Because it is the rules that help not to get angry, to preserve humanity in the conditions we are facing today."

Alexey Dobosh, a professor of Kiev Theological Academy and Seminary, the Candidate of Theology, expressed his opinion about the film: "This film is not just a mark about what happened then. This film is shot on the “issue of the day.” It is devoted to the problem of correlation of the socio-historical plane and the spiritually-blessed organism of the Church. This problem was only cut off by the Kharkov cathedral in 1992, but it was not resolved. And today, as we see, this problem threatens the unity of the Church, engendering a variety of destructive situations. Therefore, starting with this film, an attempt was made to launch a series of educational programs in which we would try to perceive the present life as it is in its past, present and future, without departing from the realities. A film about historical realities will be created, which are very difficult and problematic and on the basis of which many speculations are being created today. The third film is planned about the relationship of the Divine Truth with social and antisocial phenomena, which threaten not the abstract morality, but the whole of our society."

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