Met. Luke: OCU isn’t the work of Christ, activists' actions prove it
Metropolitan Luke (Kovalenko) of Zaporozhye and Melitopol
The activity of the OCU adherents and the media sympathizing with them shows that the creation of this new church structure is not the work of Christ, noted Metropolitan Luke (Kovalenko) of Zaporozhye and Melitopol during a live broadcast on the “UA: Zaporozhye” TV channel.
In his opinion, the deliberate substitution of the concepts of “religious community” and “territorial community”, attempts to intimidate believers and the clergy of the UOC, the lies of the media about the number of “voluntary transfers” to the OCU – all this contradicts the teachings of Christ.
“These arguments, which completely confuse people, and what the mass media are doing (they constantly lie in support of one structure) prove one thing – this is not the work of Christ. Christ did not lie to anyone, did not force anyone. This is a devilish thing. And what will happen to this? It will scatter like dust,” the bishop of the canonical Church commented on what is happening in the church life of Ukraine.
He noticed that lawlessness would not last forever.
"I would like to recall the words of John Chrysostom, that ‘hell reigns, but not forever’. And those who are going to the kingdom of hell – please, hurry there,” concluded Metropolitan Luke.
Metropolitan Luke noted that for the OCU, the head of the “church” is not even Christ, but the Patriarch of Constantinople, as the text of the Tomos says. “If you read it carefully, then who is the head of the Church? For an Orthodox person, the head of the Church is our Lord Jesus Christ. In the Tomos, who is the head? Patriarch of Constantinople. Head for whom? For the newly established Holy Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Why? What's this? A new pope?” noted Metropolitan Luke. According to the bishop, the Tomos has in its text direct signs of papism heresy. He called 4 such signs.
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