UOC hierarch: Our duty is to back President for peace

Митрополит Запорожский и Мелитопольский Лука на молитвенном завтраке восточного региона Украины. Фото: hramzp.ua

On December 12, Metropolitan Luke of Zaporizhzhia and Melitopol took part in a prayer breakfast of the eastern region of Ukraine held in Zaporizhzhia, in which Metropolitan Luke and Melitopol took part, reports the press service of the eparchy.

The event was attended by representatives of religious organizations, businessmen and political elites of the region.

Before the prayer “Our Father”, Vladyka addressed the audience with a word.

According to the hierarch, the meeting of the "Normandy Four" leaders in Paris showed the sincere desire of the President to restore peace in our country.

“The path to peace is long and exhausting, requiring time and effort. One country unleashes a war, but peace requires the will and consolidation of efforts of all conflicting parties. This is what history teaches us. And it is painful to see that in such a difficult situation for the fate of millions of people, our fellow citizens, there are those who advocate not for peace but for war. Unfortunately, there are such among those who identify themselves as “Christians” but who, in fact, are not so, while inciting mutual hatred and enmity, like: we are patriots, and you are vatniks (pro-Russian – Ed.), demanding peace only on their terms. At the same time, they allow themselves to speak rudely and insultingly to the President,” the bishop noted.

He emphasized: “Our President declares an intention to build a new Ukrainian society in which there will be no divisions into parties hostile to each other. He wants peace and seeks to consolidate Ukrainian society, ceasing to divide it into friends and foes, without screamers and false patriots, to change the relationship in it.

Have the five years of the war really taught us nothing? Death, tears, decline in the well-being of citizens against the background of the growing well-being of the war party members. They like to kill; they cannot do without blood. Peaceful life for them is like the light for all evil night spirits. And the worst thing is that these people are in the minority, but they manage to play on the poverty of citizens and buy their support for the money stolen from them. If these people are deprived of funding sources, there will be no more willing to block our President’s peace initiatives.”

Metropolitan Luke noted that His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kyiv and All Ukraine urges “to rise above his passions, to get rid of his ambitions and insults in order to preserve human life and peace. The idle talk comes and goes. God through history will put everything in its place. The canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church acts as a co-worker and ideological ally to our President in this process.”

“We live on this earth and it is our civic duty to put our shoulders and support our President in his difficult but saving cross-bearing for the peace and prosperity of our homeland – Ukraine,” he concluded.

As reported earlier, at the meeting of the President of Ukraine with representatives of religious organizations on the eve of the Normandy Summit His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry spoke of the highest value of human life, the need for peace and the importance of ending the war.

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