UOC hierarch: Schismatic “sacraments” are like fake money

Vicar of the Kyiv Metropolis, Archbishop Theodosius (Snigirev) of Boyarka. Photo: vicariate.church.ua

The schismatic "sacraments" are like fake money, said the vicar of the Kyiv Metropolis Archbishop Theodosius (Snigirev) of Boyarka on the air of the KRT TV channel.

“There is real money, but there is fake one. It is very difficult to tell one from another at first glance. But it’s impossible for a pensioner, whose sight is poor, to distinguish at all. Nevertheless, one banknote is real, and another one is fake, even though they look the same,” said the bishop. “Of course, the comparison may not be quite correct, but something similar happens in church, religious life.”

Archbishop Theodosius reminded us that it is possible to come and perform the same rite, but the very essence of the rite cannot be obtained if it is performed in a schismatic structure. He drew attention to the fact that a person who came to the OCU because of ideology risks losing the most important thing – saving the soul.

“Can a person, having even the slightest doubt about the rightness of what he will get by going under the roof of a particular temple, question his eternal life a person thanks to the ideology that brought him to the OCU temple <...>,” said the UOC hierarch.

He also noted that Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople launched the mechanism of schism, which has already led to a breakdown of the fragile canonical balance.

Archbishop Theodosius urged believers to hold on to prayer firmly so that the Lord would help to overcome the schism, the biggest problem of which is that people began to move away from faith under the influence of current lawlessness.

The bishop also noted that our people are peaceful but are easily deceived.

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