Metropolitan Luke: Persecution is a sorbent for toxins in the Church
Metropolitan Luke (Kovalenko). Photo: press service of the Zaporizhzhia eparchy
In an interview with the Serbian pouke.org resource , Metropolitan Luke of Zaporizhzhia and Melitopol called the persecution of the Church a natural process of detoxification.
“We must clearly understand that not everyone is firm in faith and their convictions. It was, is and will be like that. …> Persecution is a kind of absorbent that absorbs toxins from the Body of the Church. Only in this way does the Church crystallize, and those who came to it for some personal interests fall away from it,” Vladyka noted.
Metropolitan Luke said that he did not regret the trials that befell the Church and characterized today's events in the UOC as a detoxification of the church organism.
“A priest once said to me, 'I thought I would manage people, that they would listen to me and that this is it, but there is still much, much more work',” the hierarch added.
Earlier, the UOJ reported that the brethren of the Zographou Monastery at Athos expressed support for His Beatitude Onuphry.
Read also
Serbian Patriarch offers condolences over murder of Sviatohirsk Lavra monk
The head of the Serbian Orthodox Church called Sviatohirsk Lavra a refuge for the displaced and urged that the monk’s violent death not be turned into anyone’s weapon.
“Never seen before”: Israel reports record number of Hasidim in Uman
According to an Israeli police representative, 52,000 pilgrims are currently in Uman – 10,000 more than last year. The city itself has a population of about 75,000.
UOC faithful hold prayer vigil outside Lavra for more than 1,000 days
For three and a half years, Orthodox Christians have continued praying for peace and for the preservation of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.
Zelensky congratulates Jews on Rosh Hashanah
Volodymyr Zelensky wished Jews peace and the triumph of good over evil.
Kyiv Theological Academy publishes book on Orthodoxy in 17th-century Ukraine
With the blessing of the UOC Primate, the Kyiv Theological Academy and Seminary has published a textbook marking the 430th anniversary of the birth of St. Petro Mohyla.