Lavra abbot: Current persecutors will pass just as the Bolsheviks
Abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, Metropolitan Pavel. Photo: spzh.news
Metropolitan Pavel, abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, called on the believers of the UOC to intensify their prayers for the monastery and defend their rights. He told the UOJ about this.
Commenting on the forcible seizure of the Lavra buildings, the bishop said, “We do not need to fear. We must defend our constitutional right, we must know the basic law after the Gospel that people holding any positions in the state do not have the right to do so.”
According to the hierarch, by restricting entry to the temples of the Lower Lavra, the Ukrainian authorities "humiliated the human dignity of believers, our faith, you and me."
“Today they beat us one by one, threaten us, take us to dungeons. But nothing better awaits them. Be strong, hold on to unity, because we have one faith, one Church, one God, one people in Ukraine. We shouldn't be afraid of anything, we shouldn't be ashamed of anything. My dear brethren in Christ, stand even unto death, as the Apostle Paul says,” said Metropolitan Pavel.
The abbot of the Lavra also noted that today's persecutors of the Church do not spare themselves or their loved ones, and they will "pass" just like those who fought against religion in the USSR.
“All Ecumenical Local Councils met at a time when people ignored the law of God, when they laughed at Christ. Today we see what is happening in the Refectory Church and the Assumption Cathedral. We see what is happening on the territory of the Lavra. <...> The SBU and the police do not pay attention to this; they only treat our parishioners and our brethren shamefully. The fact that today they cut the locks, threatened the nuns, the brethren, put their seals only confirmed once again that they have sealed themselves and incurred misfortune and grief to themsleves and their families. I ask God and pray to God that the Lord will strengthen us. It won’t be that way forever, as the wise Solomon said,” he added.
As reported by the UOJ, the police used force against the defenders of the Lavra.
Read also
MP demands answers from Rivne authorities over UOC charity event
Bobrovska expressed outrage that city officials allowed the Rivne Eparchy of the UOC to hold a charity festival that raised money for children with cancer.
In U.S., Archbishop of Albania leads Divine Liturgy on Triumph of Orthodoxy
The Primate of the Albanian Church served in Massachusetts and called for visible unity among Orthodox jurisdictions.
Phanar backs common Easter date with Catholics and Protestants
Theologians of the Patriarchate of Constantinople have proposed revising calendar practice and bringing the celebration of Easter closer to the Western tradition.
DESS congratulates Ukraine’s Jews on Purim
The State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience addressed Ukraine’s Jewish community on the occasion of Purim.
Patriarch Bartholomew becomes honorary professor of ecology in Greece
The Ionian University of Greece has awarded Patriarch Bartholomew the honorary title of professor in its Department of Environment.
Phanar’s shift to new calendar triggered Orthodox schism – ROCOR hierarch
Metropolitan Mark called Constantinople’s adoption of the Gregorian calendar the main source of divisions in the Orthodox world.