Patriarch of Antioch congratulates UOC Primate on enthronement anniversary
His Beatitude John X Patriarch of Antioch and All the East. Photo: news.church.ua
His Beatitude Patriarch John X of Antioch and All the East congratulated the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry, on the ninth anniversary of his enthronement, the Information and Education Department of the UOC reports.
“On the occasion of the ninth anniversary of your election as Metropolitan of Kyiv and Primate of our Sister Ukrainian Orthodox Church, I send your Beatitude our best and warmest congratulations,” the message says. “I send them in my name, and in the name of my brothers the hierarchs of the Holy Synod of Antioch, and all the Antiochian faithful.”
According to the Patriarch, God, having chosen His Beatitude Onuphry for this ministry, endowed him with "'the wisdom that is from above', the wisdom that ‘first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy’ (James 3:17). This wisdom that you have is exactly what your blessed Church needs in these difficult times,” the Primate of Antioch is sure.
He noted that this anniversary “comes at a time when your people are suffering from the scourge of war, and your Church endures ‘infirmities, reproaches, needs, persecutions, distresses, for Christ’s sake’ (2 Cor. 12:10)."
“We lift up our prayers to ‘the Lord of peace Himself to give you peace always in every way’ (2 Thess. 3:16), and that God strengthen you, so that nothing separates you from the love of Christ, neither tribulation, nor distress, nor persecution, nor famine, nor nakedness, nor peril, nor sword (Rom. 8:35). May ‘God of all comfort who comforts us in all our tribulation’, strengthen your Beatitude and embolden you so that you remain steadfast in the right faith and labors. May you ‘comfort those who are in any trouble’ (2 Cor. 1:3-4), so that their hearts may not be troubled, neither be afraid (John 14:27), for Christ has conquered the world,” wrote the Patriarch of Antioch.
As the UOJ reported, congratulations on the anniversary of enthronement were sent to His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry by the Primate of the Polish Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Sawa, and the Primate of the Orthodox Church in America, Metropolitan Tikhon.
Read also
DESS: The number of communities joining OCU in 2024 is half of last year’s
Over a year, 232 communities of the UOC changed their jurisdiction.
Scale of internal damage to UOC cathedral in Zaporizhzhia shown online
The video allows viewers to assess the damage endured by the main Orthodox church of the UOC in Zaporizhzhia.
Ex-MP UOC protodeacon Novinsky declared suspicion of high treason
The former MP is accused of "ensuring that a significant part of Ukrainian society, who are believers of the UOC, remain under the direct influence of the leader of the ROC".
St Andrew’s icon survives under the rubble of UOC cathedral in Zaporizhzhia
The icon was painted by nuns of the St Nicholas Monastery in Patras (Greece) and consecrated on the relics of St Andrew the Apostle.
RF missile strike destroys St Andrew's Cathedral of UOC in Zaporizhzhia
The fragments damaged the roof of the building, dome, ceilings, cut windows and disfigured classrooms.
Media shows conditions in which persecuted communities of Volyn have to pray
After their churches were seized, UOC faithful are compelled to pray in poorly equipped facilities.