UOC reacts strongly to authorities' initiative to legalize euthanasia

Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanich) of Boryspil and Brovary. Photo: facebook.com/Metropolitan Anthony

The UOC Chancellor, Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanich) of Boryspil and Brovary, in a commentary for the “Pravoslavnaya Zhizn” (“Orthodox Life”) portal, said that projects initiated by the authorities to legalize euthanasia should not appear at all in the current difficult situation in the country and without comprehensive discussion in society. The bishop believes that "now the primary duty of the authorities is to alleviate the fate of ordinary people, to help them cope with the problems caused by the crisis, and not to push them to commit suicide, albeit ‘legal’".

The metropolitan said that any murder of a person by a person is a terrible sin, but one can also repent of it. And only for suiciders, the path of repentance is closed, because, killing themselves, a person goes into eternity as an unrepentant murderer, "therefore we cannot but be concerned about the very possibility of legalizing suicide in a Christian country".

The bishop noted that many strange laws are now being adopted, for example, the legalization of the use of "light drugs" formally "for medical purposes", but "we perfectly understand how many loopholes for abuse are provided by many ill-conceived laws".

Therefore, Metropolitan Anthony expresses concern about possible abuses and lawlessness that may occur with the formal legalization of "assisted suicide", and given that "now the people are going through hard economic times, such projects look simply defiant".

As reported, the Vice-Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk presented the Concept of updating the Civil Code of Ukraine, which, among other things, will provide for euthanasia and the so-called “assisted suicide”.

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