UOC cleric: Who voted for Church ban excommunicated themselves from Christ

Archpriest Dimitry Sydor, rector of the Hole Cross Cathedral of the UOC in Uzhhorod. Photo: lem.fm

MPs who gave their votes for the UOC ban have excommunicated themselves from the Church and the Kingdom of God, Fr Dimitry (Sydor), rector of the Hole Cross Cathedral of the UOC in Uzhhorod, said in a sermon on the Feast of Transfiguration.

He believes that such deputies “will be dragged through international courts”.

“But for some reason, they are not afraid. So, someone gives them a guarantee that they will be covered,” the priest says.

According to him, there is a spiritual side to this situation.

“You (parliamentarians – Ed.) are guaranteed to be excommunicated from Christ and the Church. For everything. And your children up to the seventh generation will never have a blessing. And you yourself solemnly enter the circle of people who will never inherit the Kingdom of God,” said Fr. Dimitry.

He recalled the words of the kontakion of the Transfiguration when the Apostles, seeing the radiance of the transfigured Christ, also remembered Golgotha, which awaited the Saviour.

“There is often a Tabor in our lives, when the Lord brings us peace and joy in our hearts. But we must remember that this is not the finish line. And the finish line for every person after Tabor is Mount Golgotha and suffering. We each have our own Golgotha. And when we are threatened that the Church will be banned, this is also Golgotha,” said the priest.

As reported by the UOJ, the rector of the UOC cathedral in Uzhhorod is charged by the police with ‘inciting hatred’: law enforcers accuse Archpriest Dimitry Sydor of preaching a number of sermons in defence of canonical Orthodoxy and criticising the actions of the authorities in the religious field.

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