The UOC ban and the Gospel: obvious parallels
Voting in the Verkhovna Rada. Photo: Focus
On this day, the parliamentarians banned the Church in the country. While Orthodox believers can still pray peacefully for now – the bill will only come into effect in May 2025 – there is another aspect worth noting.
We know that the devil constantly influences our world and the hearts of people. But we often think of it as something “out there” while events around us seem to happen on their own.
Let’s look at today’s Rada.
A triumphant Poroshenko, dusting off his pre-election slogan “army-language-faith”, claims that today, during the vote to ban the UOC, “the whole hall united”.
However, anyone who follows the life of the Verkhovna Rada knows that this very life is a continuous squabble: between parties, factions and individual deputies. Scandals, intrigues and even fights are its normal state. How could there have been any “unity” here?
We know that the devil’s task is to divide people. But sometimes, he can also unite them “for the sake of the cause”.
Let’s recall the Gospel, which speaks of the trial of Christ: “Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him. Then, dressing him in splendid clothing, he sent him back to Pilate. And Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day; for before they had been at enmity with one another” (Luke 23:11-12).
Isn’t this what happened today in the Rada? Evil showed its ability to unite… but for even greater evil.
Read also
Persecution of UOC and liquidation of UGCC in 1946: Are there parallels?
After the defeat of Nazi Germany and the liberation of Western Ukraine, the leadership of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) initiated negotiations with Soviet authorities concerning the future of its ecclesiastical structure.
On the mobilization of a priest as a sniper
A man who has chosen the path of the priesthood has no right to join the army and take up a weapon. And the very idea of killing another human being is all the more absurd.
On statistics: how many Orthodox, Muslims and Jews we have
Trust in the Razumkov Center's research methods on the topic of Orthodoxy is minimal.
Why helping children with cancer is a threat to state security
We should have long got used to the antics of some MPs, especially those who furiously hate the UOC. But they don't stop surprising us.
Is Ramadan closer to the authorities than Great Lent?
Have Muslims and Jews – who together make up just over one percent of the country’s population – become a privileged class? And yet Ukraine is widely seen as a Christian country.
Prayer for Zelensky
If Dumenko composes a “prayer” for a visit to parliament in which the president, the Rada, and the government are each listed separately, we understand that these words are addressed not to God, but to the people who invited him into the Rada.