When star becomes the donkey

Balaam’s Donkey. Photo: Rembrandt's painting

Now that a man who is restoring moral norms in the United States has become president, many believers of the UOC hope that, with the help of his administration, the persecution of their Church will finally stop. And there are some grounds for such hopes, though they are only indirect.

However, strangely enough, we should heed the warning of the spokesperson for the OCU, Ivan (Yevstratiy) Zoria, who, in his usual rude manner, urged UOC parishioners to abandon the “enthusiastic hope that now ‘everything will be returned and everyone will be punished’”. He also mockingly advised us not to “hope on princes” as Trump, claiming that the Phanar has close ties with the new administration and that everything will remain as it was.

Let’s not emphasise that the words “returned and punished” are already a confession: this means that the OCU has taken something, and there is a reason to punish it. The point is different – Zoria, unexpectedly, said the truth: we often place our hopes not in God, but in a “good” politician who will come and protect us.

Five years ago, we similarly expected that Zelensky would correct all the wrongs that Poroshenko had done to the Church. The results are well known. So, the OCU spokesman is right – we should place our hopes only in God. In this case, Zoria (translated into Russian as “Zvezda” (Star)) is worth listening to. He has played the role of Balaam’s donkey, which, by God’s permission, suddenly spoke with a human voice.

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