Metropolitan Theodosius: Church unites, not divides people

Metropolitan Theodosius in the programme “The Word of Hierarch”. Photo: a screenshot of the YouTube channel UkrLive

On December 19, 2021, in the programme “The Word of Hierarch” on the UkrLive TV channel, Metropolitan Theodosius of Cherkasy and Kaniv stated that the UOC preaches peace and unity, therefore it is under pressure from those who earn dividends from enmity.

“The Church, when it cannot speak openly about the untruthfulness of many doctrines preached by politicians and officials for its own benefit, can talk about peace and connect even the unconnected. In our parishes and monasteries, we never allow people to be divided on political or ideological grounds. The Church connects and preaches peace,” said Metropolitan Theodosius.

According to him, the old Ukraine remained within the framework of the UOC, which to this day has retained its borders both in the Donbass and in the Crimea, both in the Chernihiv region and in Western Ukraine.

“The old Ukraine remains within the UOC. And this is not demagoguery, this is reality. Here are the real fruits of what the Church preaches. Of course, many people today do not like the preaching of peace and anti-enmity. Therefore, the Church is subjected to pressure and obstruction from those people who earn dividends for themselves on enmity,” noted the bishop of the UOC.

Metropolitan Theodosius emphasized that today's Ukrainian politicians and officials have an attitude towards the UOC as people who are accustomed to crooked mirrors, which a true mirror disturbs because it shows the truth.

"It's like in a room with crooked mirrors, where everyone says that crooked mirrors really reflect what we see when we look into them, there is one plane, true mirror in which a freak would not see himself as handsome and an old woman would not see herself as young and attractive. A true, simple mirror. What do people who are used to crooked mirrors do? They try to either break this mirror or hide it away so it does not exist," added Metropolitan Theodosius.

“This is approximately the attitude of the Ukrainian politicians and many officials towards the UOC today. A plane mirror that does not lie and speaks the truth – it must be removed somewhere and, if possible, broken. This, of course, they will not be able to do – they are not the first and not the last to want to break this mirror over the last millennium, this is impossible. But to hide, cover, push it into the backyard – there is such a desire," said Metropolitan Theodosius.

As previously reported, the programme "The Word of Hierarch" is launched on the UkrLive TV channel.

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