Abbot of German monastery: Current turmoil in Orthodoxy is devil's work

Schema-Archimandrite Johannes, abbot of the German Orthodox Holy Trinity Monastery in Buchhagen. Photo: UOJ

Schema-Archimandrite Johannes, the abbot of the German Orthodox Holy Trinity Monastery in Buchhagen, in an interview with UOJ in Germany commented on the current divisions in global Orthodoxy.

Answering the question of whether the current unrest in traditionally Orthodox countries is an argument against Orthodoxy, the Schema-Archimandrite categorically disagreed with this.

“The persecutions and confusion in the Orthodox countries, but also within the Orthodox Church here in Germany and throughout the world, are not an argument against Orthodoxy at all. On the contrary, thanks to its fidelity to Holy Tradition, Orthodoxy enables us to recognize and strengthen the divinely given fundamental structures of life by intimately uniting ourselves with the eternal source of being, with God, the Holy Trinity, and by striving to live, act, and work according to the divine archetypes,” stated the Schema-Archimandrite.

Speaking about the turmoil in Orthodoxy, he emphasized that it is precisely the Orthodox countries that attract special attention from dark forces.

“Where could the devil have more to do than in the true Church? What could he fight against more fiercely than the Way, the Truth, and the Life?” he asked the UOJ journalist.

“The wonderful thing is that Orthodoxy is not merely a doctrinal abstract truth, nor a legalism or morality, and thus not just another "denomination" among many, but rather contains within itself the divine-human mystery itself. Orthodoxy in this true sense essentially transcends everything that can be taught, known, and done.... Orthodoxy is not a doctrine, not a denomination, not a set of rules, but a living relationship, life from God and toward God, being in God,” emphasized the Schema-Archimandrite.

Recall, earlier the monks of the Trinity Monastery in Buchhagen stated that in the EU, Orthodoxy opposes the dominion of the Antichrist.

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