When the Church is demanded to be “prosecuted” for teaching love

Icon of Christ. Photo: Pinterest, Claude Choueiri

DESS expert, professor, and religious scholar Liudmyla Fylypovych stated that the Primate and hierarchy of the UOC should be “held accountable” for teaching their flock to love Russians for 30 years.

“It’s about responsibility that this Church leadership should bear for having raised its flock in love for the Russian people for these 30 years,” Fylypovych said.

Read those words again carefully. A specialist in religion is seriously claiming that the Church should be prosecuted for teaching love.

What else shall we prosecute it for? For mercy? For forgiveness? For calls to repentance?

The Church of Christ, by definition, teaches love. “God is love,” says the Apostle John. And it is precisely by this sign that Christ instructed people to recognize His disciples: “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Fylypovych demands accountability for the UOC teaching love for Russians for 30 years. Yet the Church called for love not only for them, but for all other peoples as well. And Ukrainians have been at war with Russia for only the last 11 years. But even if we accept Fylypovych’s logic and treat Russians as eternal enemies, what then? Did Christ teach us to hate our enemies? On the contrary. “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you” (Matt. 5:44).

And let’s not forget, Fylypovych is not just some random person on the street. She is vice president of the Association of Religious Scholars. Which means she is supposed to know what the Church teaches. She is supposed to understand that love is not a crime but the very essence of Christian teaching. It’s as absurd as an art historian being unable to tell colors apart, or a mathematician not knowing the multiplication table. After all, Fylypovych is far from the worst representative of the field of religious studies.

But the government’s propaganda against the UOC is so powerful that even professors start talking like schoolchildren.

But that is the reality today. There are no other “experts” on offer.

Read also