Metropolitan Theodosiy explains why persecutions benefit the Church

Metropolitan Theodosiy. Photo: the Cherkasy Eparchy's press service

On February 7, 2026, Metropolitan Theodosiy of Cherkasy and Kaniv addressed the faithful during a service at the Krasnohirsky Convent with a sermon about the spiritual meaning of persecutions against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The address took place the day after the hierarch received a guilty verdict under Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

His Grace Theodosiy suggested that the faithful view the ongoing persecutions from two sides – as obvious evil and simultaneously as a source of spiritual benefit.

"What is happening now has two sides, like two sides of a coin. On the one hand, this is obvious evil – persecution of the Church, destruction of one's own people. On the other hand, this very evil brings colossal benefit both to our entire Church and to each Christian soul individually," the metropolitan said.

According to the archbishop, the benefit is so great that believers could not have attained it "by prolonged fasting, prayer, or even all-night vigils."

Purification of the Church

Metropolitan Theodosiy noted that persecutions have stopped the influx into the priesthood of accidental people – those who came to the Church for practical, vainglorious, or romantic motives.

"Some seminary graduates entered the priesthood either for mercenary motives – a stable income and social respect – or out of vanity, failing to understand that priesthood is a sacrificial ministry. This flow of such accidental people has now stopped. They no longer come into the Church," His Grace explained.

Furthermore, according to the hierarch, persecutions expose the true face of each believer – both virtues and shortcomings.

"As the sea tide recedes and all the pebbles on the sand become visible, so now all the virtues and all the shortcomings of the faithful become visible," the metropolitan noted.

He warned against attempts to "save the Church" through compromises with authorities, comparing such an approach to the actions of renovationists in Soviet times: "We came to the Church to save ourselves, not to save it. Either you go with the Church to Golgotha, or you fall away into comfort."

Path to humility through suffering

Metropolitan Theodosiy sees the main benefit of persecutions in that they help believers achieve humility and love – the goals of Christian life that many cannot achieve for decades under favorable conditions.

"Most of us are negligent people who fall short of our calling. Who can say about themselves that they pray as they should? That they observe fasts properly? That they fulfills the commandments as they should? Are there many such people among us? No, not many," the hierarch stated.

According to His Grace, persecutions place believers in conditions where spiritual improvement occurs not through voluntary asceticism but through external pressure.

Examples of trials

The metropolitan provided specific examples of how UOC believers demonstrate steadfastness.

In the Lviv region, parishioners have to secretly make their way to apartment services, risking dismissal from work and physical violence.

In Cherkasy, the Church of the Nativity of Christ in the Southwest district has been without electricity, heating, and water supply for six months. "It's freezing in the church. But people stand and pray. Every day there's a Liturgy, and people come, pray, confess, and receive communion. Their feet freeze in the cold, but people go to their church and are not afraid," His Grace recounted.

Priests are under constant threat: "Any priest can be imprisoned at any moment. Any priest can be taken to the TRC at any moment and thrown to the front."

Love for persecutors

Metropolitan Theodosiy called on believers to follow the example of martyrs who prayed for their executioners but emphasized the importance of not justifying evil itself.

"Did the Lord justify the evil that led Him to the Cross? He did not justify it in any way. He did not call evil good, but He pitied the specific executors," the hierarch highlighted, citing Christ's words as an example: "Forgive them, for they know not what they do."

His Grace gave the example of Hieromartyr Vladimir (Bogoyavlensky), Metropolitan of Kiev, whose memory was commemorated on this day. Before his execution, the saint blessed his killers.

"Our goal is to reach that state when we will bless even our persecutors and ask God for them: 'Lord, forgive them their sins, they know not what they do.' Without justifying evil, not for a minute justifying evil," Metropolitan Theodosiy concluded.

"We will thank God for this time"

Concluding his sermon, the hierarch expressed confidence that persecutions will end and the Church will return to peaceful life.

"This time will end, it will not last forever. And when we again emerge onto the calm, peaceful path of church and social life – this will definitely happen – we will remember this current time with great gratitude," His Grace said.

The metropolitan called on believers to value the present time as a special opportunity for spiritual improvement: "The Lord sends us an opportunity to improve ourselves like never before. We must value this time, and someday we will definitely thank God for it."

Earlier, the reported that the court found Metropolitan Theodosiy guilty.

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