Shostatsky to UOC: If you are so righteous – do not cling to your churches
Shostatsky during a television broadcast. Photo: the Facebook page of the OCU’s Khmelnytskyi Eparchy
OCU Metropolitan Simeon (Shostatsky) told the Khmelnytskyi TV channel TV7plus that the UOC should pray rather than defend its churches during “transitions” into his structure.
“If you are so righteous, so pure and blameless, if you are fighting for the purity of your flock and the salvation of their souls – we know how one can pray. But what are you fighting for? For property,” Shostatsky declared.
According to him, at meetings on joining the OCU, not only those who regularly attend services may vote, but all residents of the locality where the church is situated.
“All those who live on the territory of a given locality (I am speaking especially about villages), who belong to Orthodoxy – all of them are members of that community. The church belongs not only to one particular group, but to them as well,” Shostatsky insisted. “Therefore, they have the same right as those who come every Sunday.”
The metropolitan said that those who come to church only once a year to have their Easter cakes blessed may tomorrow “change completely.”
Earlier, the UOJ wrote that, according to Shostatsky, the OCU is experiencing a real personnel shortage.
Read also
Danish media: Odd, but Ukrainians and Russians here celebrated Pascha together
In Copenhagen, Ukrainians and Russians celebrated Pascha together in a ROCOR church.
UOC volunteers deliver 550 Easter cakes to needy residents of frontline areas
Volunteers from the UOC’s Parasolka movement delivered Easter aid to residents of frontline territories, as well as to the homeless, displaced persons, pensioners, and children in boarding institutions.
Clergy of Serbian and Greek Churches celebrate Divine Liturgy in Belgrade
A joint Divine Liturgy of clergy from the Serbian and Greek Churches was celebrated in the Serbian capital with the participation of pilgrims from Greece, underscoring the unity of the faith.
Wonderworking Theotokos icon honored at Vatopedi Monastery on Mount Athos
At Vatopedi on Mount Athos, on the feast of the Life-Giving Spring icon, the monks and clergy celebrated the Divine Liturgy and held a procession with the monastery’s wonderworking icon of the Mother of God.
St. Volodymyr’s Cathedral in Kyiv switches to new calendar
Starting May 1, services at St. Volodymyr’s Cathedral will be celebrated according to the new calendar.
Thousands take part in March for Life in Warsaw to defend family and faith
Polish President Karol Nawrocki joined the mass procession held to mark the 1,060th anniversary of the Baptism of Poland.