"To reconcile the warring parties": 10 years of episcopal consecration of Gorlovka and Slavyansk Bishop Mitrofan

January 28 marks ten years since Bishop of Gorlovka and Slavyansk Mitrofan (Nikitin) was consecrated as the bishop at the Refectory church of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. His Beatitude Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine Onufriy congratulated the bishop and honored him with the Order of St. John the Theologian.

"My dear Vladyka, you’ve had a hard lot to do the episcopal ministry in the diocese, which is divided by a line of military confrontation, on both sides of which is your congregation, – said His Beatitude Onufriy in a congratulatory address to Archbishop Mitrofan. – Every day you are faced with the pain, sorrow and tears of the people whom the Lord has entrusted to your fatherly care. You know very well that war brings death and destroys peace, both external and internal. Under such circumstances it is important not to become a "man of war" but to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace (Eph 4: 3.), which is the true meaning of the Christian feat ".

In the congratulatory speech he noted that "the only force able to reconcile the warring parties is our Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Led and driven by the Life-giving Spirit, the Comforter, the Church is always a loving mother to all Her children, regardless of their temporary strifes."