UOC hierarch on who betrays God & how to understand what is alien to Christ

The UOC Chancellor, Metropolitan Anthony of Boryspil and Brovary. Photo: boryspil-eparchy.org

Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanich), the UOC Chancellor, said in an interview with “Fraza” (“Phrase”) when a person betrays God and how to understand what is alien to Christ.

According to the bishop, "he who is outside Christ, who does not distinguish his thoughts, words, actions and does not carefully analyze them, whether they relate to Christ or are alien to Him, betrays God."

Metropolitan Anthony asks the question: “How to understand what is alien to Christ?”

“What is said or done under the influence of passion is alien to Christ. Dispassion draws us closer to Christ, to Perfection. Dispassion makes it possible for the soul to free itself from the dirty and muddy content and be filled with the Living water of God's grace.

Every day changes the trajectory of our movement. To Christ or from Him. And every day can be a day of betrayal and shame or a day of victory over one’s nature. Churchill’s famous expression – “If a person chooses shame between war and shame, he will receive both war and shame” – can be rephrased. 

This means that if we move away from the struggle with ourselves, our nature, passions, preferring to ignore this reality, distracting ourselves with the external, then the circumstances will turn out so that we get shame and a great spiritual discord and will still have to start this fight, but with irreparable losses,” the hierarch explained.

He emphasized: “Life with Christ is a conscious renunciation of evil, even from a touch of the smallest evil. Accepting evil is a betrayal of God. Human nature is changeable. It is invincible. But this changeability must be used for improvement, continuous change for the better, growth in good, and not for falling and serving evil. There is no limit to perfection; therefore, this process is endless.”

The bishop recalled the statement of St. Gregory of Nyssa: "Perfection consists in our never stopping in our growth in good, never circumscribing our perfection by any limitation."

As reported earlier, Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanich) said that Christianity is the fate of strong and courageous people, and humility is valuable in the eyes of God and is His gift, given to man for his courageous heart.

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