UOC hierarch: Church must lead people to God and not indulge their passions

Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanich) of Boryspil and Brovary. A photo: facebook.com/Metropolitan Anthony

The essence of the Church is to lead people to God, and not to indulge their momentary passions. UOC Chancellor, Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanich) of Boryspil and Brovary, spoke on the YouTube channel "Stained Glass: About Faith in Colours" about how the Church should relate to the world.

The hierarch noted that the Church, while remaining unchanged in the most important thing – the true doctrine of salvation, has changed in relation to the methods of the mission, the interaction between society and the state, etc., and “now there are two equally radical poles in the interpretation of how the Church should relate to the world."

“At one extreme are the zealots of the abstract 'old age', who believe that the Church should not change at all, but blindly follow some 'ideal model' from the past,” he said. “For some, these are early Christian times, for others – the heyday of Byzantium, and for others – Russia before Patriarch Nikon. This is definitely a dead-end road."

Metropolitan Anthony emphasized that “we, of course, constantly tap on the two thousand years of experience of the Church, but we also know perfectly well that there has never been an “ideal time” and the idealization of old times can become a kind of idol replacing the living Christ.”

The second "unhealthy" pole, according to Vladyka, is represented by supporters of extreme liberalism, who believe that the Church should immediately respond to any opinion of the "public", even if it is "wholly and completely created by the media and not supported by reality".

“The most typical example of recent times is the reaction to the aggressive anti-racist movement in the United States,” explained the UOC Chancellor. “In many ways, this movement is directed against Christianity. So, one of the activists of the movement said that Christianity is a religion of racism because Christ was white. And now the leader of one of the leading Christian denominations declares that Christ was "not quite white", and in one of the churches of his confession the image of the "Last Supper" with a black Christ is immediately displayed."

According to the UOC hierarch, to bow before every on-trend agenda of a part of society, explaining this by missionary work, is self-deception.

“Fashion is changing, and in pursuit of conformity to this fashion, you can lose yourself. Today, an aggressive struggle for the rights of blacks is in trend, yesterday there was an equally aggressive struggle for the environment, for the rights of women, for the rights of minorities ... Where this aggressive struggle will lead us, I think, is understandable. That is why Orthodoxy adheres to the unchanging teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. After all, the essence of the Church is to lead people to God, and not to indulge their momentary passions,” resumed Metropolitan Anthony of Boryspil and Brovary.

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