Persecutions of the Church should strengthen our love for Her, – UOC Primate

In the interview to the ”Church Orthodox Newspaper” Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine Onuphry told about how believers should perceive complicated times our Church is being faced up with.

"Now is the time when we can show our spiritual courage and true love for Christ," said Vladyka. “One must be faithful to God not only in the light days. When darkness sets in, we too must remain faithful disciples of the Savior. From the Gospel pages it is known how in the time of Christ's earthly life, some remained faithful to Him, while others betrayed and persecuted Him. So it was in the next times. And today each of us should ask ourselves a question: which group do we belong to? To those who, marveling at the miracles of the Savior, sang "Hosanna!", and then turned away from Him? Or to those who stood at the foot of the cross, when the Son of God was reproached and crucified? With an objective examination of ourselves, we are most likely to be among the former. Often we love God, when everything is good, when the faith is praised. But what if we are insulted and persecuted? It is necessary to look at the Golgotha way of the Lord, at the fact that He allowed Himself to be crucified and put in a coffin. This is a manifestation of God's extreme self-abasement for the sake of our salvation. He set an example for us all. Therefore, in difficult periods, one must especially try to maintain courage. When the Church is attacked, we must show more love to Her.”

The UOC Primate expressed his opinion concerning the Church “reformers”, those who offer corrections and innovations.

“What will happen if we rebuild the Church – change, cancel, add? In this case, a political club, a human institution will come out of the Church: it will remain a "church" only nominally," says His Beatitude Onuphry. “In my opinion, it is we who are not the right people for the Church, and not that the Church is not the right place for us. She has always been, is and will be the Body of Christ. And in this Body everything is harmonious, everything is properly arranged. If we want the good, if we want to restore the Divine harmony in ourselves, then we have to adapt ourselves to the Church, and not vice versa.

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