On September 25, 2023 in the residence of the Primate of the UOC in St. Panteleimonov Monastery in Theophany, a meeting of the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was held. The Information and Education Department of the UOC publishes the address of the Holy Synod.
Address of the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to the episcopate, clergy, monastics and all faithful members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of September 25, 2023
Your Eminences and Eminences!
All-honorable Fathers! Dear brothers and sisters!
In times of tumultuous trials for the Ukrainian people, our Church, like a loving mother, envelops all her children with her prayer and mercy. And just as a mother loves all her children, despite the fact that some of them listen to her instructions, and some defiantly neglect their mother’s care, so the Ukrainian Orthodox Church never divides its flock depending on political or social preferences, and Ukrainian society – into those who are faithful to her and those who forget their place of cross, those who are faithful to her, and those who have forgotten the place of their baptism, the place of baptism of their parents and ancestors, and who now find it possible to blaspheme the Church of God and despise the shepherds, by whose priestly hands these people were once immersed in the font of Baptism to be born into Eternal Life.
The Church prays for the entire Ukrainian state, calls for respect for its laws, and daily performs social and volunteer service for all who need it, not only for those who are favored. After all, this is taught by the Lord Himself, saying: “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?” (Matthew 5, 46).
When we say “Church”, of course, by this word we mean all the people of God – not only the clergy and monasticism, but all the believers who together with their spiritual shepherds share the burden of the trials of the modern period in the life of Ukrainian Orthodoxy. Without the slightest regret they are trying to poison this people of God with anti-church propaganda, intimidation, and temptations. However, joint prayers and services, which unite around the Orthodox shrines of thousands of believers of our Church, testify that it is impossible to force and slander the people of God from the path that is determined by their religious beliefs. This becomes especially eloquent when we see that the temples that have been seized, that is, taken away from the faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, stand empty even on major holidays. In particular, such a situation has developed in the majestic cathedrals of Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and other holy places. The holy places, where daily intensified prayer for the Ukrainian state, its power, army and people sounded, after the so-called change of confessional subordination turned out to be closed for big barn locks.
“If God does not preserve the city, its guards guard it in vain” (Psalm 126:1), – we read in the divinely inspired book of Psalms. These words of the Bible during the suffering of Ukraine from the full-scale Russian aggression expose the criminal actions of the initiators of the church discord, as a result of which, in centuries-old temples, for the first time since the fall of the atheist regime, the Divine Liturgy was stopped, as well as stopped praying for the defenders of Ukraine, for the wounded and captured soldiers, for the deceased and all those suffering, whose tears can be wiped away only by God. But the desecration committed against the temples by people who during the violent seizure mercilessly smash doors and windows, mutilate holy altars and beat Christians, not only does not call for God’s blessing, but also defies God. It is clear to everyone that the consequences of this challenge by the so-called activists will be atoned for by those who acquiesce to their impunity, who turn a blind eye to the blatant sacrilege that is imposed on Ukrainian society as a norm. We should call things by their proper names: the initiators and perpetrators of church raiding are outright spiritual enemies of the Ukrainian state, whose actions only deepen the destructive consequences of Russian aggression. After all, “God is not despicable” (Gal. 6, 7).
No less shameful, causing shock to Christians from different parts of the globe, was the situation around the Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, completely created by the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. Believers are not allowed to enter the territory of the Lower Lavra to pray at the imperishable and miracle-working relics of the Pechersk Venerable Fathers. Now not only Kyiv residents are unable to get to the shrine, but also pilgrims from other cities and countries, who in such difficult times are certainly trying to visit the Lavra for prayer.
A situation has developed in which only Orthodox Christians are restricted in their right to worship at world-honored shrines, while pilgrimages of representatives of other faiths and religions are ensured by administrative resources. It should also be noted that believing people will never agree with the humiliating treatment of relics as “museum pieces”, which is how these relics have been repeatedly called by government officials. The actions of the representatives of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine on the territory of the Lower Lavra are striking with legal and moral lawlessness against the monks of the Lavra, students and teachers of Kiev theological schools, as well as believers and pilgrims. In such a situation we put all our hope in God, Who since the time of the founder of the Lavra – the Monk Anthony of Pechersk – has repeatedly and extremely restrained the plans of the abusers of the monastery and guarded its inhabitants.
Hierarchs who are being criminally prosecuted and forcibly restricted from communicating with their flock need special prayerful support today. As the lawyers point out, the charges brought against him have no convincing evidence in the materials of court cases, and the very process of obtaining evidence and trial is accompanied by a brazen violation of Ukrainian law. The Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is grateful to all those who, to the best of their ability, provide assistance to the persecuted bishops. Special thanks to the Primates and representatives of the episcopate of the Local Orthodox Churches and religious leaders from around the world who have testified their support.
Dear brothers and sisters! The Lord has blessed us to live in a time that in a special way requires a living faith full of love. Against the backdrop of large-scale violations of state legislation and international norms regarding human rights and freedoms – believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – the question often arises: how should Orthodox Christians respond to these challenges? Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself gave us the answer: “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). Entrusting his church life to God, the Christian must “not in word or tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3: 18) show love and kindness to others in the conditions of a total deficit of these qualities. In difficult historical periods of Church history, Christian love and kindness in response to all forms of evil changed the world and raised the Church to new stages of its flourishing. Therefore, even now, in our concern for the future of the Church, each of us should focus not on noisy confrontation with people who are hostile to us, but on effective witness to Christ and His Church, reflecting in our words and actions God Himself, who is Love.
May the Lord bless the Ukrainian state and its people with His grace to live in peace, guarding them from every enemy and adversary, for to Him alone belongs blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever (Rev. 5:13).
