Thursday, October 11, 2018

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow on Ukraine

Moscow, October 10 (Interfax) - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia is certain that attempts by politicians to tear the Ukrainian and Russian Churches apart are doomed.

"Today when certain political forces are tormenting Ukraine, when they are trying to tear the Ukrainian Church off Russia's and destroy our unity, we know: all this will end in total flop," Patriarch Kirill said during festivities commemorating St. Sergius at the Trinity Monastery of St. Sergius.

"All the forces of evil" are now working to separate the Ukrainian Church from the unified Russian Orthodox Church, which began in the Kiev baptistery, he said.

"We should all remember that the laws by which the Lord runs the Church are not human laws, and every time politicians invade the church, they are defeated," Patriarch Kirill said.

He referred to the post-revolutionary situation, which saw the Bolsheviks' provocation of the Renovationist schism in the Church, the arrest of Patriarch Tikhon, and the arrest and execution of many priests and bishops.

"The authorities decided that the Church was over and done with, that we were all dead, but we are alive, a new era has started, an era of church revival in accordance with the prayers of those who stayed faithful to Christ, even unto death, our new martyrs and confessors," the patriarch said.

As for the situation in Ukraine, where the authorities have inspired a project to create an autocephalous church independent of the Moscow Patriarchate, he said he trusts in the faith and godliness of the people of Ukraine.

"It's the general public who are now defending the unity of our Church. And I know that they are bravely defending this unity, as they are defending their churches, as they are resisting attempts at seizure, as they are fighting literally on the front line, and not just for the unity of our Church, but for the purity of the Orthodox faith," Patriarch Kirill said.

He believes that "we are now showing the world the firmness, the unity that our Russian Orthodox Church manifested after the horrible events of 1917," he said.

Patriarch Kirill said it is important not only "not to lose the purity of the Orthodox faith," but to prevent "the forced division" to which the Russian Church had to agree due to the "illegitimate actions" taken by Constantinople from becoming "division for centuries, as happened in the 11th century, when the claims made by the Roman bishop for ecumenical power led to the division of the unified church."

In closing, the patriarch said the Russian Orthodox Church will continue firmly following the canons, thus showing that it "is also capable of declaring God's truth with one mouth and one heart at difficult moments."

11 comments:

  1. A real Patriarch!!!!!!!!!!!! +Kyrill. Look up the video of him from the other day. “We will fortify Orthodoxy! Copy and paste it: https://youtu.be/D3gNGhogBVk

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  2. "as they are fighting literally on the front line... for the purity of the Orthodox faith" Perhaps I'm misunderstanding this but it sounds an awful lot like Patriarch Kirill is endorsing the war in Ukraine as a holy war.

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    1. When the schismatics come for the UOC's churches the people will defend themselves. Any blood spilled is on Bartholomew's head.

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    2. Not at all Joseph. Patriarch Kyrill always speaks of the spiritual warfare. However, he is just stating fact that men are lining up voluntarily to defend their monasteries especially, Kiev Caves and Pochaev from the schismatic neo Nazi Ukrainian nationalist mobs and paramilitary units that plan to seize them by force. This is a spiritual war for the soul of our faith! Ukrainian schismatics, Uniates, nationalists have no leg to stand on spiritually or canonically, so they resort to physical violence. If it was Muslim hordes at the gates of our monasteries, you and all Orthodox would have no problem with able bodied faithful physically defending our shrines and sacred churches.

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  3. Keyboard war cries are fun when you don't have to face the consequences. You're out of your minds.

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    1. Who is crying for war? You’re the one that’s out of your mind if you think anyone including Vladyka Kirill is calling for war. No one wants war. No one wants schism. We all want +Bartholomew to come to his senses and stop this madness. We fervently pray for the Ukraine, we have been for years and years. We pray that the schismatics will return to the fold with contrition. We pray the fiery anger of war is quenched. However, If the mobs surround the Lavra or Pochaev, the faithful will defend it.

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    2. And with you cheerleading from the comment box trenches, who could stand against them?

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    3. Joseph, what would you have them do? Allow themselves to be killed?

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    4. Are you familiar with what is going on? https://youtu.be/jacKwoEHpaw

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  5. Nonsense.
    The Russian Church was hootin' and hollerin' like this when the Georgian Church separated themselves from Moscow. Even Patriarch Tikhon condemned the Georgian Orthodox for this and holy patriarch St. Kyrion II...

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