Kiev, June 23, 2023
Photo: pravlife.org
The Orthodox Church is persecuted precisely because it remains the Church, because it continues to preach against sin and struggle for human salvation, says His Eminence Metropolitan Anthony of Boryspil and Brovary, the Chancellor of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Met. Anthony recently spoke with Orthodox Life about so-called “Pride Month,” and the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture’s promotion of it.
His Eminence notes that if small concessions are made, this will lead to larger and larger concessions. Therefore, the Church must remain vigilant.
The Metropolitan stated:
The persecutors of the Church never reveal the real reasons for their actions. Usually anti-church actions are derived from formal legal reasons, etc., but the truth somehow still comes out.
Recently, the Ministry of Culture, which is at the forefront of pressure on the Church, on their official social media pages, in addition to messages about yet another requirement to evict the UOC community from its monastery, published their logo in “rainbow” colors to honor “Pride Month” accompanied by the slogan, “Equality is one of the key foundations of freedom.” What does this mean?
“LGBT Pride Month,” according to reference books, “is a month, usually June, dedicated to celebrating the pride of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender people (LGBT), dedicated to the LGBT rights movement and glorifying LGBT culture.” And here it is natural to ask: What kind of “culture” is this Ministry of Culture promoting?
If this agency is purposely fighting the Church, its clergy, and believers, while promoting the “culture” of sin, explicitly condemned in Scripture, then everything becomes clear. In other words, the Church is being persecuted not for what false media outlets attribute to it. The Church is being persecuted for remaining the Church of Christ, for continuing to warn against sin, for preaching the salvation of human souls.
And this is the case when we cannot remain silent, despite all the threats and possible repression. For what the Ministry of Culture promotes is not just some immorality, it is truly a sin that cries out to Heaven: And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous … (Gen. 18:20). Is it necessary to remind how the story of these cities ended?
Someone may object: What are you talking about? There’s a war going on, blood is being shed, and you’re talking about some rainbow logos! But we remember from Scripture: Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (Matt. 10:28). And here we’re not talking about some mythical cruelty of the Lord—a person who chooses mortal sin deprives himself of Divine protection and brings upon himself troubles and curses.
We also have before us the example of many countries, where everything started with harmless, at first glance, “rainbow” symbolism, and where over time even local Churches succumbed to pressure from the “progressive society,” began to marry sinful couples in churches and ordain representatives of sexual minorities as “priests” and “bishops.”
This is precisely what the promoters of “rainbow” flags would like to do with Christianity worldwide, and it is for this reason that the true Church is being persecuted. From small concessions to larger ones, from silent acquiescence to direct complicity in lawlessness, up to participation in iniquity—this is what “progressive” fighters for “equality” want from the Church. “Equality is one of the key foundations of freedom,” proclaims the Ministry of Culture. However, in essence, this is equality in sin and freedom from the Commandments of God.
But for the sake of the future of our children, for the sake of not suffering the fate of Biblical Sodom and Gomorrah, we must not remain silent.
May the Lord protect us from all the actions of the evil one, may He preserve our flock in days of trials!
Estonia legalized gay marriage earlier this week, and in North Macedonia, legislators are considering bills on so-called “gender identity,” which the Macedonian Orthodox Church is actively protesting against.
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