Zaporozhye, Zaporozhye Province, Ukraine, August 10, 2023
Photo: foma.ru
In his sermon last Sunday, His Eminence Metropolitan Luke of Zaporozhye of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church announced that he was summoned for police interrogation. He referred to 1 Timothy 2:8-10: Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel: Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound. Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. His Eminence pointed out that just as with his brother hierarchs Pavel and Theodosy, the authorities are trying to prevent him from carrying out his archpastoral duties, as a bishop--who is the sucessors to the apostles--is told to do by the Apostle Paul in his epistle.
Like a number of UOC hierarchs, including His Eminence Metropolitan Jonathan of Tulchin who became the first to be sentenced to imprisonment on Monday, Met. Luke is being accused of inciting religious enmity because of statements published on his Telegram channel.
Video of his preaching was posted on the diocesan YouTube page.
“They’re trying to shut our mouths,” His Eminence said. “I’m being called for questioning today, supposedly because my Telegram channel propagates or promotes the spread of religious hatred.”
His channel is disliked by those whose “deformed and sin-corrupted consciences” are burned by the word of God, he said.
It is his archpastoral duty to call schism a schism and heresy a heresy, warning his flock about things that will kill their souls, he continued, though he does not use any rude or inappropriate language to do so. The Metropolitan adjured that we do not have the right to hide in a corner and "live our own spiritual lives". To the contrary, we must not fear what people can do to us, but tell the truth to others.
He said that if something is poison it should be labeled as poison, and not as food. It is the same with heresy, which is posionous to the soul. “Should I be judged for this? What are my colleagues, Vladyka Pavel, Vladyka Jonathan, Vladyka Theodosy being judged for?”
While His Eminence Metropolitan Pavel of Vyshgorod, the abbot of the Kiev Caves Lavra, was released from custody on bail on Monday, the state continues its case against him. Met. Jonathan of Tulchin was condemned the same day, and the round-the-clock house arrest of His Eminence Metropolitan Theodosy of Cherkasy was recently extended through late September.
Since the Church has appointed bishops to bear witness to the truth of God in the world, the Metropolitan has no right to think only about saving himself, he said. “If we’ve chosen our path with Christ, we must walk this path to the very end,” Met. Luke summed up.
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