Mt. Athos, September 13, 2023
Photo: YouTube
Those who seize the churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church will not be saved on Judgment Day, says a revered Athonite elder.
According to Elder Gabriel of the Kelli of St. Christodoulos of Koutloumousiou Monastery, a disciple of the great St. Paisios and a revered elder in his own right, the persecutors of the UOC will be judged like those who have persecuted the Church throughout the ages.
The Elder spoke about the persecutors in a video published by the Union of Orthodox Journalists.
Asked to say a word for the persecutors, so they’ll know what awaits them, Elder Gabriel replied:
We must pray and be patient, and continue to do good deeds… They won’t be saved. They won’t go to Paradise. On the Day of Judgment, they’ll be condemned with those who have persecuted Christians since the first centuries of Christianity.
Elder Gabriel has spoken out about the Ukrainian schismatics several times in the past few years.
In October 2020, he wrote a letter calling for Athos to wake up in which he specifically mentioned the fact that several monasteries decided to have communion with the schismatics; in April 2021, he said the schismatics and those who pray with them won’t be saved; and in August 2022, he joined with a group of monks to protest the planned visit of the head of the schismatics to Mt. Athos.
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