Karlovac, Karlovac County, Croatia, May 17, 2024
Photo: spzh.live
The suffering hierarchs, clergy, and people of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church are new confessors for the Orthodox faith, fighting to preserve holy Orthodoxy against those who have “align[ed] themselves with dark forces from the depths of hell,” says a hierarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
His Grace Bishop Gerasim of the Gornji Karlovac Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Croatia published an open letter in support of the UOC and its persecuted hierarchs on Wednesday, May 15.
“The strength that the Risen Giver of Life provides us in these days is the power we invoke upon you, because today you, the Orthodox guardians of the faith, are suffering alongside the Lord and experiencing your Holy Friday every day, anticipating the Resurrection that brings life, peace, and freedom,” the hierarch writes.
Read Bp. Gerasim’s open letter:
Open Letter of Support to Our Suffering Brothers, Bishops, and the God-loving Faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
Recalling the self-sacrificial love of Christ on Golgotha and joyfully celebrating the Resurrection of our Savior, by which death became life, hell turned into Paradise, fear into joy, horror into delight, and death transformed into eternal immortality, we cannot remain silent in the face of the suffering and persecution of His living Body, the Church in Ukraine. For if we believe we wish well, but remain silent in our good thoughts, then the evildoers raise their voices and, through their actions, persecute the righteous and those who love the truth!
Our thoughts and kneeling prayers are directed to the Lord due to the suffering and blatant persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, where our Holy Church daily endures the blows from the persecutors of the true faith, from those who do not even hesitate to align themselves with dark forces from the depths of hell.
Undoubtedly, we have imprisoned captives in Ukraine today, new confessors of the Orthodox faith, including the Most Reverend Metropolitans: Jonathan of Tulchin and Bratslav, Pavel of Vyshgorod and Abbot of the Kiev Caves Lavra, Luke of Zaporozhye and Melitopol, Theodosy of Cherkasy and Kanev, Arseny of Svyatogorsk, Longin of Bancheny, and many other bishops and clergymen together with their faithful and steadfast flock. All our aforementioned brothers suffer unjustly, in fabricated and utterly false judicial processes and accusations, imprisonments, physical assaults, deprivation of places of worship, and every other denial of basic human rights.
Dear suffering brothers, you stand on the side of justice and truth, as in the times of terrible persecution and suffering in the mid-20th century, St. Sabbas (Trlajić), the holy martyr and Bishop of Gornji Karlovac, who spoke God-inspired words still relevant today: “True peace doesn’t rest on force, but on justice. Justice comes from goodwill, not from self-will... Without faith in God, there’s no mutual love. Without love, there’s no goodwill among people. Without goodwill, there’s no justice, and without justice, there can be no true and lasting peace on earth!”
We call for justice and love and we pray to the Lord to enlighten the unreasonable persecutors of Christ and His flock, to grant peace to our Holy Church in the areas where you tirelessly serve God, to strengthen the entire fullness of the Church of Christ on His path, to fortify you and give you the strength to selflessly surrender to the Lord and persevere in your mission to preserve the faith and steadfastness in your ancestral homes. What they are doing to you today is the systematic eradication of Orthodoxy and the shameless persecution of Christ, Whom you bear witness to, confess, and love with all your heart, all your soul, and all your deeds!
The strength that the Risen Giver of Life provides us in these days is the power we invoke upon you, because today you, the Orthodox guardians of the faith, are suffering alongside the Lord and experiencing your Holy Friday every day, anticipating the Resurrection that brings life, peace, and freedom.
Continuously repeating the words of the Savior: If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you (Jn. 15:20), because of you who suffer for the sake of justice, your free speech, and brave confession of faith, remain firm and unwavering, for he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved (Mt. 24:13).
With a kneeling prayer that the Risen Lord may pour out His grace and love on the suffering brothers and sisters in Christ, we greet you with the greeting of joy and new life, CHRIST IS RISEN!
BISHOP OF GORNJI KARLOVAC
†GERASIM
With the clergy and the God-loving faithful
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