Zaporozhe, Russia, October 28, 2011
Archbishop Luke addressed the deputy chairman of Zaporozhe region administration, Nicholai Yarmoschuk, and the director of the department of education and science, youth, and sport of the Zaporozhe city council, Vladimir Kuzmenko. Calling the “holiday” primitive and foreign to an Orthodox people, Vladyka asked them to “stop the horrible spread of anti-Orthodox pseudo-culture.”
“Halloween is, in essence, also a profitable business-project. People with unclean hands take advantage of teenagers’ unhealthy interest in this event, and unconscionably make money off of it,” said Archbishop Luke. “During Halloween a demonization of the children’s consciousness occurs, because this event is taken as an example to follow. This manifestation of counter-culture, which harms children’s psyche, causes them to fall prey to unmotivated aggression, suicide, and nightmares,” said the Archbishop.