Recently, on June 29, the day when the Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of apostles Peter and Paul (revised Julian calendar), the Metropolitan Luke of Zaporozhye took part in the Liturgy in the city of Veria (Greece), informs a portal “Orthodox life”, citing the website of the diocese of Zaporizhzhya.
During the celebration of the Lord Luke had the opportunity to chat with arrived to celebrate the Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa Theodore II, about the problems of Ukraine and Autocephalous.
The Patriarch recalled that when he studied in Odessa, he, together with Metropolitan Sergius of Odessa visited the city of Donetsk, remembers its beauty and the kindness of the residents, ordinary workers, so for him, the bloodshed in the Donbass – this is a personal pain that constantly inspires the prayer for peace in Ukraine that he makes during public worship, and privately, advocated entrusted to him by God to the flock.
For this reason the intervention of politicians in Church Affairs, Archbishop of Alexandria noted that modern politicians are more harmful to the Church than helping Her. They, and we, need to remember that “even a hair cannot fall from our head without the will of God” (Matt. 10:29), so not always what they want, God will, who does everything for our eternal salvation, and not for momentary whims.
Patriarch tawadros II stressed that the issues of autocephaly should be dealt with through fraternal debate as only General support can contribute to their solution. “Let us pray to God, doing all for our good, that He repented of all to solve these problems. If the schismatic Denisenko wants to return to the bosom of the Church, he must go where he went. That fell must go back to where disappeared. God is merciful to those who repent. So the Church forgives and accepts in its motherly embrace to all who repent,” said Theodore II.
Patriarch Theodore asked me to convey fraternal good wishes and support to his Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and the bishops wished to keep their Primate, to imitate his prayer to the heroism, firmness of faith and loyalty to the Mother Church.