Metropolitan Symeon of Vinnytsia and bar
In the diocese of Vinnytsia believe that disseminated by the media regarding the possible election of Metropolitan Simeon, the head ETC “there are no grounds for review”.
November 5, 2018, the press service of Vinnytsia diocese made an official review mass media reports that lead the Ukrainian Church after receiving autocephaly may Metropolitan of Vinnitsa and Barsky Simeon (Shostatsky).
“There is nothing surprising in the fact that Metropolitan Simeon once again sounded in the context of the events that accompany the granting of autocephaly to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine, – said in an official statement published on the diocesan website. – Remember what happened four years ago, when, instead of the deceased Metropolitan Volodymyr was elected the new Primate. Then Metropolitan of Vinnitsa and Barsky Simeon took the third place among all the hierarchs of the UOC. And this despite the fact that his side was not ecclesiastical or secular administrative resources. Therefore, it is not surprising that journalists can still recall exactly his person”.
In a press-service of the diocese noted that Metropolitan Simeon of reproach in relationships with the government.
“But is this a disadvantage? – ask the authors of the statement. And really bad relations with the secular power are an obligatory sign of spirituality? Thank God, thanks Bishop Simeon of Vinnytsia diocese in perfectly normal relationships with the authorities, with society, with representatives of other faiths. It is the position and administrative action of the Metropolitan Simeon in the last four years allowed us to avoid many conflict situations that could turn into hotbeds of confessional or Church-public confrontation, as we see in some dioceses. The Bishop Simeon consistently defends the interests of the Church,”
In the diocese stress that it is not easy, in war, when the UOC is called “the fifth column of the enemy” to keep the authority of their Church at a high level.
“In our opinion, as a Metropolitan Simeon, would have to be other – noted in press service. – One thing to indicate power on her mistakes, and quite another to open in war the “second front” against the popularly elected leaders, openly Express contempt for him and contempt for the country in which you live, which, unfortunately, can be observed not only among politicians but also among our Orthodox brethren.”
In Vinnytsia diocese insist that the information wave that picked up the all-Ukrainian and regional, and even some foreign media, is “the expected reaction of journalists”, taking into account the memory of past elections in the UOC.
Earlier, the media published information that the Metropolitan Symeon of Vinnytsia and bar is one of the main candidates on a post of the head ETC, and his candidacy, according to Mosiychuk, in support of the presidential Administration. 30 Oct Metropolitan Luka (Kovalenko) has called on Metropolitan Simeon openly Express its position regarding the project ETC.