Home page News
Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev: Our Church has&n…

Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev: Our Church has all attributes of independence

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has everything necessary for carrying out its service to God and to people, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine said in his exclusive interview for Morning on Inter TV programme.

- These days we are being pulled into a format of political party, so that our leader would not be Christ, but one of the politicians. Had I wanted to be a politician, I would have been one. I would not wear such vestments but would go into politics. I had such chances when I was young, but gave them up. Having put on spiritual garments, I must think about and be concerned over spiritual matters. And those who put on cassocks and are effectively engaged in politics, developing some geopolitical plans, are simply dishonest people who failed to be real clergymen and instead turned into some kind of shape-shifters in order to attract people's attention by their spiritual guise. This is dishonest. And it will be hard for them to answer before God.

We are an independent Church. We have all the attributes of independence that we need today to serve God and people.

We have our own Synod, independent of anyone. We have our own Bishops' Council, independent of anyone, and the decisions of our Council are also independent – nobody can veto them. We have an ecclesiastical court, which is the highest instance. We have everything of our own: the economic, the administrative independence... The Tomos would restrict the freedom we enjoy today. We do not need that. We have independence, self-governess, all the attributes of free life, necessary for our Church to successfully carry out its spiritual service to people.

It is good that we have spiritual, prayerful, canonical and cultural ties with the Moscow Patriarchate. It is as it should be. The Church is not a political organization which today loves one and hates the other, and tomorrow it will be the opposite. The Church loves everybody. We love everybody – Moscow, the Russian people, Americans, Africans, Asians – everybody. We do not have any enemies. We only have adversaries who are acting against us, but they are not our enemies. We pray for them.

The Patriarchate of Constantinople has sent its two exarchs to Ukraine. It is an uncanonical action. The Patriarchate of Constantinople has no right to send its legates, its exarchs, to our independent Church.

The Church of Constantinople used to be a powerful Church that embraced the whole civilized world. It identified itself with the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine Empire encompassed almost the whole world, and the Church was equivalent to it. Yet, there is no Byzantine Empire today. They are living in the past. Instead of that big country, the Byzantium, now there is Turkey, wherein there is even no Orthodox faith. The Orthodox Christians there can now be counted on the fingers of one hand. They have driven their homeland into such a state that the country which used to be a powerful Orthodox state has turned into a Muslim state. And do they want to order us about today, to teach us how we should live?

Do they want to drive our Ukraine into the same state as their homeland? They have neither moral, nor canonical right to appoint its exarchs here and to interfere in our affairs.

An interference in the affairs of another Church constitutes an anti-church, anti-canonical action; it is a sin. And sin leads to divisions among people. This sin of interference in the affairs of our Church can bring about the schism of global scale.

The Church cannot live in accordance with the worldly standards, for the worldly life, especially in politics, is full of intrigues, deceit, betrayal... all kinds of evil. The Church cannot base its life on such norms. It lives in accordance with Christ's commandments. We have our own methods of fighting against evil. These are repentance, patience, humility before each other and before God. These are the strong weapons destroying evil.

A priest is called to be a peacemaker, not a politician dividing people. The ideology that is being propagated today is not the ideology of God. The ideology that is being spread in our society nowadays is becoming an anti-Christian one. The legitimization of same-sex marriages, abortions, suicides, etc. – all this is the opposite of Christ. God does not bless people to do that. The Church carries out its mission by leading man to God, be reminding people that we are all God's creations and that God calls upon all of us to love each other, to be patient to each other and to help each other.

I know that our Church will stand until the end of the world, because the Lord said that the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

I would like to appeal to all the faithful of our Church. Fear nothing; be firm in your love for God; preserve purity of the holy Orthodox faith, for it is the path leading man to God; love each other; be patient to each other; and help each other.

Evil will pass away, but good will live forever. If we endure everything and live in love for each other, then evil will not defeat us. God is the God of power, and evil has no power. Let us abide with God and be joyful, happy and blessed.

Translated into Russian by FOMA in Ukraine journal

Share:
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill sends congratulations to Archbishop Joani of Tirana and All Albania on his enthronement

29.03.2025

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill sends condolences over devastating earthquake in Myanmar and Thailand

28.03.2025

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill sends congratulations to Archbishop Joani of Tirana and All Albania on his election as Primate of Albanian Orthodox Church

16.03.2025

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill sends letter to His Beatitude Patriarch John X of Antioch concerning tragic developments in Syria

11.03.2025

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill celebrates the Divine Liturgy for the Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy at the Christ the Saviour Cathedral

09.03.2025

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill meets with delegation of Malankara Church

08.03.2025

Delegation of the Malankara Church attends Patriarchal Liturgy on the commemoration day of Blessed Matrona of Moscow

08.03.2025

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill speaks on the phone with His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Porfirije

25.02.2025

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill meets with the Ambassador of Pakistan to Russia

06.02.2025

Divine Liturgy celebrated at Christ the Saviour Cathedral on the occasion of the sixteenth anniversary of the enthronement of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill

01.02.2025

Condolences of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill on the passing of the Primate of the Albanian Orthodox Church

25.01.2025

On the Feast of the Nativity of Christ, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill celebrated Great Vespers at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior

07.01.2025

On the Feast of the Nativity of Christ, the Primate of the Russian Church celebrated the Liturgy at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior

07.01.2025

Christmas Message by His Holiness Patriarch KIRILL of Moscow and All Russia

06.01.2025

A Joint Session of the Holy Synod and the Supreme Church Council of the Russian Orthodox Church Took Place

26.12.2024

DECR Chairman participates in Divine Service at the Resurrection Cathedral in Tokyo

30.03.2025

Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk celebrates Divine Liturgy at the Resurrection Church in Seoul

23.03.2025

The Holy Synod confirms a number of appointments regarding the foreign dioceses and parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church.

20.03.2025

Metropolitan of Volokolamsk Anthony presents report to the Holy Synod on his visits to Lebanon, Albania, Italy, Serbia and Armenia.

20.03.2025

DECR chairman presents Patriarchal award to Primate of Armenian Apostolic Church

18.03.2025

DECR Chairman meets with Primate of Armenian Apostolic Church

17.03.2025

DECR chairman congratulates Archbishop Joani of Tirana and All Albania on his election as Primate of Albanian Orthodox Church

16.03.2025

Session of the commission for international cooperation of the Russian Presidential Council for Interaction between Religious Organizations takes place.

12.03.2025

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill celebrates the Divine Liturgy for the Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy at the Christ the Saviour Cathedral

09.03.2025

Meeting of the Council of the Christian Interconfessional Advisory Committee has been held

28.02.2025

Metropolitan Antony of Volokolamsk participates in Patriarchal Liturgy in Belgrade

26.02.2025

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill speaks on the phone with His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Porfirije

25.02.2025

His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Porfirije receives Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk

25.02.2025

DECR Chairman tells participants of the meeting at Nizhny Novgorod seminary about external contacts of the Russian Orthodox Church

22.02.2025

Rector of St George Church at Russia’s Embassy in Prague awarded the Order of Holy Prince Vladimir, Equal-to-the-Apostles

20.02.2025

Metropolitan Hilarion: Many things in a person's life depend on faith

29.08.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: The Holy Spirit is the main treasure of the Christian soul

01.08.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: Holiness is a constant striving to imitate the Lord Jesus Christ

27.06.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: God does not want to condemn, but to save us

07.03.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: The Lord always grants to us the opportunity to display our talents

24.01.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: The Lord has imbued the waters of Jordan with his divine presence to wash away human sins

19.01.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: to repent means to change your way of life

17.01.2021

On commemoration day of St. Catherine, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk officiated at the Church of St. Catherine the Great Martyr In-the-Fields  the representation of the Orthodox Church in America

07.12.2020

Metropolitan Hilarion: We can always show compassion for people

29.11.2020

Metropolitan Hilarion celebrates on commemoration day of St. Varlaam of Khutyn at the church of ‘Joy to All the Afflicted’ icon of the Mother of God

19.11.2020

Metropolitan Hilarion: We should remember that the life of each human being is in the hands of God

06.11.2020

Metropolitan Hilarion: For God there is nothing impossible

25.10.2020

Metropoplitan Hilarion: The cross which was an instrument of dishonourable execution becomes the symbol of salvation for millions of people

27.09.2020

Metropolitan Hilarion: Eucharist is the wedding feast, to which Lord Jesus Christ invites each of us

13.09.2020

Metropolitan Hilarion: Faith alone is not enough for salvation

30.08.2020

Page is available in the following languages
Feedback

Fields marked by * are mandatory required

Send a message
Рус Укр Eng Deu Ελλ Fra Ita Бълг ქარ Срп Rom عرب