Department for External Church Relations
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Exarch of the Most Holy Sepulchre in Cyprus sends letter of support to Metropolitan Jonathan of Tulchin and Bratslav
DECR Communication Service, September 7, 2023.
On August 7, the Vinnitsa city court issued a guilty verdict to Metropolitan Jonathan of Tulchin and Bratslav, a hierarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Based on dubious far-fetched accusations, he was convicted to five years in prison.
In his letter of August 14, 2023 to Metropolitan Jonathan, Exarch for the Patriarchate of Jerusalem in Cyprus Metropolitan Timotheos of Bostra expressed deep sorrow over “the abuse and persecutions against hierarchs, clergy and the people of the Ukranian Orthodox Church” by the state authorities as well as by members of the schismatic structure supporting the authorities.
“Going through these hard trials, do not forget the words of the Lord, Who said, “Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them. But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified”, and those doing it “shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake” (Lk. 21 8-13) – “by their false denunciations, by their arrest of your possessions and your imprisonment of five years as reported by media, they bring you closer to Christ”, the letter by Metropolitan Timotheos of Bostra states in particular.
“Therefore I would like to assure you, as befits a brother, that these days and always my thoughts and my humble prayers are with you”, the hierarch stressed.
“I recall our student years in Leningrad Theological Academy, your commitment to the Church, when it was denounced by the godless Soviet Union, your courage in accepting monastic tonsuring and ordination, your zealous service, your remarkable achievements in church music and composition, and your suffering – all that is the sign of the love of Christ”, stated the Holy Sepulchre Exarch for Cyprus.
“I am confident that personally you as well other brothers in Ukraine, who are subjected to merciless persecutions, have deep faith, patience, courage and bravery and will keep following the example of many holy confessors and hierarchs - the new martyrs, whose names are rightly added by our Holy Church to its canon”, believes Metropolitan Timotheos.
The Exarch for the Patriarchate of Jerusalem in Cyprus assured the clergy and people of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, “Be assured that whenever I come to the holy city of Jerusalem, I will pray that the Most Holy Mother of God, whose Dormition we celebrate, may give you consolation in your sorrows and hardships, may give you strength, bodily and spiritually, so that you could joyfully endure injustice, mockery and humiliation and could go over from hardships to spiritual renewal and elevation as the Lord did it through his Cross and the Holy Sepulchre, granting us Resurrection”.
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