The “narrow path” of salvation or the road to hell? The church unrest caused by the meeting of Patriarch Kirill with the Pope of Rome, alas, is growing and spreading. And if at first its main instigators were a few “zealots” - marginal and exalted - then over time, increasingly wider layers of the Orthodox community and clergy begin to be drawn into the whirlpool of events. Now this wave has reached the episcopate.
Thus, recently Bishop Longin (Zhar) of Banchensk, vicar of the Chernivtsi-Bukovina diocese of the UOC-MP, speaking to a meeting of believers, said: “Today is alarming. Every soul in the Orthodox world is very worried, all people are very worried about what is happening today. Because we don't want to lose our salvation. And we want to preserve and preserve the faith that is given to us once and for all, which does not change.
We pray for His Holiness Patriarch Kirill. And our brothers pray, and you should pray. But I cannot remember him at the liturgy, because I don’t know: who is Orthodox, who is Catholic, who is a heretic. The document that was adopted following a meeting between His Holiness and the Pope... This is heresy, brothers and sisters! This is real heresy.
We all came to the monastery, leaving this world, not because we had nothing to do in it (in the world - K.D.). We loved the Lord God. Nobody forced us to love Him. No one forced us to leave our mothers, our parents, and come to the monastery. I was forced by the love of God when I learned that because of me He suffered on the Cross...
I ask His Holiness the Patriarch for forgiveness, but let him also ask forgiveness from our Orthodox Church, from Orthodox Christians and from all the holy fathers who preserved the Truth for 1000 years, whom he offended...
I want to remain faithful to the Lord God! I call on my brothers and sisters and all Orthodox Christians: we must remain faithful not to people, but to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and our true Orthodox Church! Sorry, but I will never be one with the heretics. I am Orthodox! I have the dogmas and canons of the Orthodox faith, and I will not become a traitor!”
This statement by Bishop Longin echoes almost verbatim the famous appeal of Bishop Diomede (Dzyuban) of Chukotka, which he made public on February 22, 2007. Let us remember: then the conversion of the Chukchi clergy caused a very regrettable story, which ended with the deposition of Bishop Diomede at the Council of Bishops in 2008 and his departure into schism with a small group of like-minded priests and laity.
Are we really going to step on the same rake a second time? God forbid! It would be very bitter and insulting to repeat old mistakes again. Moreover, both the basis of Diomidov’s appeal and the basis of the calls of Bishop Longinus are based on good intentions, fair bewilderments and correct words. The only question is how exactly these words and intentions are going to be implemented by their pious authors. How do they plan to resolve their confusion? What internal church tools are they going to use to defend their position?
These questions are fundamentally important for a correct understanding of what is happening. For if the tool of the “zealots” becomes a new church unrest, a new schism, then all this “good intentions” is worthless. The Orthodox know: it was with such “good intentions” that the evil enemy of the human race paved the road to hell! If we manage to keep the situation in a constructive direction, if we manage to prevent a schism and stop the rampant destructive passions hiding behind pious phrases, then the very desire to improve church life by legal means can only be welcomed.
Moreover, in this case, what is happening can be described in the words of the Russian proverb: there would be no happiness, but misfortune would help! For then the ill-fated meeting between the patriarch and the pope will inevitably become a catalyst for a broad intra-church discussion of the most pressing issues, the most pressing problems of our church existence. The very questions and problems that were hushed up for years by indifferent church officials and swept under the rug by “broad-minded” liberal ecumenists.
It is certainly necessary to solve pressing problems and answer pressing questions. Moreover, it is high time. But - not at the cost of church unity! Here is the central point of our differences with the “zealots”. It is here that there is a kind of spiritual fork, a kind of crossroads, as in the famous fairy tale about the Russian hero. Think and decide, good fellow. Choose: if you go to the left, you will harm the Church and destroy your soul; if you go to the right, you will help others and save yourself...
Ecumenist is different from ecumenist? Who is this Bishop “Longinus the Unremembering”? He is, without exaggeration, an outstanding personality. He has the title “Hero of Ukraine”, which was awarded to him by the President in 2008 “for outstanding personal services to Ukraine in the implementation of the state policy of social protection of orphans and children deprived of parental care, many years of charitable activities.” And besides, he is a holder of four more state and six church orders!
Vladyka Longin is famous in Ukraine for the fact that he adopted almost 400 (!) children. On his own, without government assistance, he built a church shelter for them. On a vacant lot, “from scratch,” he built the vast Holy Resurrection Monastery. By the way, the main cathedral of this monastery was consecrated by Patriarch Kirill in 2011, after which he visited the church shelter equipped by the governor, then Archimandrite Longin, and personally awarded him the Order of Saint Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, III degree.
In short, no matter how you look at it, he is a very worthy hierarch. And he cares about the cause: by the age of 46, they say, he suffered three heart attacks. Considering all of the above, his words about the cessation of raising the name of Patriarch Kirill during the Liturgy can have a great influence on many believers. I will not hide: I, a sinner, was impressed by these words. Therefore, I decided to familiarize myself with the position of Bishop Longin in more detail.
And then... I suddenly discovered... Not that it was slyness, no. But there was some strange selectivity of the ruler’s accusatory jealousy.
For example, I cannot understand why Bishop Longin, so strict towards the Moscow Patriarch Kirill, never once reproached his Kiev Metropolitan, the late Vladimir (Sabodana, + 2014), from whose hands five times since 2004, for deviating from Orthodoxy year, received church orders? But during this time, Metropolitan Vladimir managed to say SUCH things about Catholics, Uniates and ecumenism that Patriarch Kirill could not even dream of in his worst nightmare!
What is it worth, for example, his statement that “Judging from ancient practice, the Sacraments of Catholics and Orthodox are considered valid by both Churches - this is not a ruling of today. The practice is such that if, say, a priest of the Catholic Church converts to Orthodoxy or vice versa, he is accepted in the rank in which he is. This means that the Sacraments are mutually recognized. This applies specifically to the Roman Catholic Church. And the Greek Catholic, since it is part of the Roman Catholic Church, only of the Eastern rite.”
These pearls of Uniatism were published not just anywhere, but in the official organ of the UOC-MP - “Church Newspaper” (No. 8, March 2007). But then for some reason this did not offend the now so vulnerable Orthodox conscience of Bishop Longin, and he happily continued to commemorate Metropolitan Vladimir at the Liturgy. But now he has stopped commemorating Patriarch Kirill, although the patriarch did not say anything even closely reminiscent of the Uniate nonsense of Metropolitan Vladimir at the meeting with the Pope...
But Bishop Longin is strict only towards the Russian patriarch. He treats his Ukrainian metropolitan much more leniently! Therefore, he did not object to him with a word or a hint even when, answering questions from Radio Liberty correspondents, Bishop Vladimir admitted that during the time of “persecution of Greek Catholics” he “preserved churches and flocks for them.”
Don't believe me? Please make sure. This interview took place on February 14, 2007. Svoboda correspondents ask the Ukrainian First Hierarch:
“Your Beatitude, you served in Western Europe for a long time, met a lot with Catholics and Protestants, and were in the World Council of Churches. Tell me, why has the very concept of “ecumenism,” which, in fact, means the path of Christians to the common Eucharistic cup, become derogatory among the Orthodox?
When you talk with Orthodox bishops who have served for a long time in the West, you understand: they know that Catholics are brothers, that they have apostolic succession. Why don’t people explain that Catholics are not as bad and not as “ungodly” as they say in some brochures?”
Metropolitan Vladimir answers such questions, among other things:
“I agree with you that people need to be explained. And this is being done to some extent... Times will come, everything will fall into place... Orthodox people, and the Church is to some extent to blame for this, did not receive enough information in past times...
There has never been any betrayal in the ecumenical movement; no one has betrayed Orthodoxy. On the contrary, people who were involved in the ecumenical movement testified to how rich our Orthodox Church is...
Recently, the days of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra took place in France. We Orthodox Christians actually served short prayer services in Catholic churches...
When the Greek Catholic Church was officially destroyed on Ukrainian territory, we kept many Greek Catholics in our parishes; those people who today formed the core of the Greek Catholic Church were trained in theological schools: the priesthood and so on. We have preserved temples, souls, and parishioners for them...”
What's it like, huh? We serve in Catholic churches and help Uniates! But all this happily whistled past the ears of Bishop Longin, who in those days, instead of denunciations, humbly appealed to Metropolitan Vladimir: “I earnestly ask you, Your Beatitude, to pray for my weakness...”
Clerical theology instead of spiritual reasoning. Taking into account all these oddities, Bishop Longin’s accusatory speech to the parishioners appears in a slightly different light. Its complete dogmatic helplessness, some kind of petty “clerical theology” becomes especially striking. And if the bishop’s dogmatic illiteracy can also be explained by the fact that, at more than fifty years old, he never bothered to receive a systematic theological education (he studied only by correspondence, first at the Chisinau Theological Seminary, then at the Chernivtsi Orthodox Institute), then some kind of painful , petty pickiness about the text of the Havana Declaration, in my opinion, is completely inexplicable.
Here, for example, is how Bishop Longin “convicts” Patriarch Kirill for what the press service of the Moscow Patriarchate wrote about the Havana Declaration: “The document was adopted following a meeting between His Holiness Pope Francis and His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus'.”
"What is he like?(Pope Francis - K.D.) most holy, - Lord Longin is indignant, - when all the fathers, all our holy fathers of the Orthodox Church call the Latins heretics? We are destroying them, we are not allowing them to rise up and repent. Now he is the “righteous” Pope of Rome, because the Patriarch of All Rus' said that the Pope is “the most holy”. But for us he is a heretic!”
Some may wonder: how is this really possible? It’s possible, don’t doubt it! There is no sin in calling a person what he calls himself.
For example, the Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarchs for many centuries addressed the Turkish Sultan in accordance with his full title as follows: “Sultan and lord of the Sublime Porte, ruler of the House of Osman, sultan of sultans, khan of khans, leader of the faithful and heir of the prophet of the Lord of the Universe, defender of the holy cities of Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem, emperor of Constantinople, Adrianople and Bursa, the cities of Damascus and Cairo, all of Azerbaijan” and so on, and so on, and so on...
Or, for example, like this: “Great Sultan (name) Khan, brother of the Sun and Moon, grandson and vicegerent of God on earth, ruler of the kingdoms of Macedon, Babylon, Jerusalem, Great and Lesser Egypt, king over kings, ruler over rulers, incomparable knight, invincible warrior, owner of the tree of life , persistent guardian of the tomb of Jesus Christ, guardian of God himself, hope and comforter of Muslims, intimidator and protector of Christians..."
And mind you, no one ever had the wild idea of interrupting Eucharistic communion with them because of this!
However, Bishop Longin does not think about such “little things.” He continues to criticize the “apostate patriarch”: “I do not remember Patriarch Kirill at the Holy Liturgy - most importantly, because of the 5th point (of the Havana Declaration, which says): “Despite the common Tradition of the first ten centuries, Catholics and Orthodox Christians have been deprived of communion in the Eucharist for almost a thousand years.” What does he (Patriarch Kirill) want? So that we can take communion with the Pope, or what? Without repentance, without correction?
Speakers who often speak to large audiences know this dirty trick well. To discredit an opponent, you must first quote his words, and then, without interruption, without any explanation, attribute to him “villainous” intentions, of which there is actually no mention in the text...
Lord Longinus, alas, acts this way. The phrase itself - “Despite the common Tradition of the first ten centuries, Catholics and Orthodox Christians have been deprived of communion in the Eucharist for almost a thousand years” - is only a statement of indisputable and obvious facts. No more! And the attempt to attribute, based on these words, to Patriarch Kirill some mythical desire to enter into Eucharistic communion with papist heretics is a vile distortion.
This is exactly how - let's call a spade a spade - with the help of vile distortions, Bishop Login is trying to create in his listeners the impression that Patriarch Kirill committed a “betrayal of the faith.” Here are more examples of such dirty oratorical techniques of the Bishop:
"(The Declaration says)" We are divided by wounds inflicted in the conflicts of the distant and recent past, divided and inherited from our predecessors." So they (according to Longinus - Patriarch Kirill and other “traitors to Orthodoxy”) call all the saints of the Orthodox Church! The predecessors are to blame for everything, they are to blame for opening these wounds.
Further (the Declaration talks about) “differences in the understanding and explanation of our faith in God, one in Three Persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”(It also says there) “We mourn the loss of unity resulting from human weakness and sinfulness.”
This means that all the saints were weak and sinful. What right did they have to desecrate my shrine, my Church, my holy fathers, to accuse them of being sinners? They died for the Faith so that no one would ever scold the dogmas of our Church. And they left us the true Orthodox faith, and not the heresy of the Latins.
Next (the Declaration talks about separation) “What happened contrary to the High Priestly prayer of Christ the Savior: “May they all be one, just as You, Father, are in Me, and I am in You, so may they also be one in Us.” Is this who we should be united with? In the true Church of God, and not with the Pope, we must be united!”
And now, don’t be lazy, brothers and sisters, read for yourself, with your own eyes, the text of the Havana Declaration and tell me in all conscience: where does it say that it is the holy Saints of God who are to blame for the fall of the Latins from the Church, where it says that the Orthodox Saints were weak and sinners, where are our shrines desecrated and where are calls for unity with the pope contained?
Nowhere!!!
And Bishop Longinus himself knows this very well. He knows and CONSCIOUSLY LIES! This means that his goal is not at all the defense of Orthodoxy. He was silent (he was silent for many years!) when Metropolitan Vladimir (Sabodan) publicly and publicly proclaimed the real, not imaginary heresy about the grace of the papist “sacraments” and served prayer services in Catholic churches! And only now, having obviously considered that an opportune moment had arrived, did he announce the end of the commemoration of Patriarch Kirill, who, against the backdrop of Metropolitan Vladimir, is a real confessor and zealot!
What follows from this? Only one thing: Bishop Longinus is a schismatic. Another “Svidomo” Ukrainian schismatic. Or maybe not Ukrainian, but Romanian? After all, the village of Bancheny, from which he received his title “Bishop of Banchensky,” is located in the South-West of Ukraine, on the border with Romania, in the Hertsaevsky district, where the absolute majority of the population are Romanians. There, even church services are held in Romanian. And, by the way - few people know about this - according to the new calendar church calendar!
Isn’t there a crazy thought in Bishop Longin’s head: shouldn’t he try, taking advantage of the civil war in Ukraine and the church unrest in Russia, to defect to the Romanian Church? He has already taken the first step on this path - he stopped commemorating the “Muscovite” first hierarch. It remains to do the last thing: instead of the name of the Patriarch of All Rus' Kirill, begin to exalt the name of the Romanian Patriarch Daniel...
We separate the wheat from the chaff. However, there are some healthy grains in what Bishop Longinus says. Basically, this common sense manifests itself where it testifies to the dominance of the church bureaucracy and to cases of deplorable violation of the gracious spirit of conciliarity in our current church life.
This is what, for example, he says about the February Council of Bishops, at which documents were approved that are expected to be finally approved at a very strange and, for many, tempting so-called. “Pan-Orthodox (and in fact - Ecumenical) Council”, scheduled to take place in the summer in Crete:
"Us(provincial bishops - K.D.) no one saw, heard, and absolutely no one looked at us. We sat on the benches for two days, and they(to Moscow church leaders) it didn't matter whether we were there or not. They decided everything a long time ago.
We pray for our holy patriarch father. But if you are our father, then please listen to your children, who have always been faithful to the Russian Orthodox canonical Church! But we just sat there, and no one asked us anything.
One time when (I saw in the documents of the Council) dogmatic errors or, one might say, the greatest sins against the Holy Spirit, I raised my hand to speak out against,(to state) that I could not vote for this, they told me: “Who are you? Sit down! We can do without you!”
When we raised the question: “Your Holiness, there are big dogmatic errors here, how are we going to this Council,” we heard in response: “Be quiet, sit down! Everything has been decided! Everyone has voted, everything has already been accepted!” But wait, how is this possible?
We couldn't say anything there. The Orthodox people are now accusing us: “Why did you betray us, masters? Why did you do all this?” Fear. Fear came over us. Because there were threats: “tomorrow I will punish you, tomorrow I will send you to the North!” Worse than during the communists..."
Considering the sly distortions of Bishop Longinus in his reasoning about the Havana Declaration, one can assume that here, in the story about the February Council, he is also lying. But overall, it seems to me that the picture is described correctly. Anyone who has encountered the Moscow church bureaucracy knows what a terrible, indifferent and hypocritical force it is. But we must fight it in such a way that in the course of this struggle we do not destroy the grace-filled church unity. Otherwise, we will be like madmen who, having undertaken to bring cleanliness and order to the house, ended up ruining and burning their own home.
We need to maintain and develop godliness without confusion and zeal without schism. Such piety and such zeal, which Metropolitan Agathangel of Odessa and Izmail spoke about on March 20 in his sermon delivered after the Divine Liturgy, performed by him in concelebration with a host of clergy: His Eminence Vicar Bishops Arkady, Diodorus and Victor, the rector of the Odessa Theological Seminary Archimandrite Seraphim and the abbots city churches.
Bishop Agafangel addressed the worshipers with the following words: “For a long time, many clergy, monastics and laity suffered fierce persecution from heretics. But they chose torture, hard labor, exile and even death for preserving the purity of the Orthodox faith...
Many centuries passed, new heresies and schisms arose. Particularly large-scale and tragic was the falling away of the Western Church, later called Catholic, from our Eastern Patristic Orthodoxy. Then Catholics moved further and further away from the purity of the Apostolic Faith, from the teachings of the Holy Fathers, inventing false dogmas and teachings.
Nowadays we have an alarming trend of ecumenism, including in the sphere of relations with the Catholic Church. This worries many believers who look with concern at such close rapprochement with heretics, at numerous meetings with those whose predecessors suppressed our people, implanting union with fire and sword, destroying Orthodoxy in the lands of Ukraine and Belarus...
We must zealously stand for the purity of our faith, for the preservation of the apostolic and patristic teaching, protecting it from “wolves in sheep’s clothing” who are trying to penetrate the flock of Christ in order to steal our souls, introducing there the poison of heresies and the temptations of ecumenism. Let the life of the saints become an example for us - Righteous John of Kronstadt, St. Lawrence of Chernigov, Theodosius of Pechersk, St. Seraphim (Sobolev) and a host of others who stood guard over the canons of Orthodoxy, not allowing them to be distorted to suit momentary interests.”
Help, Lord! Wake up, wake up! Amen.
Konstantin Dushenov, director of the agency "Orthodox Rus'"
Bishop Longinus is a vicar. He does not have his own diocese. This means that this is not a diocesan meeting. There are only monks on the presidium. But he also addresses his sisters. Perhaps this is the Banchensky Holy Ascension Monastery headed by him in the village. Bancheny Hertsaevsky district, Chernivtsi region. One and a half hundred (!) nuns are visible in the full video.
The meeting is clearly not impromptu. Questions are prepared and recorded in advance. The answers are distributed among the monks and are also written down in advance.
Fully:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkXb6GrcOtk
The main thing is not that Bishop Longin stopped raising the name of the patriarch. In the end, he’s not really obliged: he is a vicar, and his kiriarch is in Kyiv, not in Moscow. The widespread elevation of the name of the patriarch by all liturgists (and not just the heads of dioceses) is a purely Russian tradition. But ep. Longinus declared Patriarch Kirill to exist entirely outside the Orthodox Church. And this cannot be ignored.
But it is also difficult to react with thunder and lightning. Both due to Longin’s foreignness and due to the fact that his human authority, at least in Ukraine, is much higher than that of his opponent. This is not the Chukchi loner Diomede. In addition, repressions against him will be perceived as national oppression: in the Hertsaevsky district of Bukovina, where his titular village and his monastery are located, 93 percent of the population are Romanians. In a conflict with both Moscow and Kiev, local residents will be with him on any issue.
I believe, Met. Onuphry will receive a strict order to suppress the rebellion with the help of the Kyiv synod.
I think that Bishop Longinus is right from an ecclesiological, “procedural” point of view. The “epochal act” could still be discussed with his contemporaries. see description of the atmosphere at the bishop's council at 1.28 min and 1.51 of the full video.
"Nobody saw us, heard us, and absolutely no one looked at us. We sat on the benches for 2 days, and they didn’t care whether we were there or not. They decided their own way anyway. We sat there, and no one asked us And one time I raised my hand to be against it, that I couldn’t vote for these issues, then they told me, “Who are you? Sit down! We can do without you!” They can do without me, but we can never do without God, without the Truth. They say that the Council gave the go-ahead. Well, will we be deceivers for the whole world? Nobody told us about any meetings. When we raised the question, what is your Holiness, that there are big dogmatic errors here, how are we going to this Council? In response: “That’s it! Keep quiet, sit down! Everything has been decided! Everyone has voted, everything has already passed!” But wait, how is this possible? And they put us there, and we couldn’t say anything there. The Orthodox people are now accusing: “Why did you betray us, masters? Why did you do all this?” There were many rulers there who were not against everything. Fear. Fear is upon us. Because tomorrow I will punish you, tomorrow I will send you to the North! Worse than during the communists."
But not always ep. Longinus is correct in his theological arguments. And he is almost always wrong in his historical references. For example, on 2.08 he says that Orthodox patriarchs have never met with popes. Russians - yes. But universal - many times.
He says that ALL the fathers of the First Ecumenical Council were mutilated confessors, some without eyes and some without hands. It is not true. There were two or three of them.
And addressing the Pope as “The Most Holy One” is a long-standing tradition. This is how the Emperors of Russia addressed him. And the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate in 1970-80 published Christmas and Easter congratulations from Patriarch Pimen to the Pope with the address “Your Holiness!”
By the way, here is the concordat between Russia and the Pope
http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/3311/54422086.19a/0_abee2_90d55504_orig
At 1 hour 45 minutes the message to Prince Izyaslav is quoted as belonging to the Rev. Theodosius of Kiev-Pechersk. It is stated that the year is 1074.
However, in modern literature it is believed that the anti-Latin writings attributed to Rev. Theodosius, in fact, belong not to the 11th, but to the 12th century, they were addressed not to Prince Izyaslav Yaroslavich (1054-1078), but to Prince Izyaslav Mstislavich (1146-1154) and belong to the pen of the monk Theodosius the Greek, which was convincingly shown by the Russian emigrant historian K.K. Viskovaty, employee of the Slavic Library at Charles University in Prague:
Viskovaty K. On the question of the author and time of writing “Tales to Izyaslav on Latins” // Slavia. Praha, 1939. T. 16, pp. 535-567;
Podskalski G. Theological literature of Kievan Rus, 988-1237. v.1. St. Petersburg, 1996, pp. 294-296;
Nazarenko A.V. “Very unlike the faithful.” Interfaith marriages in Rus' in the 11th-12th centuries. // Bulletin of history, literature and art. Volume I, Moscow 2005.
At 1.53, the bishop is already outright lying, as if a revision of dogmas and liturgy is being prepared at the Pan-Orthodox Council.
This meeting took place before the beginning of Great Lent. And for so long there was not a word about it!
Anna Petrosova
27.09.2013 - 05:07
On the Ukrainian-Romanian border in the village of Bancheny (western Ukraine) there is an extraordinary monastery - the Holy Ascension Monastery. A well-known adoptive monk throughout Ukraine lives here. The 48-year-old Archimandrite Longin (in the world Mikhail Zhar) has 332 children. Many of them are HIV-infected, have hepatitis C and cerebral palsy. Father Longin takes the most hopeless children with the most severe diagnoses from orphanages and boarding schools, and even if he does not save them from death, he prolongs their lives with care and love.
gingerbread town
The priest built a magnificent shelter for his children in the village of Molnitsa, a real children's gingerbread town with flowers and fairy-tale figures. Three multi-colored buildings were erected for boys, girls and HIV-infected children. The marble stairs are equipped with lifts for those children who find it difficult to move independently.
It's very cozy here and smells like home. The rooms have beautiful furniture, carpets, and lots of toys. Everywhere there are aquariums with fish and flowers. The pupils are cared for by 104 people, of which 65 are nuns, the rest are paid employees: nurses, cooks, teachers. Children (whose health allows) run freely around the buildings and play noisy games. They often pick up kittens or puppies on the street and bring them into the house. They are not prohibited from caring for animals; their good intentions are only welcomed.
For his children, the priest also built a swimming pool, a sauna, a greenhouse, and a stadium with a special coating.
One day, the younger children asked their dad - Father Longin - for roller skates. He bought roller skates - more than 200 pairs, but it turned out that there was nowhere to skate on them in the village. Then monks from Banchen came to the rescue (monks love to visit children and give them gifts on their birthdays) and paved asphalt in the backyard of the orphanage.
Archimandrite Longin has many awards - church and state, including the title of Hero of Ukraine. The monk truly became a literal national hero for Ukrainians, but for his several hundred children he was just a dad who surrounded them with care and love. He also plays football with them...
Until now, despite his crazy busy schedule, Father Longin often cooks soup for his children in the morning! When he appears in the children's town, the children run to him as fast as they can: “Daddy, daddy has come!” Unable to reach everyone to hug and kiss, the priest lies down on the floor, and the kids pile on top of him with squeals and laughter: “Kiss me too, daddy!” And me!"
Father Longinus himself had a difficult childhood. He lived very poorly with his mother, and at the age of 11 he went to work on a farm as a milkmaid. One day he studied at school, the second he worked on the farm. I missed a lot of classes and had to switch to night work as a cattleman. “I only had one pair of pants, my mother’s,- recalls the archimandrite. - At night I cleaned up after the cattle, and in the morning I washed my pants, wrapped myself in a sheet, put on my wet pants over it and went to school. The children shied away from me - even after washing, the clothes stank of the farm. I had no friends - no one wanted to play with me.".
And soon he was left an orphan. After his mother's death, he spent six months in the hospital. One winter I stood on the street, looked at the smoke curling over the neighbors’ roofs, and asked God:“Lord, why don’t I have firewood? Come on with them, with the firewood... If only mom were alive!.. But there is no mother, no warmth, no family. Why?!"
Therefore, when in the hungry 90s, as a young priest in the temple of the village of Boyany, the father of three children, Mikhail Zhar brought milk to the orphanage, he did not hesitate for a long time. The conditions in which the children were were so shocked by the 27-year-old priest that he immediately took the two kids with him.
A little later, Father Mikhail saw three-year-old Vanya with cerebral palsy in a Chernivtsi orphanage. He felt so sorry for this child that he convinced his wife Lydia to take the boy. The baby was taken to holy places and placed in a manger where Jesus Christ was born. And he started walking! Now he is 24 years old, his dad appointed him director of the store. With all the money raised, Vanya buys sweets and distributes them to other children. After Ivan, Father Mikhail officially adopted children until the space in the passport was full. He already took the rest under his wing.
Abode
In 1996, Father Mikhail took monastic vows and became the monk Longinus, but this did not mean at all that the priest abandoned his children. They moved with him to a new place. With the blessing, he began to build a monastery and settle the wasteland with the first four monks. The local residents knew the priest well and loved him; after all, before he was tonsured, he served in the neighborhood. Therefore, when the construction of the monastery began, many helpers gathered: they worked at the construction site, transporting bricks, logs, food and money.
Over time, seven temples, a refectory, fraternal buildings, a bell tower, a fountain, an enclosure with peacocks, and a stable for ponies for children to ride grew on the territory of the monastery. Along with the buildings, the number of children cared for by Father Longinus also grew.
“Once I performed the funeral service for a young woman“- recalls the archimandrite. - It was winter. I see that after the funeral service, four boys remained at the grave. Everyone has left, and they stand completely frozen, wearing rubber boots on their bare feet and not going anywhere. It's frosty outside - 20 degrees. And the smallest of them was still tiny. I ask: “Why aren’t you going home?” And they tell me: “We won’t go without mom. We have nowhere to go." Their father left them, and their mother died. “Your mother is now in heaven,” I say. “Will you come and live with me?” They nod. Well, I brought them to the monastery".
When there were more children than monks, they began to think about building a separate building for them. A convenient place was found four kilometers from the monastery, in the village of Molnitsa. And in Boyany at that time, a women’s monastic community was formed on the basis of the parish. The sisters began to take care of the children.
And so it happened that now there is a monastery in Bancheny (there are now 86 monks in it), in Boyany there is a women’s monastery (in it there are 120 nuns), and in Molnitsa there is an orphanage. Father Longin is the confessor of both monasteries.
With such a busy life, Father Longinus is not in good health. He suffered three heart attacks, two heart surgeries, removal of a cancerous tumor and chemotherapy. In 2004, during an operation, Father Longin's heart stopped. Doctors could not start him up for five hours.
“I remember I regained consciousness for a minute and thought: “Lord, if you let me live a little longer, I will build the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity.”, - recalled the archimandrite. - God gave me life and I kept my promise. He asked people to come and lay one brick at a time in the temple walls that were under construction. The cathedral took five years to build. Now it is one of the most beautiful and largest Orthodox churches in Europe.
Shelter for outcasts
In 2002, Father Mikhail saw two-month-old Larisa in the baby's home. Her mother abandoned her because her daughter was HIV-positive. The teachers kept her locked in a separate room. The girl was not picked up at all, but was approached to the crib wearing a mask and gloves. Doctors warned the priest that all members of his family could become infected with AIDS. It was scary, but I felt even more sorry for the doomed baby. In one night, the monks brought water into a separate room and placed the most beautiful crib in it. Then Father Longinus went to the convent and said to the nuns: “I took a girl with HIV. Who wants to take care of her, realizing that he himself may become infected with an incurable disease?” Several people volunteered at once. The girl was christened Philafthea, she almost did not walk, because she was carried in her arms all the time. Then Philafthea got a little stronger, she came to church and, when the monks sang, stood in front of them and conducted. And recently, doctors were very surprised when they saw her tests: there were no traces of HIV infection in her blood. Now Philafthea is in fifth grade and her terrible diagnosis has been removed.
And in 2009, when Father Longin took custody of 36 children aged from one to seven years from Kyiv, Nikolaev, Odessa and Dnepropetrovsk regions, a building for HIV-infected children was occupied. Currently, there are already 80 children living here with this diagnosis: Father Longin collected them from orphanages throughout Ukraine. They are not isolated from other students: the children go to school together, play, and swim in the pool. The only thing is that the sisters make sure that the kids brush their teeth with individual brushes. These children need constant medical supervision, so the children's department of the regional AIDS center was created in the shelter, where they are on antiretroviral therapy and are fed very high-calorie food, because everyone is prescribed strong medications.
“Kids change before our eyes: they immediately get better, become cheerful, and blossom, says the center’s head nurse, assistant epidemiologist Raisa Kilaru. - Six children have already been diagnosed with HIV infection... The children stayed in our center for only a year and a half and were cured. We took tests three times from Filafthea, Misha, Lavrentiy, Anton, Alina and Valentin. Tests confirmed that there is no immunodeficiency virus in the children’s blood.”.
The most important event for the monastery was the opening of a home for the disabled at the end of 2011. There are 125 disabled children under the care of the archimandrite, the oldest is twenty years old, and the youngest is one year old.
...Gleb has been living in the shelter for 18 years. A mother with cancer gave birth to a crippled son and before her death she herself brought the baby to Father Longinus. Deaf, blind, with severe damage to the nervous system, he recognizes people only by touch. 11-year-old Nektary has been suffering from hydrocephalus and arthrogripposis since birth. The boy has a huge head, a small body and underdeveloped limbs. Lying on the floor, he smiles at the guests and nods his head.
Father met Styopa at a boarding school for disabled children. The armless boy jumped forward and read his own poems. Then he followed on the heels of the priest, and when he was about to leave, Styopa pressed his face to his cassock and asked: “Please take me away from here!” Father burst into tears, hugged Styopa and took her with him. Now, on major church holidays, Father Longin takes him to the belfry. Styopa rings the bells, holding the rope in his teeth. In the new house, he made friends with Roma, who plays the synthesizer; he was placed - on purpose - next to his bed. This boy has difficulty moving. He has cerebral palsy.
In addition to three hundred children and two hundred monks, under the care of Father Longin there are also 60 elderly people living at the monastery.
Archimandrite Longin never ceases to be amazed at where the funds to support so many people come from. Every day he goes to the post office: money transfers from all over the country constantly arrive there. Sponsors help. For example, one woman gave the children a cow, another two hectares of land. On these hectares, the nuns grow potatoes for the children's town. In addition, on the grounds of the monasteries there are fields, orchards, vegetable gardens, a farm, and flower greenhouses. Children work on monastery farms along with adults. As a result, both the monastery and the shelter have enough of their own products, and the surplus is donated free of charge to surrounding social institutions.
One evening, Archimandrite Longin was working in the field with the monks: they were collecting corn. At that moment, someone came running to him from the kitchen and told him that they had run out of sunflower oil and had nothing to cook dinner with. In the evening, local shops are closed, but to cheer everyone up, the priest said: “If necessary, the Lord will send us sunflower oil”. Half an hour passed, and suddenly an unfamiliar man arrived at the monastery: “Father, I brought you... 200 liters of sunflower oil”. To celebrate, the monk grabbed the man by the hands and began to spin around with him: “The Lord himself sent you. Today the monastery ran out of sunflower oil!” He broke out and ran away, and an hour later the man returned: he brought another 40 liters of oil!
Now Father Longin is building a village for his grown-up offspring. Twenty children have already had weddings. All of them received higher education. “But is it possible in our time to build a house on the salary of a teacher or doctor?- Archimandrite Longin laments. - I help as much as I can: leaving children halfway is a great sin. We are currently building 10 houses. But there will be new weddings soon. To provide everyone with housing, I rented land in Chernivtsi. If the Lord grants, we will soon pour the foundations for apartment buildings.”.
The first bishop stood up for the defense of the Orthodox Faith, the holy canons and dogmas of our Church, condemned the ecumenical heresy of the “Havana Declaration” and St. Cyril, who was no longer commemorated at liturgies as a heretic, and called on him to ask forgiveness for insulting the Orthodox Church, Orthodox Christians and all Holy Fathers, who preserved the Truth for 1000 years: “We must not remain faithful to people, but to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and the truth of our Orthodox Church!”
The Lord and the Mother of God nevertheless gave us the Russian Champion and Defender of the Orthodox Faith,- Bishop of Banchensky Longina (Heat) - related to the Holy Apostles and the Holy Fathers: Rev.Maximus the Confessor, Rev. Theodore Studite, St. Mark of Ephesus, St. Gregory Palama, St. Gennady Novgorodsky, Rev. Joseph Volotsky, St. Seraphim (Sobolev)
WORD OF BISHOP LONGIN
Dear brothers and sisters!
We have all gathered together today, because in recent times our Orthodox Christians have been asking us a lot of questions, and we are not all ready to answer each one separately. Some of the questions we received, we have prepared answers for them. Even today we will try to answer the questions that will be asked in the same way as the holy fathers of our church have answered for 2000 years.
And I think that we must control ourselves through the Holy Fathers, the holy canons of our Church and dogmas. And we will ask our brothers of the monastery to help us answer all your questions today. You know that today is alarming. Every soul in the Orthodox world is very worried, all people are very worried about what is happening today. Because we don't want to lose our salvation. And we want to preserve and cherish that Faith, which is given to us once and for all, which does not change.
We did not gather for any protests today. Or be restless in the face of what is happening, it must be. The Holy Fathers told us and prepared us for this. But we kept thinking that it wouldn’t happen now, but would happen later. I want to ask God so that the Lord does not give us over to the devils to reproach. But so that there are true Orthodox believers, confessing their Orthodox Faith, the teachings and dogmas of the Holy Fathers.
God bless us for being here with you today. I ask you to prayerfully be attentive to everyone and I apologize in advance that we may have such an emphasis, but we want this to be clear to everyone and in one word: we want to preserve the true Orthodox Faith until the end of our days. Amen.
BISHOP LONGIN'S RESPONSE TO THE QUESTION OF REMEMBERING AT THE LITURGY OF P. KIRILL
Question (53 min. 35 sec.): Why is His Holiness Patriarch Kirill not remembered at the liturgies in the Holy Ascension Monastery of Panchevo?
Answer from Lord Longinus: We pray for His Holiness the Patriarch Kirill. And our brothers pray, and you should pray. But I cannot remember at liturgies, because I don’t know: who is Orthodox, who is Catholic, who is a heretic. By accepting this document you know - 30 points ( Havana Declaration- approx. edit . ). I'll read it to you later. They say that the document was adopted following a meeting of the Holy Pope...
This is what our patriarch says. This is heresy, brothers and sisters. This is real heresy. How holy he is when all the fathers, all our holy fathers of the Orthodox Church call the Latins heretics. We then destroy, we do not allow them to rise up and repent. Now he is the “righteous” Pope, because the Patriarch of All Rus' said that he is the most holy. For us he is a heretic!
Second. The word of the holy liturgy from the document: “ Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the communication of the Holy Spirit with you all"Let their spirit be with them. The Spirit of God will be with us! We don't need the Pope's blessing. And besides, what right did they have to change the word “God the Father and the sacrament”? They changed the word “communion” to “communication.” Because they want to communicate! And they begin to change the words of the holy liturgy. And the rest of these 30 points are all heresy!
But I don’t remember Patriarch Kirill at the Holy Liturgy, most importantly because of the 5th point. And understand these words correctly: “ Despite the common Tradition of the first ten centuries, Catholics and Orthodox Christians have been deprived of communion in the Eucharist for almost a thousand years».
And what does he want? So that we can take communion with the Pope or what? Without repentance, without correction?
Further: " We are divided by wounds inflicted in conflicts of the distant and recent past, divided and inherited from our predecessors" This is what they call all the saints of the Orthodox Church! The predecessors, that they are to blame for everything, that these wounds are still open.
Further: " differences in the understanding and explanation of our faith in God, one in Three Persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We mourn the loss of unity resulting from human weakness and sinfulness».
This means that all the saints were weak and sinful. What right did they have to desecrate my shrine, my Church, my Holy Fathers, to accuse them of being sinners? Yes, they are sinners, I know, there is not a single person without sin. But their life was holy! They died for the Faith so that no one would ever scold the dogmas of our Church. And they left us the true Orthodox Faith, and not the heresy of the Latins.
Further: “which occurred contrary to the High Priestly prayer of Christ the Savior: “That they all may be one, just as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us” (John 17:21).” Should we be united? In the true Church of God, and not with the Pope, we must be one!
And immediately they go to the 6th point and say: “ Aware of the many obstacles that remain to be overcome, we hope that our meeting will contribute to the achievement of that God-ordained unity».
Sorry, but I will never be one with the heretics. I am Orthodox! I have the dogmas and canons of the Orthodox Faith, and I will not become a traitor!
And we all, like brothers and sisters, came to the monastery, leaving this world, not because we had nothing to do in it. We loved the Lord God. Nobody forced us to love Him. No one forced us to leave our mothers, our parents and come to the monastery. I was compelled by the love of God when I learned that He suffered on the Cross because of me.
I want to remain faithful to the Lord God! I call on brothers and sisters and all Orthodox Christians! We must remain faithful not to people, but to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and the truth of our Orthodox Church!
And thank God that we understood today what happened. The Lord gave us the strength to live until these times, so that we would better know the truth of the Orthodox Faith. After all, if this ( betrayal of Christ - approx. edit .) was 30-40 years ago, when we were in a weak knowledge of our Faith, and therefore the Lord was so slow for us to understand our Faith and Truth, to follow in the footsteps of the Savior, and not in the footsteps of these people.
Let their conscience torment them, because the document says: “Catholics and Orthodox have been deprived of communion in the Eucharist for almost a thousand years.” Yes, come back, please. Repent. There is a lack of humility because pride is devilish. Who can pacify them when they are God’s substitutes on earth, when they have purgatory, when they have trampled all the dogmas and canons of our Orthodox Church and left, renounced the true God?
Is this not enough for us? This fraternization? Kiss Judas.
I ask His Holiness for forgiveness ( p. Kirill - approx. edit . ), but let him ask for forgiveness from our Orthodox Church, from Orthodox Christians and from all the Holy Fathers who have preserved the Truth for 1000 years, for offending them.
EP'S REPLY LONGIN ON THE QUESTION ABOUT THE ADOPTION OF THE FINAL DOCUMENTS OF THE PAN-ORTHODOX COUNCIL
Question (1 hour 27 minutes 30 seconds):
“We are told that ecumenism is not a heresy, but a movement towards the unity of all Christians. This is stated in the documents signed by our Patriarch in Chambesy in the fall of 2015. The inculcation of all-recession in the Orthodox Church through the adoption of draft documents took place without a conciliar discussion at the Council of Bishops on February 2-3, 2016.”
Answer from Lord Longinus:“Let no one be offended, dear brothers and sisters. Nobody saw us, heard us, and absolutely no one looked at us. We sat on benches for 2 days, and they didn’t care whether we were there or not. They made their decision anyway.
We pray for our Father, His Holiness the Patriarch. But if he is our father, then please listen to your children, who have always been faithful not to a person, but to the Russian Orthodox Canonical Church. And we will continue to remain faithful to her. But we sat there and no one asked us.
And one time, when there were dogmatic errors or one might say the greatest sins against the Holy Spirit, I raised my hand to be against it, that I could not vote for these issues, then they told me “Who are you? Sit down! We can do without you!” They can do without me, but we will never do without God, without the Truth.
I have nothing against him as a person ( Kirill village - approx. edit . ), but one person cannot decide the fate of our Church. There must be a Council. They say that the Council gave the go-ahead. Well, will we be deceivers for the whole world? Nobody told us about any meetings.
When we raised the question that Your Holiness, that there are big dogmatic errors, how are we going to this Council ( Council of Bishops February 2-3, 2016 - approx. edit . )? In reply: "All! Shut up, sit down! All is decided! Everyone has voted, everything has already passed!” But wait, how is this possible? And they put us there, and we couldn’t say anything there.
The Orthodox people are now accusing: “Why did you betray us, lords? Why did you do all this? There were many rulers who were not against everything: "Fear. There is fear upon us. Because tomorrow I will punish you, tomorrow I will send you to the North!”
Worse than during the communists. And this is our Orthodox Faith, Mother of Love. We have come to God freely, will we not listen to these false teachings?”
EDITORIAL REMINDER: Whatback in 2014 year Vladyka Longin (Zhar), Bishop of Banchensky, vicar of the Chernivtsi diocese (Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate), who is also called "father of four hundred orphans" , delivered an extremely harsh sermon against the war in Ukraine and the leaders of this country, whom he called “damned” and “servants of Satan.” Moreover, the bishop called on Ukrainian believers not to send their children to death, because this contradicts the Orthodox faith:
About mobilization
I urge you to be united and not send your children to death. Our Orthodox faith does not allow us to kill each other. They want the death of our people, living in peace and with God, for the sake of their political interests, for the sake of those who protect their business and leadership positions.
My dears, you are not allowed to shoot and kill. God gives life, and He takes it away. Ukrainian leaders have stated that "the Orthodox faith is Ukraine's greatest enemy." This was dictated to them by strangers who cannot bear the truth because they are blind.
About the victims of the conflict in Ukraine
How can you pick up a gun and shoot at God's creation? He, like you, has a mother, a wife, a child. Why are we forced to kill? The secret will become clear: thousands and tens of thousands died, and they are talking about hundreds. I do not bless you to go to war. We call you to peace.
About ten thousand soldiers have been killed, and even their mothers do not know that they are no longer alive. I am not involved in politics, but I say with pain that this is not a war against the enemy, but a war between us. When the damned defend the United States, they want to see the Orthodox kill each other, while they eat, drink, have fun and rejoice at the fact that blood is being shed on holy land.
On the participation of the United States of America and the West in the conflict
They will pay in full for the blood that stained their hands and clothes. All this is the work of damned Europe, about which the Holy Fathers said: “Do not worship beasts,” and the Americans, who, wherever they interfere, sow only hostility and bloodshed. Now they have stood back and are enjoying the shedding of the blood of our Christians.
Brothers, we all feel ourselves on the threshold of the third world war. That is why I appealed to you: repent! I thank all the villages of Bukovina, all its inhabitants for standing up. Everyone is called to this: we do not give our children up to die!
About the current leaders of Ukraine
I will never remember at the Divine Liturgy these damned leaders of our country, these unbelievers who have no fear of God, who sit in armchairs and give out orders for murder. There is only one prayer left: Lord, if You are still able, enlighten them, for darkness and hell have enveloped them. They want nothing more than bloodshed, and they find pleasure in this. Satanists! Servants of the evil one. If they do not stop, then God will stop them, but then there will be great grief for them.
In connection with the latest statementLords of Longinus (Heat), standing up for the defense of the Orthodox Faith, the Athonite Fathers composed a prayer -
PRAYER
for Bishop Longinus and confessors of Christ's Truth
Compiled by the Athonite Fathers, Hieroschemamonk Rafail (Berestov) and Hieroschemamonk Onufriy (Stebelev-Velasquez)
God IJesus Christ, by the prayers of our Most Holy Lady Mother of God, Holy Archangel of God Mikhail and all the Bodiless Heavenly Powers, Your Honest Forerunner and Baptist Joanna, Holy Glorious and All-Praised Apostles, Holy Royal Great Martyrs, through the prayers of all Martyrs and Confessors, Reverend and God-Bearing Fathers of ours and all Thy Saints, save, preserve and strengthen the Confessor of Holy Rus', Bishop Longinus and his Christ-loving flock (here you can also commemorate all the faithful Archpastors and shepherds), grant them fiery Faith, Your humility and the grace of the Holy Spirit, patience and unshakable courage, grace-filled prayer, irresistible word, sacrificial and all-conquering Love.
Protect them, Lord, from all enemies, visible and invisible, help them to remain faithful to You even to the point of death and make a good confession for Your glory, for all glory, honor and worship is due to You with Your Beginning Father and with Your Most Holy, Good and Life-giving Spirit , now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.
Dear fathers, brothers and sisters!
Let us earnestly pray for our Confessor - Bishop Longinus with his Christ-loving flock, so that God will strengthen them with His grace and help them make a good confession before the Victorious Triumph of Orthodoxy!
The Lord and the Mother of God gave us the Russian Champion and Defender of the Orthodox Faith, who became related to the Holy Apostles and the Holy Fathers: Rev. Maximus the Confessor, Rev. Theodore Studite, St. Mark of Ephesus, St. Gregory Palama, St. Gennady Novgorodsky, Rev. Joseph Volotsky, St. Seraphim (Sobolev) and with all the Confessors, Martyrs and Pleasers of God.
We all remember Father Mikhail from the movie "Outpost"(see below), his great Christian love is truly unforgettable. And today, in the hour of mortal danger for our Russian Church, we see how the Love of Christ raises up the former O. Mikhail, today already Bishop Longinus, together with the monks and the people of God, to confession and fidelity to Christ to the martyr's Cross!
Bishop Longinus and his Christ-loving flock showed in word and deed to the whole world what a great and irresistible power God has given us in the Orthodox Church - Conciliarity in the Holy Spirit!
We thank God and the Most Pure Mother of God with all our hearts for dear Bishop Longinus with his spiritual children, for this Great strengthening that they show for the Orthodox in Rus' and throughout the world, giving us all an example of all-conquering, sacrificial Christian love. We are with you, our dear Master Longinus! Many years to you! We love you and are praying for you!
Let us follow the good Shepherd, who lays down his life for the sheep of Christ! (cf. John 10:11)
May God grant that the example of the good confession of Bishop Longinus and his flock will inspire the defense of the Orthodox Faith and other Archpastors, clergy, monastics and laity of our Russian Church.
WE ARE RUSSIANS, GOD AND THE COVER OF THE VIRGIN ARE WITH US, AND THEREFORE WE WILL WIN!
Dear brothers and sisters!
Share this Great Joy! Spread the Good News! Print this material and give it to bishops, priests and laity. Let them familiarize themselves with it, watch this video and examine their conscience. Who are they with: God or the devil? Everyone will give an answer for their choice before the Lord! By this good action of yours, you will rank yourself among the confessors and defenders of the Holy Orthodox Faith.
Thank God for everything! Amen.
Download the article with prayer:
A remarkably bold archpastoral word appeared on the website “Tatiana’s Day” Bishop of Banchen Longinus (Heat), vicar of the Chernivtsi diocese of the UOC-MP, published on the Romanian website Activenews.ro , about the punitive action of the Kyiv junta in the southeast of Ukraine. In today's Ukraine, where the most severe information and physical terror reigns against any dissent in relation to the so-called. “anti-terrorist operation” of the Kyiv regime against its people, such words from the Bishop are a real confession in our time!
Bishop Longin (Zhar), Bishop of Banchensky, vicar of the Chernivtsi diocese (Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate), who is also called the “father of four hundred orphans,” delivered an extremely stern sermon against the war in Ukraine and the leaders of this country, whom he called “damned” and “servants.” Satan." Moreover, the bishop called on Ukrainian believers not to send their children to death, because this contradicts the Orthodox faith.
Bishop Longinus on mobilization
I urge you to be united and not send your children to death. Our Orthodox faith does not allow us to kill each other. They want the death of our people, living in peace and with God, for the sake of their political interests, for the sake of those who protect their business and leadership positions.
My dears, you are not allowed to shoot and kill. God gives life, and He takes it away. Ukrainian leaders have stated that "the Orthodox faith is Ukraine's greatest enemy." This was dictated to them by strangers who cannot bear the truth because they are blind.
About the victims of the conflict in Ukraine
How can you pick up a gun and shoot at God's creation? He, like you, has a mother, a wife, a child. Why are we forced to kill? The secret will become clear: thousands and tens of thousands died, and they are talking about hundreds. I do not bless you to go to war. We call you to peace.
About ten thousand soldiers have been killed, and even their mothers do not know that they are no longer alive. I am not involved in politics, but I say with pain that this is not a war against the enemy, but a war between us. When the damned defend the United States, they want to see the Orthodox kill each other, while they eat, drink, have fun and rejoice at the fact that blood is being shed on holy land.
On the participation of the United States of America and the West in the conflict
They will pay in full for the blood that stained their hands and clothes. All this is the work of damned Europe, about which the Holy Fathers said: “Do not worship beasts,” and the Americans, who, wherever they interfere, sow only hostility and bloodshed. Now they have stood back and are enjoying the shedding of the blood of our Christians.
Brothers, we all feel ourselves on the threshold of the third world war. That is why I appealed to you: repent! I thank all the villages of Bukovina, all its inhabitants for standing up. Everyone is called to this: we do not give our children up to die!
About the current leaders of Ukraine
I will never remember at the Divine Liturgy these damned leaders of our country, these unbelievers who have no fear of God, who sit in armchairs and give out orders for murder. There was only one prayer left: “Lord, if You are still able, enlighten them, for darkness and hell have enveloped them.” They want nothing more than bloodshed, and they find pleasure in this. Satanists! Servants of the evil one. If they do not stop, then God will stop them, but then there will be great grief for them.
Recorded by Mihai Shomenescu for Activenews.ro
