About the schism in Orthodoxy, about the transformation of the Hagia Sophia into a mosque, about electronic documents and the performance of the Sacraments in a pandemic.

How can we restore the unity of world Orthodoxy and overcome the schism? What do the schism of 1054 and the breaking up of the Churches now have in common? What is needed to restore Eucharistic communion between Phanar and the Russian Orthodox Church? Is there a threat to Ukrainian Orthodoxy from the Muslim world? How can the Church and the clergy carry their mission today, and how do modern trials affect the spiritual life of believers?

The information and educational department of the UOC publishes an interview with His Beatitude Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine Onuphry for the «Shepherd and Flock» magazine.

_______________________________

– Your Beatitude, it’s now often compared to the breakup of Eucharistic communion between the Churches due to the actions of the Phanar with the great schism of 1054, when Rome broke away from the Church. Is the former unity of the Orthodox Church possible, or has a new schism already occurred in fact?

– If we make a spiritual analysis of the breakup of Eucharistic communion between the Eastern and Western parts of the Common Orthodox Church, which occurred in 1054, and the breakup of Eucharistic communion, which took place in 2019 between the fullness of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Church of Constantinople, then we find a lot in common.

The spiritual break in 1054 was preceded by church discussions about the purity of the holy faith. East and West argued hotly about heresies that consistently appeared in the Christian world and, oddly enough, in most cases, the purity of the faith was defended by the bishops of the Western part of the Church, the Eastern part was struck by heresies, and the heresiarchs were: Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople (condemned by the 3rd Ecumenical Council); Eutychius, Archimandrite of Constantinople (condemned by the 4th Ecumenical Council), Emperors of Constantinople Heraclius (Monothelitism) and Leo III the Isaurian (iconoclasm). From this spiritual division of the One Church, the administrative and political division began. East and West drifted further and further from each other, and what happened in 1054 was simply the end of a vicious process of separation that had begun long ago.

In our time, what happened in 2019 also had its own spiritual prehistory, which consisted in the inclination towards free-thinking and liberalism of some important representatives of the Holy Church of Constantinople, who repeatedly tried to justify and accept those laws that didn’t agree with the Holy Gospel, which the secular world is actively trying to introduce into our lives today.

The disputes between the Russian Orthodox Church and Constantinople took place at various levels – from the lobbies to the high tribunes. This spiritual relaxation of Constantinople regarding the preservation of the purity of the holy Orthodox faith was the primary cause of the schism that occurred in 2019. I think that the attempt of Constantinople to give Caesar not only Caesar’s things, but also God’s things, was the reason for the fall of Constantinople and the destruction of the huge Byzantine empire. And today the Constantinople spiritual authorities are ready to accept all the customs and laws forbidden by God that the world offers, just to regain Constantinople (present Istanbul) in its former glory and the power in the Church that they had during the heyday of the Byzantine Empire.

Theoretically, the rupture of the Eucharistic communion, which occurred in 2019, can be healed, but for this the respected Patriarch of Constantinople must behave with everyone as the first in honor and equal in power. Unfortunately, His Holiness behaves like the first in honor and in power, and this is alien to the Orthodox spirit of conciliarism, in which the Orthodox Church has lived and lives. And what is even sadder is that there are no prerequisites for an Orthodox change in this vicious tendency to establish Orthodox papism.

– In Turkey, they turned into a mosque Hagia Sophia and a temple in the Chora monastery. Turkey is financing the construction of a large-scale mosque in Kiev. Is there a connection between these events, and do you see a threat to Ukrainian Orthodoxy from the Muslim world?

– Indeed, today in Turkey the ancient temple of Hagia Sophia and the temple in the former Chora monastery have been turned into a mosque. This is a spiritual tragedy, and we express our sympathy and compassion to His Holiness Patriarch of Constantinople. On this occasion, we not only prayed and pray, but also expressed our protest in an appeal to the Turkish parliament. Unfortunately, there are no positive results yet.

At the same time, the position of the esteemed His Holiness Patriarch of Constantinople, who hasn’t expressed any word of his protest against what has happened, is quite surprising. This is rather strange and incomprehensible.

There is such a spiritual expression: for the sake of our sins, the Lord doesn’t spare even sacred things. I don’t want to reproach anyone, but for the sake of love for the truth I will say that just as the revolution and destruction of holy places in the Russian Empire came from our ecclesiastical distortions, so the fall of the Byzantine Empire came from the wrong spiritual leadership that the Byzantine Church exercised in relation to its country and people.

If the respected leaders of the Church of Constantinople were unable to bring spiritual benefit and preserve their country and their people, how can they bring spiritual benefit and preserve those countries and peoples in whose spiritual affairs they interfere?

Regarding the fact that the construction of a Muslim mosque in Kiev is being financed today, I will say that this is a bell for us, calling for us to seek and correct our church-spiritual mistakes and shortcomings that are in the personal life of each of us. Someone may object and say: you are talking about correcting church mistakes, but calling for the correction of human ones. The fact is that, speaking of the Church, in this case, we mean the human component of the Church. The Church consists of Angels, Holy Saints who are in Heaven, and of people who live on earth, or, in other words, the Church consists of two parts: the Heavenly Church and the Earthly Church. The heavenly, or triumphant Church, is Holy and infallible, and the earthly Church, or the militant Church, into which you and I enter, can make mistakes, sin, but can also be corrected. The quality of the human component of the earthly Church can be improved in only one way – when each of us makes efforts to make ourselves morally and spiritually more perfect. The means of improving a human’s personal spiritual life are prayer, fasting, good deeds, humility, patience, forgiveness and love. May the Lord help us.

– Many churches are being built in our Church today, and active social work is underway. But statistics show that despite all the efforts, the number of churched people is no more than 5-7%, and it hardly changes. How should priests be to focus on spiritual work with those who are already in the community, or still strive to attract as many people as possible to churches?

– Yes, the percentage of churched people in Ukraine is not high, and it can be increased, but for this you need to pay spiritual attention to yourself. This is not pride, this is humility. The proud human looks at him/herself and admires him/herself, while the humble human looks at him/herself and reproaches him/herself. Humble attention to yourself is critical attention, attention that seeks our flaws, shortcomings, weaknesses and tries to correct them through repentance.

A priest, first of all, should try to work diligently and patiently on his personal spiritual success, and then listen and spiritually help his flock, and when everything is going right for him, do everything possible to complete the mission among unchurched people. For the sake of justice, it must be said that not every priest can be a missionary for the ministry, but every priest must be a missionary for life, that is, he must live so that, through his example of a pious life, people can see the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, mercy, faithfulness, meekness and self-control (Gal. 5:22). If churched people see this in a priest, sooner or later they will enter the Church fence in order to acquire these spiritual fruits for themselves, for everyone desires these fruits. The parishioners also become spiritual missionaries if the priest constantly nourishes them and carefully leads them along the path of a godly life.

– The introduction of electronic passports, the displacement of cash, the emergence of digital identifiers: much indicates that in the coming decades a person’s life (including religious) may come under the full control of the state. How will all this affect the spiritual life of religious? Will the Church become weaker or, on the contrary, will it become stronger?

– Indeed, the changes in the life of mankind in recent times indicate that we are entering a new historical era, which in church language is called apocalyptic. This is stated in the New Testament, especially in the book of Revelation of John the Theologian. This epoch brings new challenges and trials to people, but whoever tries to live with God will be under a special grace-filled covering that will strengthen a person to endure all difficulties with dignity.

Where God is, there is bliss, and whoever tries to cleave to God will be blissful even in the most serious trials. The most powerful spiritual weapon for a person in the coming trials is prayer and humility. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. I think that in terms of the number of religious, the Church will become weaker, and in terms of the quality of the spiritual life of religious, the Church will become stronger.

– During the pandemic, many refused to participate in the Sacraments for fear of getting sick. Explain whether it is possible to get sick through the Sacraments and how important it is for a person to participate in them, regardless of the position of the world?

– It is about the communion of the Holy Mysteries of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He gives us for our spiritual cleansing and for eternal life. Christ is the Source of life, He is our life, the meaning of our life and its beauty. Those who partake of the Holy Body and Blood of Christ receive into him/herself the power of eternal life. The fear of some people to get infected during the communion of the Holy Mysteries in the Church is in vain. The power of life, which enters a person with the communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, cannot overcome any virus or disease, we partake for the healing of soul and body.

But there is one reason why a person from Holy Communion can get sick or even die. This is when a person takes communion with proud madness, cynically, contemptuously, or for the performance of sorceries, or with some other vicious intentions. People get sick and even die from such communion.

But if a person approaches the Holy Mysteries, reasoning about the Body of the Lord (1 Cor. 11:29), that is, realizing that he/she is the dust of the earth and approaches His Father and Creator, Who is the Source of life and immortality and Who, out of His love, wants to join a person to eternal blissful life, then such a person takes communion for the remission of sins and into eternal life.

However, there are Orthodox Christians who haven’t yet come to the extent of this understanding and are overcome by fear, lest they become infected from a single lie, to which the priest distributes Holy Communion. To such parishioners, the priest should show leniency and make a concession to their weakness, communing them with a disinfected liar.

This doesn’t contradict the sacred laws of Divine love, which descended to our weakness and brought down to earth the Son of God, the Second Hypostasis of the Holy Life-Giving Trinity, in order to redeem, purify, sanctify and elevate us, the fallen, to Heaven. God condescends to us, and we must condescend to one another.

Participation in the holy Church Sacraments, especially in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, not only strengthens us and gives us the pledge of eternal life, it gives us the strength to endure, forgive and love, that is, to do what is the adornment of man and what the world today needs so much.

Source