The Most Blessed Patriarch Theophilus III of Jerusalem received a delegation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church

The Most Blessed Patriarch Theophilus III of Jerusalem received a delegation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Блаженнейший Патриарх Иерусалимский Феофил IІІ принял делегацию Украинской Православной Церкви print version April 27, 2019 09:41 On April 26, 2019, His Beatitude Theophilus III , Patriarch of Jerusalem, at his residence in Jerusalem, received a delegation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church led by the head of the UOC Metropolitan of Boryspil and Brovarsky Anthony . The head of the Jerusalem Orthodox Church noted that he was very pleased to see representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the Holy Land and conveyed his assurances of fraternal love to His Beatitude Onufry , the episcopate, clergy and all believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to the Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine . “We must always pray, first of all, about the unity of our peoples, as well as the unity of all humanity. And we prayed and continue to pray in order to overcome the crisis that was created, and, unfortunately, continues to exist in Ukraine, ”said Patriarch Theophilus III. His Beatitude Vladyka wished the representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church "to love their enemies" no matter what. “The Primate of the Jerusalem Church. It is hard to say: love your enemies. But we must love them. There is nothing stronger than showing your opponent that you love him, ”said Patriarch Theophilus. “The patriarch said today that Divine glory is manifested through human suffering,” Metropolitan Antony, head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church after the meeting, told Strana.ua . - This is what the believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church are experiencing now. Indeed, some kind of madness occurs when people call themselves Christians, Orthodox who claim status in the Orthodox world, but break into churches, sometimes during worship, beat priests, beat believers. How then to call them Christians? The Patriarch told us a very laconic phrase: "The sign of the true Church is suffering." The Patriarch also conveyed greetings to Metropolitan Onufry, the episcopate, and said that we should not be discouraged, because the Resurrection always follows Golgotha. ” Metropolitan Anthony noted that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church does not ask for any privileges, just hopes that with the advent of the new government "we will begin to live by the law." “We say that we live in a state that has declared its democratic path. We hope that the new president, the new team that will come, will realize the destructiveness of the actions that the previous government has done. Even before the first round of presidential elections, Metropolitan Onufry openly declared at a meeting of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches, where Petro Poroshenko was present, that the chosen approach was a dead end. The division that we have in society, in the social and political sphere, is trying to introduce this division into the religious sphere, ”said Metropolitan Anthony. After the official meeting with the Primate of the Jerusalem Orthodox Church, the Ukrainian delegation went to prayer in the Gornensky Monastery. On April 27, representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church will take part in the divine service in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where the miracle of the descent of the Holy Fire is expected.