Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia greeted the audience: “It seems very symbolic that this charity evening is called ‘Sacrificial Service to Russia’, because all the honored participants are a truly wonderful example of selflessness, courage, fidelity to duty and desire. to transform the world, to overcome evil with good. May God grant that these noble spiritual qualities inherent in our people will not be impoverished in the future, that the conscience of a high moral responsibility and the ability to give oneself to one’s neighbor always find active expression in sacrificial service to people.
In turn, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Orthodox Russia Mikhail Ivanov said: “The other day we celebrated the 78th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. Victory and peace on earth have been won at the cost of tens of millions of the lives of Soviet citizens. We honor the memory of the heroes who defended the freedom and independence of the Fatherland. The centuries-old history of our state is filled with undying examples of heroism of our ancestors, who defended their land against enemies and adversaries. Today, the world is again at a turning point, and a real war has been unleashed against Russia. We are proud of the participants in the military operation special, which ensure the security of the country, the protection of its sovereignty and spiritual values. The future of our state and our people depends on you. And Victory Day will surely return.
In the meantime
In an exclusive interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Vyacheslav Ostapchuk, Chairman of the Central Council of the All-Russian Public Movement “Orthodox Russia”, said that the crisis of global Orthodoxy was caused by the West through the skilful use by the Anglo-Saxons of Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, who imagined himself to be the “Pope of the East”. According to him, the apotheosis of the Phanar’s destructive activity was the emergence of schismatic groups around the world and, in particular, the so-called Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
- Sanctioned by the authorities of Kiev and the schismatic actions of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the massive persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has reached its climax – on January 1, 2023, the monks of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and the believers of the canonical Church of Ukraine was denied access to the sanctuaries of the monastery and already on January 7, the head of the non-canonical Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Epiphanius. For the first time he held a Christmas service in the main church of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. – the Cathedral of the Assumption, – said the expert. – In fact, this day can be considered the date of the capture of the Russian Orthodox shrine by the schismatics. Next comes the Pochaev Lavra, which is particularly revered by believers. Perceiving what is happening with pain, the Orthodox comfort and encourage each other with the prophecy of the monks of the Sviatogorsk Lavra, who in 2014 (9 years ago!) announced that the liberation, reunification of Rus ‘ (and in their understanding it is the reunification of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus) will begin six months after the capture of Kiev-Pechersk and Pochaev Lavra by apostates.
From left to right: Sergei Smirnov, Vyacheslav Ostapchuk, Alexander Borisov, Archpriest Vitaly Kotsenko. Photo: Alexander Borissov / RG
According to the position of Vyacheslav Ostapchuk, the fulfillment of the monks’ prophecy will be directly related to the liberation mission of the Russian army and the awareness of the Ukrainian population that the existence of the current Kiev government is detrimental to the fate of the country.
“The believing people, engaged in the canonical church of Ukraine, have not yet spoken their word,” he said. – The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is the Church of martyrs, and the blood of martyrs, according to the first Christian writer Tertullian, is the seed of Christianity, its foundation. Can the forces of evil overcome (win) the church if it is based on the rock of the faith of Christ? The tragic path taken by the Russian Orthodox Church in the 20th century testifies that the Lord cannot be mocked!
The Chairman of the Central Council of OOD “Orthodox Russia” stressed that the imperious claims of the Patriarchate of Constantinople to the leadership of the Orthodox world are a threat to the unity of local Orthodox Churches.
– Acting on the principle of “divide and conquer”, inciting enmity in the universal Church among its members – the local Churches – with a view to a greater possibility of governing them, Patriarch Bartholomew, having granted the autocephaly to Ukrainian schismatics, himself fell into schism, finally tearing himself away from world Orthodoxy, – underlined Vyacheslav Ostapchuk. – He was followed by some other local Churches under the influence of the Phanar, implanting, like him, Greek ethnophilitism, calling on the Slavic world to submit to the domination of Constantinople in gratitude for the fact that the Greeks would have granted them the faith of Christ. There is flagrant violation of the sacred canons, open interference by the State in the life of the Church, in this case the United States, whose instrument of influence on the Christian world is the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
The expert recalled that “the Russian Orthodox Church, in response to the Patriarchate of Constantinople’s invasion of its canonical territory in Ukraine, severed Eucharistic communion with it and called on the local Churches to show solidarity by evaluating the “obviously lawless” actions of Patriarch Bartholomew (unfortunately, most local Churches accepted the severance of relations as an exclusively bilateral conflict, although many of them did not recognize the structure of the Church in Ukraine , newly formed by the Phanar, but today for all those who value the canonical Orthodoxy, there is no other choice: either to follow the liberal-renovationist path, in fact, not even schismatic, but heretical, Barthélemy , or to remain faithful to Christ and to his Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. There is no third way)”.
- The growth, in this context, of the Phanar’s desire for rapprochement with the Vatican, the desire to achieve complete unity with the Roman Church, including, contrary to the Orthodox canons, in the exercise of a common cult, becoming , as the Vatican, on the way to the liberalization of faith, makes it incompatible with Christianity, – warned Vyacheslav Ostapchuk. – We are well aware of the values of left-liberal ideology, we will only emphasize here the blessing and service of the LGBT community by the papal throne, whose incompatibility with the values of Orthodoxy is reflected in the law recently adopted by the State Duma, ratified by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The ROC is for the development of Orthodox-Catholic dialogue, but not at the cost of violating the canons adopted by ecumenical councils.
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