PATRIARCH KIRILL DECLARES THAT RUSSIAN MILITARY OPERATION IN UKRAINE HAS METAPHYSICAL DIMENSION
Interfax-Religiia, 6 March 2022
Patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus Kirill, on Forgiveness Sunday, appealed to the faithful of the Russian church in a sermon in which he not only, following tradition, called for forgiveness of insults to one another but he also linked the topic of forgiveness to the military operation by Russia in Ukraine.
"Today, on Forgiveness Sunday, as your pastor I call everyone, on one hand, to forgive sins and insults, including in situations where it is very difficult to do this, where people are fighting with one another. But on the other hand forgiveness without justice is capitulation and weakness. Therefore forgiveness must be accompanied by an indispensible maintenance of the right to stand on the side of right, on the side of God's truth," the patriarch said after the liturgy in the church of Christ the Savior.
In his opinion, today in Ukraine "we have entered a struggle that has, not a physical, but a metaphysical significance." The patriarch complained that some Orthodox believers have chosen a path of least resistance, obediently taking the path that the powers of this world indicate to them.
"We do not condemn anybody; we do not invite anybody to go to the cross; we simply say to ourselves: we will be true to God's word, we will be true to his law, we will be faithful to the law of love and righteousness, and if we see a violation of that law, we will never be reconciled with those who violate that law, including the blurring of the line between holiness and sin, and the more so with those who promote sin," the patriarch said.
He noted especially that today "our brothers in the Donbass, Orthodox people, are undoubtedly suffering, and we cannot fail to be with them, principally in prayer."
In conclusion, Patriarch Kirill expressed the wish that God will help everyone to go through the days of Lent in order to worthily celebrate Easter. "We will pray that all those who today are fighting, who are shedding blood, who are suffering, will enter the joy of Resurrection, and also enter into peace and rest and joy. (tr. by PDS, posted 7 March 2022)
WORLD POWER AND GAY PARADES. PATRIARCH KIRILL IDENTIFIES CAUSE OF WAR IN THE DONBASS
On Forgiveness Sunday, RPTs Patriarch Kirill recalled in his sermon that blood has been shed for eight years and he identifies the cause of the bloodshed. The text of his sermon was posted on the RPTs website.
"For eight years, attempts to destroy what exists in the Donbass have not ceased. And in the Donbass there exists a rejection, a principled rejection, of the so-called values that are offered by those who aspire to world power," he noted.
He said that this "world power" has already prepared a test of loyalty for admission into the world of extreme consumption.
"And you know what kind of test it is? The test is very simple and, at the same time, horrific. It is the gay parade. The demand to many to conduct a gay parade is also a test of loyalty to the most powerful world; and we know that if people or countries reject these demands, then they do not enter into that world. They become alien to it," the head of the Russian Orthodox Church summed up.
"If humanity will allege that what is a sin is not a violation of God's law; if humanity agrees that what is a sin is just one of the varieties of human conduct; then that is the end of human civilization. And gay parades are meant to demonstrate that what is a sin is just one of the varieties of human conduct. And that is why, in order to join the club of those countries, it is absolutely necessary to conduct a gay parade. It is not to make the political statement that 'we are with you,' and not to sign some agreements, but to conduct a gay parade. And we know how people resist this demand and how the resistance is suppressed by force. And so what is meant is to impose by force what God's law condemns as a sin, which means to impose on people by force a denial of God and of his truth," he declared. (tr. by PDS, posted 7 March 2022)
Editorial disclaimer: RRN does
not intend to certify the accuracy of information
presented in articles. RRN simply intends to certify the
accuracy of the English translation of the contents of the
articles as they appeared in news media of countries of
the former USSR.
If material is quoted, please give credit to the
publication from which it came. It is not necessary to credit
this Web page. If material is transmitted electronically, please
include reference to the URL,
https://www2.stetson.edu/religious-news/