The Bulgarian Orthodox website dveri.bg has launched a column “Not from the Gospel”, in which it publishes excerpts from sermons, speeches or texts of Russian priests and representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church without editorial intervention. They are a sad testimony to the contribution of Orthodox clergy to the formation of today’s grim cult of war and violence. We are witnessing how Christian pastors, called to lead the Church, to reveal to believers the image of Christ and His peace, are not ashamed to support even nuclear war and justify their hatred of man with quotations from God’s word. We know who is called the misanthrope. That is why today it is more than important to learn to distinguish the word of God from its cunning perversion. Christ’s call to be vigilant in the Gospel readings of Holy Week is addressed to every Christian. For every believer is called to know and discern where Christ and His peace are and what the fruits of the Holy Spirit are: “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, faith, meekness, temperance” (Gal. 5: 22-23). ). And their opposite comes from the evil one.
Ep. Pitirim (Tvorogov) on the role of the whip and on Russia as an instrument of God’s wrath, as well as on the upcoming “Great War” with the European Union and the “collective West” (sermon on the day of the Forty Martyrs of Sebastian, March 22, 2022)
Today’s war is causing great pain to our hearts, it is a tragedy. Even more so for those who are Ukrainians by birth, and whose relatives and friends are now, so to speak, dying – all this cannot be understood and cannot be accepted. Now there is a psychological rejection of everything that is happening. This is with us, and even more so with the Ukrainians, who believe that Russia has attacked and is destroying them. Indeed, it looks like this from the side. But look, the answer to this question: what kind of war is this and what is happening in a spiritual sense, we can find in today’s apostolic reading. It says that God punishes whom He loves. He punishes adulterers. Every son he loves punishes him. And now it is clear that God, loving Ukraine, is punishing her. To understand what is happening, we need to know why. Why is God punishing Ukraine? And why exactly Ukraine? The current hatred of Ukrainians for the Russians is simply a weapon of God. It’s like the whip with which the father punishes the child. And the stupid, unreasonable child is really angry at the whip. Children often hide the whips with which they are punished, or the cannon with which they are punished, because they think that this is what punishes them. But the parent punishes them. And who is the parent in this case? This is God. God punishes the children He loves and the children who do not listen to Him. It is very important not only for us, in private life, but also for the life of states, never to resist God’s will. And what happened to Ukraine thirty years ago when it gained independence? What country did you start to form? Her ideology was based on hatred of Russia. We are horrified by what has happened to Ukraine in these thirty years. They were overwhelmed by the compulsive idea of joining the European Union, that European prosperity, that civilization that has always been a piece of bread and bacon, figuratively speaking. That’s where they wanted to go. And what is the modern European Union? These are the ancients of Sodom and Gomorrah. They are the adulterers, the whole collective West, along with the United States. But Heavenly Father does not love or punish them. That is why these countries live well… That is why Ukrainians should not hate the whip with which God makes them wise, but the real enemy who organized this massacre. And when they find out who their real enemy is, they will unite with the Russian people. This war must end with this unification – the Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian people must become one people… This war helps us to form the army, which then fights the kingdom of the antichrist, which is already here and which he hates so much. Russia. The great war is before us. This is not the big war yet…
Voronezh Mitr. Sergiy (Fomin) in an interview with Enoriash magazine, published on the website of the Moscow Patriarchate on April 13.
Youth in Ukraine grew up under the influence of neo-nationalist propaganda, and today these people are fighting against Russia. They are convinced that Russia has invaded Ukraine, and they must defend themselves. These people do not want to go deeper and understand why Russia was forced to decide on this special operation. They do not want to think about the question of the instrument of what forces modern Ukraine is – God’s plan for the creation of good and salvation, or is it the work of Satan to destroy Christian civilization?
Thinking this way, we can conclude that what is happening now is not a conflict between Ukraine and Russia. The time has come for apostasy, for the apostasy of the nations from God, for the oblivion of the gospel commandments for good and love. That is why we must all support our President and the work he is doing. Unfortunately, this task can no longer be accomplished without bloodshed.
Prot. Vsevolod Chaplin (speech from 2018; the author died in January 2020) on the occupation of left-bank Ukraine and why Orthodox Russians should not be afraid of nuclear war
Apparently, intensive talks are under way with the Americans on Syria. And the main thing here is not to replace the future, Russia’s independence and its place in the world out of fear. And we need to talk not only about Syria and not only about the Middle East.
They want to remove Assad – we can do without him, but we must ensure the election of an even tougher figure or the division of Syria into several ethno-confessional states (others there are not yet viable). In return, however, it must be ultimately stated that we will apply the same principles for the protection of our fellow citizens and compatriots with regard to Kyiv and the whole of today’s left-bank (on the left bank of the Dnieper) Ukraine as we did in Crimea. Within a few days.
And the main thing – which must be clearly stated: unlike the Americans, we are not afraid of the destruction of large cities. What should people living in eternity be afraid of? I recommend the residents of Moscow and St. Petersburg to confess and receive Holy Communion in the coming days. And rural Russia without millionaire cities, with their dirty foam, will live better. “
