The hierarchs and faithful of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church are true Christians, who would rather receive beatings and even death than renounce their faith and Church, says the well-known elder Schema-Archimandrite (Gabriel Bunge).
Fr. Gabriel was recently interviewed by the German edition of the Union of Orthodox Journalists.
The discussion first focused on Fr. Varsonofy (Turyansky), the Svyatogorsk Lavra monk who was murdered on August 23 when a group of unidentified individuals attacked members of the monastic community on the territory of the Lavra. He was attacked when he responded to shouts of “Glory to Ukraine!” with “Glory to Jesus Christ!”
As Fr. Gabriel notes, he could’ve saved his life, but he chose to answer like a Christian:
I’m deeply impressed by the loyalty of our brothers, who remain faithful under the most difficult circumstances, even unto death—literally unto death. For this monk could easily have saved his life had he yielded to the demands of his murderers. But he did not.
He answered as a Christian. And all glory belongs to God alone. That deeply impresses me, and I must say that I’m proud to be a member of this Church myself. Because ultimately, it’s the one Church.
Asked whether he considers Fr. Varsonofy to be a martyr, Fr. Gabriel responded: “When all this is over one day… I personally believe that the murdered monk is a martyr and should be canonized as such. He gave his life for Christ.”
Regarding the persecutions the UOC has been facing since 2014, Fr. Gabriel speaks of their faith as a glorious example in Church history:
The loyalty shown by both the clergy and the faithful is one of the golden pages of Church history… They remain faithful to their faith and their canonical Church, even though they’d gain many advantages if they weren’t.
They’d rather risk being beaten—like Metropolitan Longin. I’ve never seen a person with two such enormous bruises around their eyes before. I didn’t even know such a thing was possible.