On October 9, Metropolitan Epifaniy, head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, delivered a sermon, emphasizing that every person has free will and therefore there is no excuse for those who choose to cooperate with the occupiers, thus striking a deal with the devil.
This is reported by the OCU press service, according to the Spiritual Front of Ukraine.
“…now we all live in conditions of war. Its beginning did not depend on us, the enemy attacked our country treacherously and without grounds. We are not responsible for the suffering, destruction, threats to life that Russian aggression has brought into our lives. But how we react to it, what we do or what we don’t do in the circumstances that arise – depends only on us. There is a general rule, there is a law of God and man, that one must defend one’s land and one’s neighbors from the attack of evil. But some do it, even, like our brave warriors, sacrificing their own lives. While others make a deal with evil, becoming its minions. In the same conditions, some defend Ukraine, while others continue to preach the words of ‘Russian world’, some seek victory for our Motherland and a just peace, while others seek for Ukraine to come to terms with the occupation by subjugating it to obedience to the Kremlin,” said Metropolitan Epifaniy.
“So when someone says that out of fear of the occupiers, someone went to serve evil, offered tips on patriots, contributed to the consolidation of its power, then there is an answer: but others in the same circumstances did and are doing differently! Aren’t they afraid for their lives, aren’t they in danger? But they don’t betray the truth, they don’t make, so to speak, a “deal with the devil,” emphasized the head of the OCU.
Therefore, according to Metropolitan Epifaniy, no external circumstances can ever be an excuse for a person who claims they did not have freedom or opportunity to express their will.
“Free will remains with us always, because it is an indestructible gift of God to us. And it depends only on us, how we use it, whether we don’t give it up easily, without even understanding the value of this gift and the consequences of our decisions,” said the Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine.
It should be recalled that Metropolitan Epifaniy in Odessa met with representatives of the local authorities, as well as with wounded soldiers undergoing treatment in a local hospital.
