On July 26, Metropolitan of Cherkasy and Kaniv (UOC MP) Feodosii recorded another address to the flock. This time he touched on the topic of language.
Unlike previous videos, the hierarch spoke Ukrainian. He explained that he was recording the video because of questions from the faithful about the language he uses in his addresses. He stated that he knows Ukrainian well and even sometimes delivers sermons in it. However, he said he recorded and will record his videos on YouTube in Russian, because it is, as people say, one of the working languages of the UN and UNESCO. In addition, according to the metropolitan, it is understood without translation by millions of people around the world, including residents of Greece, Serbia, Moldova, Georgia, and the USA. It seems that Feodosii explains his reluctance to record videos in the state language precisely because of the desire to be understandable to residents of foreign countries and to convey information about the “persecution” of the UOC MP.
Also, he urged not to divide people on the basis of language. According to the metropolitan, those who consider a certain language to be a “tool of crime” are committing a crime themselves.
“May the Lord reconcile us all and calm us down, and let us live as before. When everyone understood each other perfectly and no one was outraged that someone had the wrong skin color or spoke the wrong language… When there really was freedom: freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of religion. So many citizens of Ukraine would like to return to that country. We pray for it and believe that sooner or later it will happen,” he said. At the same time, the hierarch did not specify which country of the past he was referring to.
It is worth noting that Metropolitan Feodosii is currently under house arrest on charges of inciting inter-religious enmity. Later, he was also charged with denying and justifying the armed aggression by the Russian Federation.
It should be recalled that earlier he warned the UOC MP against the “spontaneous” declaration of autocephaly.
