On 17 August 2024, on the tenth anniversary of the enthronement of the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude John X, Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, sent greetings to His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy. The Information and Education Department of the UOC reports.
‘I wholeheartedly greet you, dear brother, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of your election by the Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to bear the cross of the Primate and serve the pious people of God in Ukraine, leading them on the paths of salvation. We pray the Almighty God, the Father of mercy, to strengthen you in your blessed ministry, embrace you with His light, and multiply His grace on you, so that you may vigilantly preserve the Orthodox faith and its purity in these hard times, “rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer” (Rom. 12:12)’, said His Beatitude John X in his greetings.
The Primate of the Antiochian Church also noted that, receiving news of ‘the persecutions which your Church is going through and sufferings borne by her bishops, priests, monastics, and faithful, who testify of Christ and maintain the purity of the faith, the words of the Apostle come to mind: “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12). However, we are comforted to know that you remain unwavering in your love for Christ and attest that nothing will “separate us from the love of Christ”, not “tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword” (Rom. 8:35)’.
‘Dear brother, be sure that the Antiochian Church keeps you, your confessors, and your faithful in her prayers, praying our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to give peace to your country, wipe away the tears from the eyes of your people, and preserve your Church for ever. “May the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all” (2 Thes. 3:16)’, wrote the Antiochian Patriarch.
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