The Church won’t abandon its believers – either in Donbass or in Crimea, – Bishop Theodosius (Snegirev)

The Church from the very beginning of the confrontation has advocated for peace, for the opportunity to overcome existing disagreements and discord through compromise, because all believers on both sides of the demarcation line are children of the Church, says the vicar of the Kiev diocese, Bishop Theodosius of Boyarka of the UOC in an interview with Argumenty i Fakty (A&F).

Vladyka said that the Church views the processes in the state not in terms of politics or short-term benefit, but primarily from the perspective of Gospel principles and Christian morality.

"The Gospel affirms the ecumenical nature of the Church. That is, the Church unites, and the politics, on the contrary, separates. In other words, the Church is the mother for all, not for some. Therefore, when children quarrel, fight, maim each other, the loving mother may not be happy that one of them wins, and the other is to suffer," he explained.

"Our Church will never divide its people into "us and them". This is a lot of politicians, we think in terms of eternity and salvation, and love for our spiritual children. That is why the canonical territory of our Ukrainian Orthodox Church remains unchanged and includes the Donbass and the Crimea. And we cannot abandon our faithful," concluded the hierarch.