Bp. Victor (Kotsaba): Everybody can come to UOC temple and they'll get help

Chief of Staff of the Kiev Metropolitanate of the UOC Bishop Victor (Kotsaba) of Baryshevka. Photo: screenshot of the video on 1Kozak YouTube channel

The chief of staff of the Kiev Metropolitanate of the UOC, Bishop Victor (Kotsaba) of Baryshevka, spoke on the air of 1Kozak about the social service of the Church under the coronavirus quarantine and said that the churches are ready to provide targeted assistance and support to everyone who needs it.

“Every person can turn to any temple of the UOC at their place of residence and they will certainly receive support and assistance there,” Vladyka Victor noted.

He reminded that temples and monasteries organized workshops for sewing protective medical masks, parishes are engaged in fundraising and provide targeted assistance to older people; together with the Vadim Novinsky’s charitable foundation in honor of the Intercession of the Mother of God, lung ventilators were purchased and transferred to medical institutions in Ukraine.

“Today we are trying to support people in this misfortune on our own. But the main thing that the Church should do is pray. <...> At such times, when the Lord sends certain trials, the Church always offers prayers and assistance to Her people,” the UOC hierarch said.

Vladyka Victor explained that worship in churches continues, while the clergy and laity comply with all the authorities' instructions regarding the coronavirus quarantine. The bishop recommended that the parishioners of the UOC continue to adhere to quarantine standards and avoid crowds.

“We need to pull our strength, we need to reassure ourselves, our friends and relatives and take it as a challenge, as a test of the present time from our Lord <...>,” the UOC hierarch emphasized. “It is with this attitude that when a person invokes God's help in his life, he will be able to overcome all the difficulties of our time. If we are with God, then the Lord will be with us.”

Bishop Victor urged believers to believe and hope that in the near future the coronavirus epidemic and the related difficulties will be left behind.

Earlier, the UOC handed over 12.5 thousand PCR tests to Kiev hospitals for COVID-19 diagnosis.

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