We came to thank you for courage, – Polish hierarch to UOC parishioners (VIDEO)

The hierarch of the Polish Orthodox Church, Met. George, Archbishop of Wroclaw and Szczecin, came to the village of Ugrinov in the Volyn region to express support for the believers of the UOC, who were deprived of their temple.

"I want to thank Bishop Nathanael and all of you for having an opportunity to see such a stronghold of faith," said Archbishop George. "People who are now suffering, thereby receive the confirmation that they suffer for the truth. Because there is no true faith without suffering. I myself live in a Catholic country, and in due time we, Orthodox, also went through very difficult trials. But we have always tried to preserve the canonicity of the Church, Her unity and the unity of faith. Therefore, we want to thank you for so bravely testifying to the truth of the Orthodox faith."

Vladyka said that while he was at the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, he learned about the concerns of the priesthood, that the current authorities can take away the shrine from the UOC. And he brought the answer of His Beatitude Onufry to these fears: "If they seize the Lavra, then beyond its walls there is God. There is no God, where there is power; God is where there is prayer and humility."

"Bishops of our Church follow every day the developments in Ukraine," said Vladyka Georgy. "We know about your sufferings and the evidence of your deep faith. For only the canonicality is followed by the grace of the Holy spirit, without which there is no Church. Canonicity is not the recognition of a particular bishop. It is the recognition of all Orthodoxy. Met. Nathanael will go to Athos, or to Jerusalem – wherever he comes, he will be an Orthodox bishop everywhere – that is, there is an apostolic succession behind him."

In the village of Ugrinov, Mets. Nathanael and George served a moleben in the prayer house, where the UOC community deprived of its church gathers.