The Metropolitan of Morphou Neophytos answers a question about the Ukrainian issue in a segment from the 22nd spiritual meeting for dialogue with his Eminence, Metropolitan of Morphou Neophytos “Lighting the lighter of the Saints.” The meeting took place on the 15th of March 2023 at the Holy Church of the Panagia Chryseleousa in the community of Akaki of the Metropolitan district of Morphou.
In these spiritual gatherings, his Eminence answers questions of the faithful, submitted written or verbally, by name or anonymously.
The moderator Giannis Lebos states the question presented by a man in the meet- ing: Brother, your question is “Whether the fact that Ukraine no longer commemorates the Russian church has led to the solution of the Ukrainian issue.”
The question is restated: “Whether the fact that the one church does not commemorate the other has solved the Ukrainian ecclesiastical issue?” Correct me if I am wrong.
The Metropolitan of Morphou replies: The Ukrainian issue is not limited to the ecclesiastical part. The ecclesiastical issue is a part of the wider effort of the West, the Anglo-American West, along with the French, the Polish and another 40 countries, among them, we, the poor ones, to control Russia, to limit Russia, to weaken her, to the degree that Orthodox Russia will realize that it has power in addition to its weapons which have scared the West.
The other superpower of Russia, which is greater than its weapons, is its Orthodoxy. This is why these satan-driven powers attempted to divide Orthodoxy and make us [the Orthodox people] fight with one another.
This is how I view things. We are wrong to follow their plan, really wrong.
Onoufrios, this holiest Metropolitan of Kiev, whom we all commemorated some years ago and said that he is the canonical one. He [Onoufrios] found himself between two giants, the Russian one and the Western one. In order to sustain his people and [face] the repression of this satanist Zelensky–who is not a Ukrainian, as I have said, but a Khazar [«Χάζαρος» in Greek] and go read what Khazars mean–he was forced to stop the commemoration of his Russian Patriarch in order to be able to survive.
The same thing, my son, in case you have read more of the history of the church of Cyprus, happened with our [Cypriot] archbishops and bishops under the Latin occupation. They did not commemorate the Ecumenical Patriarch, the Orthodox Patriarchs. They were forced to commemorate the Pope. So, when the Cypriots went as pilgrims to the Holy Tomb, the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and rightly so, did not accept giving Holy Communion to them. And the Cypriots returned in tears because they [the Latins] had forced our archbishops to commemorate the Pope.
This is a tragic truth. This is why, when they ask me, “Metropolitan of Morphou which was the most dangerous era for Cyprus?” [I reply], “It was not the Turkish occupation, it was not the British occupation. It was the Latin occupation. Three hundred whole years it lasted.” Feudalism and oppression of the Orthodoxy. This is what takes place now in Ukraine.
And I ask all of you to pray for this holy man. Onoufrios is an ascetic man. And if something is under danger right now as we speak, it is the Kiev Monastery of the Caves. The so called “Pechersk Lavra.”
I went there with St. Eumenios [Saridakis] and we liturgized there together. St. Eumenios performed the Liturgy and I was a deacon. And who was our cantor? Fr. Evangelos Papanikolaou who gives talks, along with Andreas Christoforou.
One hundred and forty incorrupt relics [lie there], my son. You don’t have time to cross yourself… The fragrance, inside the catacombs.
One thousand years ago, this is where Slavic Christianity started with St. Theodosius and St. Anthony. And now comes this satanist, Zelensky, and says what. Let the 200 monks of the Lavra leave. Our Ministry of Culture will turn it into a tourist attraction, as Erdogan has done with Hagia Sophia. And they will make money [out of it]. Let the monks leave the place.
What would we do in case they came and told us, “At the Panagia of Kykkou and Stavrovouni, let the monks leave. No Liturgies will take place there anymore and they will become museums.”
This is what they do. The deadline they gave them is the 30th of March. That is, they have 15 more days to leave. They won’t leave. I know them really well. They are ready to be martyred.
Do you understand the age we live in? I cannot answer anything else, Modestos [man in the crowd]. This my personal position, my child.
I am not with the Russians. They too have expansionist views. Neither with the Americans nor with the West as you must have understood. I am an Anatolian, a Romios [«Ρωμιός» in Greek]. “Romiosini is a race contemporary to the world. None was found that could cause her to perish.” [In Greek, «Η Ρωμηοσύνη είν’ φυλή συνόκαιρη του κόσμου. Κανένας δεν ευρέθηκε για να την εξαλείψει» from the Cypriot poem «Η 9η Ιουλίου του 1821 εν Λευκωσία Κύπρου»]
Neither will we ever perish. This is their big goal.
But I love Onoufrios. Do you know why? Because he follows the ascetic life of the Holy Fathers that I met and he met.
I am no one’s supporter. No one’s. I told it to the current Archbishop for whom I voted. But I told him that in the Ukrainian issue, we dissent. “Okay, Metropolitan of Morphou,” he told me. We are not going to fight over it.
Translation source: https://friendsofmorphou.com/