An appeal to men religious

Dear fathers and brothers, You who resolved, in different religious institutes, to follow wholeheartedly our Lord Jesus Christ, that You may become the salt and the light not only for the Church but for the world too, the Lord called You and You decided to follow Him. Unfortunately, many of You have forgotten the essence of the religious life and opened up to the spirit of the world. This process of loss of the first love for Jesus was so slow and inconspicuous that You have not even been conscious of it. Many of You, in the name of obedience, made certain steps of betrayal of Christ and His Gospel.

Both You and we will stand before the judgement seat of God and render an account of obedience to God, to His Gospel and to His holy will. Ask Yourselves the essential question: Am I willing to defend the true faith, the same as it was done by the generations before us which bore suffering and often even laid down their lives for the sake of Christ’s faith and our Church? Our orthodox Catholic Synod has declared a new Church structure under the name of the Ukrainian orthodox Greek-Catholic Church, abbreviated to UOGCC. Our programme is a true renewal of the Church founded on true repentance, conversion and following of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The history of the reform of the religious life shows painful experience. One’s own religious brothers do not permit a true reform. That was why new and new religious institutes were founded for the sake of a reform. This is now a solution even for some of You. Should there be renewed religious houses formed, we will gladly accept them under our ecclesiastical jurisdiction.

Your Bishops of the UOGCC

+ Metod?j OSBM

+ Markian OSBM

+ Samuel OSBM

+ Eliáš OSBM

                                                                                                                      Lvov-Bryukhovychi, 15th August 2009