Pastoral letter of the new orthodox Catholic Bishops’ Synod

                                         of the UGCC to the faithful

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Dear faithful,

our heart aches when we come to hear that in the recent days there has been unprecedented psychological pressure exerted on You on the part of the apostatic UGCC hierarchy through the mass media (religious journals) as well as through the priests in confessions and in sermons during the Divine Liturgies. They spread lies and false rumours about us, at the same time consciously covering the real state of affairs. They do so because they do not want to be converted nor to transform their minds and way of life. They themselves do not enter the kingdom of heaven and do not allow others to go in (cf. Mt 23:13).

The real state of affairs:

According to the canon law the so-called legal proceedings against us as well as the sentences pronounced by the court are invalid. We continue to be bishops, religious and members of the UGCC! Something similar happened as if we had been excluded from the Catholic Church e.g. by Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The false shepherds, however, commit a grave crime against Christ and the Church by forcing the priests to abuse the sacrament of confession for manipulation of truth and conscience. The sorry truth is that in confession they force You to renounce Pidhirtsi and the Spirit of God, the spirit of truth which is behind us and, on the contrary, to confess unity with the heretic L. Husar and with the spirit which is behind him. In other words, they force You to fall away from Christ, to renounce Your salvation and to unite with the spirit of antichrist which is behind the heresies of L. Husar! That which these false shepherds and some of their adherents from among the priests do is a deadly sin and an abuse of the sacrament of penance. They are not entitled to act in this way and You are not obliged to submit to their chantage. In accordance with the Word of God Card. L. Husar has the spirit of antichrist (cf. 1Jn 4:1-6; 2Jn 7-11) and, similarly to the apostle Judas, he gives the Mystical Body of Christ a deadly kiss (cf. Lk 22:47-48)! Through heretical teaching he injects deadly poison of the spirit of antichrist into the Church. It is to him that the following words of the Scripture justly apply: “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. ... For it is written in the Book of Psalms: ‘May his dwelling place become desolate, and let there be no one to live in it’; and ‘Let another take his office (position).’” (Acts 1:16.20) It is also confirmed by the words of the Apostle Paul: “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed! As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.” (Gal 1:8-9)

The priests who consciously unite with the spirit that is promoted by Card. L. Husar and who through the sacrament of penance blackmail the believers that they should, similarly to them, renounce the Spirit of Christ and unite with the heresies of Card. L. Husar are partakers of the curse of the apostle Judas! Besides, an even worse punishment will be visited on them because they abuse the sacrament of penance for leading the faithful to apostasy from Christ, and this is a graver offence than tempting them through this sacrament to the sin of impurity!

Dear believers, we hereby want to encourage You to be persistent in the faith in Jesus Christ and to have courage to suffer this persecution for His sake. Let Your conscience be clear and without fear. You belong to Christ who is the Saviour of Your souls.

We pray for You and believe that soon the UGCC will see her spiritual resurrection and that Your faith, purified through spiritual suffering (more precious than gold or silver – cf. 1Pt 1:7), will give You unspeakable joy on the day when You will meet Jesus Christ. However, already now this light suffering, which You bear and which is nothing compared with eternal glory which You will have in heaven, will give You radiant joy that You belong to Christ and that You endure afflictions for His sake.

We bestow upon You our blessing and beseech You to pray perseveringly and with love for those who consciously or unconsciously seek to kill Christ in Your hearts, and to forgive them with all Your heart.

In Christ,

Your orthodox bishops

+ Teodozij

Vicar of Head of the UGCC

+ Markian OSBM

Secretary of Synod of the UGCC 

Standing Bishops’ Synod of the UGCC

+ Eliáš OSBM

+ Metod?j OSBM

+ Samuel

                                                                                                                                     Pidhirtsi, 8th October 2008

Address: Bishops’ Synod of the UGCC, Pidhirtsi 19, Brody dist., Lvov reg., 80660, Ukraine

www.community.org.ua