Letter to the Lutheran Church of Sweden

We, bishops of the UOGCC, are turning to You with a call to repentance. We have undertaken a mission to be the voice of conscience for the Catholic Church (you can read about it in more detail on www.community.org.ua). However, now that we have considered the resolution adopted by the hierarchy of the Lutheran Church of Sweden, we are forced to react.

First it is necessary to point out that the Lutheran Church does not accept Catholic teaching concerning sacraments, so even concerning holy orders and episcopal consecration. Therefore our view of the episcopal ministry in the Lutheran Church is such that it is not a sacrament and it is not connected with apostolic succession. It is just a higher hierarchical degree in the Lutheran Church and has more like an administrative character.

We can only praise the attitude of a certain part of pastors of Your Church who openly stood against the tendency to open the Lutheran Church to homosexual marriages.

These are the words of the Lord: “If a man desires the office of a bishop, he desires a good work. A bishop then must be a man!!! of good name, temperate, sober-minded, of good behaviour, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous.” (1Tim 3:1-3)

For his followers Martin Luther established a principle “Sola Scriptura”. We ask whether Luther gave permission for women to be chosen for the ministry of pastors or bishops. No, he never gave such permission for it is at sharp variance with God’s Word! Woman cannot figure in the leadership of the Church! “As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says... For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.” (1Cor 14:33-35)

“God is not a God of confusion but of peace.” (1Cor 14:33)

If You lack for blameless, sober-minded and reasonable men full of faith, pray then, repent, perform a mission and God will grant them to You.

The Apostle Paul – the pattern of an apostle (bishop) – sets clear regulations as for the leadership of the Church. And what have You done? What offence You have given to the whole world! You have fallen away from God and His sound teaching. You have betrayed the Holy Name of Jesus Christ! How? For the post of bishop in the Stockholm diocese You have chosen Eva Brunne, a woman and a lesbian! The one who elevated her to this post in Uppsala cathedral as well as she herself have drawn down a spiritual curse upon themselves. Why? Ms Brunne is a publicly known lesbian; it means that her sin of sexual perversion is known to the general public.

Against God’s laws and against God’s Word You permitted same-sex marriages. God did not permit it. It is an abomination to Him. Who suborned You that You have become an instrument of apostasy and destruction? What does God Himself and His Word say about the sin of homosexuality and about lesbian relations? “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.” (Lev 18:22) This concerns lesbians, too. For this sin God set the punishment of death for the Israelites: “If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.” (Lev 20:13)

The weight of penalty shows what a great abomination this sin is before God. Certainly, Jesus does not allow such people to be killed but the reality of abomination of this sin remains. If homosexuals repent of their sin, God forgives them.

The Israelites were commanded by the Lord not to defile themselves with such abomination, but to be holy, for He, the Lord, is holy. This applies to Christians, too. Be holy therefore and repent. Where has Your faith, Your fear of God, regard for His Holy Name and for His Word gone? You ought to be ashamed and repent. “And you are inflated with pride. Should you not rather have been sorrowful? The one who did this deed should be expelled from your midst.” (1Cor 5:2)

Instead of devilish pride You should do the same as the Apostle Paul in the case of perverted fornication of the Corinthians: “When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.” (1Cor 5:4-5)

Unless You repent, You will become a synagogue of Satan, and the Lord will come unto You with His power. One cannot laugh at God!

What is the cause of Your decay? You have loved the world more than God. You have accepted as normal what the world in its foolishness accepted as normal, but this is an abomination before God (homosexuality, lesbian relations, bisexualism, transsexualism). Instead of reverence for God’s Word You have received perverted liberal theology, HCT, which casts doubt on everything in the Bible that is holy and supernatural. Whom have You believed? The devil! However, the question is whether You still believe in his existence and in the existence of hell.

Your scandalous crime against God and against Christians has become the demonic leaven: “Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed for us.” (1Cor 5:6-7)

Repent and You shall understand: “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1Cor 6:9-10) “...their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur.” (Rev 21:8)

Repent! How?

1)      Exclude from theological formation the so-called historical-critical method (HCT) which undermines the foundations of the Christian faith.

2)      Prohibit same-sex marriages.

3)      Remove Ms Eva Brunne from the office of bishop and punish those too who elevated her to this office.

4)      Return to the sound teaching of God’s Word.

5)      Renounce the spirit of Masonry and cooperation with this half-secret organization.

6)      Accept the biblical view of homosexuality.

7)      Depose women from the offices of pastors or bishops; women can devote themselves to catechization of children and youth (deaconesses).

In Christ,

Bishops of the Synod of the Ukrainian orthodox Greek-Catholic Church

+ Markian OSBM

+ Metod?j OSBM

+ Samuel OSBM

+ Eliáš OSBM

Lvov, 17th November 2009

Copies to:

-         The Holy Father Benedict XVI

-         Bishops of the Catholic Church

-         Patriarchs and Bishops of the Orthodox Churches

-         Representatives of the Protestant denominations

Address: Synod of the UOGCC, 3 Sosnova St., Lvov - Bryukhovychi, 79491, Ukraine

www.community.org.ua; pidhirci.community@gmail.com