Pastoral letter on the feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit

Lvov (Ukraine), 12 June 2011

Dear priests and believers of the UOGCC and UGCC,

before Jesus ascended into heaven, He said to the apostles: “Stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high” (Lk 24:49), and He also told them: “When the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Simple fishermen of Galilee, whom Jesus called to be His disciples, were weak and fallible people like us. At the time of test they failed. Peter denied Christ and the other apostles, except John, did not have the courage to stand by the cross of Christ near the Mother of Jesus. When on the third day Christ rose from the dead, they could hardly accept that reality. Even the Apostle Thomas was in disbelief all week. 40 days after His Resurrection, Jesus ascends into heaven and promises the apostles that the Holy Spirit shall descend on them and they shall become His witnesses – martyrs (martyres). The cowardly apostles became the heroes of faith who testified of Christ’s death and resurrection and “preached repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Lk 24:47). Finally, they sealed their testimony with martyr’s death. Jesus’ words apply to us too. To receive the Holy Spirit in fullness, to be baptized with the Holy Spirit (Mt 3:11) – even today this belongs to the fundamentals of true and living Christianity. Witnessing to God’s truth both in the times of the apostles and in our times requires the inner strength and willingness to suffer denigration and ridicule for Christ’s sake – readiness for spiritual martyrdom!

Today we are witnesses to a painful reality that the Church hierarchy, and on 1 May 2011 even the Pope, abandoned the fundamental truths of the Gospel of Christ, separated themselves from the Holy Spirit – the Spirit of truth – and accepted the spirit of Assisi – the spirit of antichrist. Due to massive expansion of apostasy within the Church, seven bishops of the UOGCC, after prayers and seeking God’s will, proclaimed the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate. This Patriarchate has become a beacon of true faith not only for the Eastern Catholic Churches but also for the whole Western Catholic Church. When a true reform of the Church starts, the new orthodox Catholic bishops of the world shall elect the new Pope from among themselves.

On 1 May 2011, by the gesture of beatification Pope Benedict XVI placed the spirit of Assisi – the spirit of antichrist – on the altar. Thus he excluded himself from the Church, and the Church was left in a sedes vacantis state. He now occupies the office of the Pope unlawfully. Every bishop, every priest and every believer must separate from the heretical spirit and antigospel officially approved by him. The bishops and priests are obliged in conscience before God to stop mentioning the name of the excommunicated Pope in the liturgy. If they do mention his name, they make it manifest that they are in unity with the spirit of antichrist which has been legalized in the Church by him. Such bishops and priests likewise fall under an anathema and the liturgies celebrated by them and the sacraments administered by them are invalid. The believers are obliged to warn the priest of this serious fact if he continues to mention the name of the ex-Pope in the liturgy. If he still does not stop mentioning it, they are obliged to stop attending such liturgies and receiving the sacraments. These liturgies are an insult to God and a mere performance.

When on the day of Pentecost the Apostle Peter preached a sermon, he said to the pious Jews: “You crucified the Son of God, you are murderers of God.” These words penetrated their hearts and they said: “Brethren, what should we do?” Peter said to them: “Repent … and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit … Save yourselves from this perverse generation.” (Acts 2:38.40) Those who received his word were baptized, and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.

If we are to receive the Holy Spirit in fullness like the apostles, each of us without exception, personally, has to repent, that means change the way of thinking. Through true thinking that accepts the essence of the Gospel, i.e. the loss of soul for the sake of Christ (Mk 8:35), the Holy Spirit can come and have a permanent dwelling-place in us. He will live the new life of the risen Christ in us. He will give us the strength to be true witnesses of Christ, to discern covert heresies from the true Gospel and the spirit of antichrist from the Spirit of Christ. A concrete gesture of repentance is to separate from the heretical teachings associated with the spirit of Assisi, the spirit of antichrist.

These days a change in laws is taking place in Ukraine. Moral values rooted in God’s commandments are being replaced by antivalues. The Catholic hierarchy, who are to be the conscience of the nation, support this betrayal by hypocritical silence. The Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate repeatedly called upon the hierarchy of the UGCC to write a pastoral letter which would clearly point out the consequences of homosexuality and of the juvenile justice system which are nowadays being promoted. Both lead to total demoralization and demonization of youth and to the spiritual, moral and physical genocide of Ukraine. If this hierarchy wrote a single pastoral letter and called upon the people to organize a mass demonstration against these crimes, the whole nation would rise up and instead of a curse and death Ukraine would have a blessing and life.

For the Holy Spirit to come and blow in Ukraine in power, there must be souls who repent sincerely. At Pentecost the Church was born through repentance by the power of the Holy Spirit. At the present time, through impenitence and apostasy the hierarchy and clergy have received the spirit of antichrist, similarly to the hierarchy of the Pharisees and scribes at the time of Christ. Today, the Church must be born again through true repentance. Those who will make a concrete step of repentance and separate from the apostatical structure headed by Benedict, are the beginnings of the true Catholic Church reborn. A true Christian must separate from the perverse generation that denies divine truths, God’s laws and legalizes heresies, perversion and antilaws! What was essential in the birth of the Church two thousand years ago is essential even today. The apostles and all the newly born on the day of Pentecost had to separate from the fallen-away hierarchy who killed Christ. Both at that time and today God’s solution is to separate from the apostatical hierarchy who persecuted and even today persecute true disciples of Christ. Every believer must decide individually whether one will remain under the apostatical structure which owing to apostasy is ruled by the spirit of death, or whether one will join the orthodox Church which leads to salvation as it has the same Spirit and the same orthodox teaching as the apostles!

May God grant the gift of repentance and the fullness of the Holy Spirit to all sincere priests and believers of the UOGCC and UGCC!

Seven Bishops of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate