“God says: ‘You want it? – Here it is’…”: His Beatitude Lubomyr

The interview of His Beatitude Lubomyr, the head of the UGCC, was issued with this title for the magazine Glavred (on our web page it can be read at this reference: www.ugcc.org.ua/1080.0.html). The head of the UGCC said these words in the context of the second round of presidential elections of Ukraine. Answering the question about whether our current president is chosen by God, as it is regarded that every authority is from God, His Beatitude Lubomyr said: “We should not credit our acts to God. God says: ‘You want it? – Here it is....” Then on the basis of the Holy Scripture the head of the UGCC gave the example from the life of the Israeli people. “The people of Israel left Egyptian captivity and wanted to choose for themselves the King Saul. The Lord said: ‘If they want it so... I wanted to be their possessor, but they want to have a man for a king, so let them have it.’ Saul, unfortunately, was not very successful. Then the Lord sent the prophet Samuel and said to him to find David in Bethlehem, because God’s will was for David to become king.” According to the head of UGCC, in the subsequent history of Israel there were different kings who eventually led Israel to Babylon’s captivity. “The Lord knew about it, but did not send anyone to Israel, did not name anyone. Therefore we can not say today that we chose a person that was wanted by God. Such was God’s admittance, but not God’s will. And this is not the same,” the head of the UGCC explained. In the opinion of the head of the UGCC, it cannot be said that this or another president is God’s anointed sovereign. “Whether God truly wanted him or not – the Lord knows only. There is no doubt that God admits someone to authority. And whether he wants this man is something entirely different,” he said. Speaking about whether the head of the UGCC expect changes – positive or negative – after electing a new president, he said that the Church would not perish, the Church will go further. “How it will be – we will see. I am not worried by this. A lot depends on us – how we conduct ourselves as citizens and as Christians,” he said. As for what we have to hope for the new president, the head of the UGCC called speculation.

Information Department of the UGCC