Kiev, October 15, 2019
Photo: news.church.ua
In his homily on the feast of the Holy Protection of the Mother of God, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine called upon his flock, and all Orthodox Christians, to always turn to the Mother of God in every situation, never despairing.
His Beatitude, the beloved and revered primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church celebrated the feast in the St. Nicholas Cathedral of the Holy Protection Convent in Kiev.
Met. Onuphry reminded the faithful that every one of us has two mothers—the one who gave birth to us, and the Mother of God, who intercedes for everyone, reports the Information-Education Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
He therefore called all to sincere and humble prayer.
We should always turn with special prayer to the Mother of God in difficult moments of our lives, the primate preached. “When someone is healthy, is not tempted, his prayer is weak, feeble. But as soon as he is overtaken by grief, sickness, difficulties, he has a different prayer—a strong, humble prayer,” he emphasized.
Met. Onuphry also emphasized that, in fact, there are not hopeless situations in life—we simply are unable to see the way out because of our sins, but the Lord and the Mother of God can always find a way.
“When we cannot fix our problems ourselves, we should turn to the Mother of God and entreat her help,” His Beatitude instructed. “There are not hopeless situations in life. It’s just that we do not always see the way out, because we are sinful—we do not have wisdom, discernment, humility. And the Mother of God will always help by her prayers, and will show the way out of the situation we find ourselves in.”
And the most important thing in life is to fulfill the holy Gospel commandments, which will help us find the right path in life, His Beatitude underlined.
“In fulfilling the commandments, man finds everything he needs for both earthly and Heavenly life. In following the path of the Gospel commandments, man builds his life on the laws of God, not on the laws of sin, and has the blessing of God in his earthly life and in eternal life,” the primate preached.
Earlier, Met. Onuphry encouraged the Ukrainian faithful to remember in their present seemingly hopeless situation that “The time of persecution is the best time for the Church.”
“But true Christians have lived, live, and will live by only Christ and the Gospels. Of course you can slander them, kill them, and put them in prison, as has happened many times in history, but they will continue to love God, the Church, and their Motherland. This is because we have only one God. The time of persecution is the best time for the Church. In such times we only have to do one thing to be saved—to be faithful to God and our Mother Church,” the courageous primate said, strengthening his flock.
