Kiev, December 13, 2019
Photo: news.church.ua
The commandments of God are sacred, founded in His boundless love for man, and the man who keeps them himself becomes sacred, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine preached to his flock on Sunday.
In his homily for the feast of Pope St. Clement of Rome, His Beatitude emphasized that the holy Martyr Clement is an intercessor for the entire Christian world, reports the Information-Education Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
“The faith of Christ unites all people of the world, regardless of nationality, skin color, or where a person lives, because Christ is the God of the whole world. And those who believe in Him, all over the world are united in one community, which is called the Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Orthodox Church,” the archpastor said.
St. Clement now prays before the throne of God, “that we might be Christians not in name only, but that we might live according to Christ’s law,” Met. Onuphry said.
“God’s commandments are sacred commandments, they are commandments of love. And the man who keeps God’s commandments builds his life on the commandments that say, ‘Do not kill! Do not steal! Do not commit adultery! Do not utter a false witness against your neighbor...’ and it itself becomes sacred, that is, like unto to our God, Who is our holy Creator,” the Ukrainian primate preached.
The Metropolitan went on to say that we must always remember that the commandments are useful for man, no matter what others try to convince us of.
“Although people do not always approve of it, invent their own and believe that they have come up with something wiser, but no one can give us anything better than God has given. Therefore, we must, in spite of everything, still be truthful, still love our neighbors, whatever they are like, whether we like them or not, and do no harm to anyone, do not steal from anyone, do not lead a dissolute life. Therefore, we must keep ourselves within the reasonable limits of the Law of God, which is the oasis where man thrives spiritually and brings fruits worthy of salvation in Heaven,” the Primate stressed.
His Beatitude has preached on the commandments many times. Celebrating the Divine Liturgy on Sunday, December 1, he told his flock at the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple Monastery in Kiev:
There is one path where a man finds God—the path of the holy commandments of Christ, the path of the law of God. This law is not given to us to mock us, to force us to fast, to pray, but precisely because it is that path on which we meet God. And when someone finds God, the Lord fills him with His Divine power, His grace. In other words, in Church language, it means to be filled with the grace of God, which helps us properly and worthily conduct our earthly life and which leads man into the Heavenly life after his earthly life.
