Kiev, May 14, 2024
Photo: news.church.ua
Faith begins in our head but must move to our hearts. And it is this faith of the heart that can move mountains, the primate of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church preached on Thomas Sunday.
His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Church of St. Agapit of the Caves at the Kiev Caves Lavra, concelebrated by two brother hierarchs and the clergy of the monastery, reports the UOC’s Information-Education Center.
In his homily, His Beatitude recalled how the Apostle Thomas was not with the other disciples of Christ when the Lord first appeared to them, and he did not believe in Christ’s Resurrection until he saw Him Resurrected.
According to the Metropolitan, there are two types of faith—that of the mind and that of the heart:
For the faith of the heart to appear, the faith of the mind must be first. A grapevine first blooms, and then a cluster appears on it. But this bloom will not turn into a cluster if there’s no sunlight. If the bloom doesn’t bear fruit, then it won’t be any good. Similarly with faith. The faith of the mind is that light which helps the bloom grow into fruit. A person first believes with his mind, then begins to follow the Divine laws and entrusts himself to God. Then he begins to receive the grace of the Holy Spirit and his faith of the mind transforms into the faith of the heart. When the Lord says: If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove, He means the faith of the heart.
His Beatitude noted that from the fulfillment of the Divine laws comes the knowledge of God.
“That is, as we know each other and never doubt, so when a man acquires the faith of the heart, he begins to see God with the eyes of the soul,” the UOC primate explained.
And faith is the foundation upon which all spiritual life is based.
“In our earthly life, everything begins with faith, then by faith we act and achieve the goal,” he said. “May the Lord help us, through the prayers of the holy apostle Thomas, to try to live according to the Divine laws and to cultivate the faith of the heart in ourselves.”
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